TREM and M-TREM are fully manualized group interventions for women (TREM) and men (M-TREM) who are trauma survivors. These groups are interventions that address a broad range of trauma sequelae among people with severe mental disorders and/or substance abuse problems. Both use cognitive restructuring, psychoeducation, and coping skills training, weaving each of these techniques throughout the intervention, which incorporates a specific recovery topic in each weekly 75-minute session. TREM is 29 sessions long while M-TREM comprises 24 sessions. TREM groups are for women only with female co-leaders; M-TREM groups are for men and routinely have male co-leaders. Both groups are designed for 8-10 members. TREM is organized into three major parts: empowerment, trauma education, and skill-building. Discussions cover topics of sexual, physical, emotional, and institutional abuse, and women explore and reframe the connection between abuse experiences and other current difficulties. M-TREM is similarly organized but differs in the content of the three major parts. In M-TREM, the first section focuses on emotions and relationships, helping men to develop a shared emotional vocabulary and increased capacities to address relationship dynamics. The second section is similar to that of TREM, addressing emotional, physical, and sexual abuse directly. The third part of M-TREM, like TREM, centers most directly on skill-building and problem-solving, but addresses different content issues in a different order than the TREM group.
TREM has been successfully implemented in a wide range of service settings (mental health, substance abuse, criminal justice) and among diverse racial and ethnic populations.
Specifically for women (all ages, all ethnicities) survivors of trauma for whom traditional recovery work has been unavailable or ineffective.