Beyond Symptoms — An Injury-Based Approach to Sexual Trauma and Psychiatry
Education program for Psychiatrists
As a psychiatrist, you already know that some patients are harder to reach than others. Presentations are diffuse, histories are incomplete, and disclosure — when it comes at all — may not be straightforward. What looks like treatment resistance may simply be a picture that hasn't fully emerged yet.
SAIf (Sexual Abuse Injury Framework) is built for these moments. By supporting disclosure of sexual abuse and providing a structured understanding of injury levels, SAIF brings clarity. Once the full picture is on the table, assessment becomes more precise, treatment planning more accurate, and care more effective. Be part of the shift.
Expand your understanding of sexual abuse and its far-reaching impact on the nervous system, mental health, relationships, and sense of self.
Meet the Founder and Head of Clinic
“I have seen deep resistance to essential procedures fade when what has been hidden is finally seen, and mutual understanding can take its place. Recognizing a patient's SAI level does not complicate your work — often, it is in the most difficult cases, where one might hesitate to touch anything at all, that it eases the complexity most. That is why I wish every healthcare professional would learn about SAIF."
— Gita Rajan, Phd. MD. Specialist in Family Medicine
Researcher and Founder of WONSA
“Somewhere along the way, the art of psychiatric practice became an industry. Streamlining replaced curiosity. Production targets replaced presence. Promising research rarely made it into the consulting room, and adherence to method became its own kind of dogma.
At WONSA, we work differently. Observation matters here — the kind of careful, unhurried attention that allows real understanding to emerge. Skills and knowledge are valued. Integrity and authenticity are not ideals we aspire to; they are the foundation we build on. And working in this field — truly working in it, with depth and understanding — remains what it always should have been: a source of inspiration, meaning, and joy.
We invite you to be part of that."
— Nils Joneborg, MD Specialist in Psychiatry, Head of Clinic, WONSA
Once shrouded in stigma — now met with knowledge, treatment and hope.
Eight in ten patients arriving at WONSA carry a history of treatment that missed the underlying injury. The symptoms were addressed. The injury was not.
This is not a reflection of clinical failure — it is a reflection of a gap in available frameworks. Without the tools to identify the injury beneath the presentation, even the most skilled clinician is working with an incomplete picture. Many of these patients have been labelled treatment resistant. Many describe feeling blamed or shamed for the failure of care that was never truly matched to what they carried.
We have seen this pattern before — with cancer, tuberculosis, leprosy, and epilepsy. Conditions once met with fear and moral judgement, now understood, treated, and met with hope. The same shift is underway in the field of sexual trauma.
As a psychiatrist, you are at the forefront of that shift. We invite you to join us — in building the knowledge, the systems, and the standard of care that survivors deserve.
The full SAIF program
SAIF: Screening
SAI level 1-2
SAI: Dissociation
SAI level 3-4
SAI level 5
Take Note: *Additional fee for certification applies.
Get supervision through the community network, connect with other professionals and get guidance and feedback.
Additional fee for network access may apply.
“Though frightening, these attacks..... remind us that creating a protected space where survivors can speak their truth is an act of liberation...bearing witness... is an act of solidarity... Those who stand with the victim will inevitably have to face the perpetrator's unmasked fury. For many of us, there can be no greater honour.”
- Judith Lewis Herman, M.D
Together we are change.
SAIF Program specifications
Study SAIF
Get certified
Note: Course program and Certification is paid for separately.
Network access
Requirements
Psychiatrists
Requirements
Minimum requirement is a valid Psychiatrists license degree. Open to psychiatry residents.
Become certified
Become SAIF-certified
Our goal is to spread the injury perspective on sexual trauma — across specialties and around the world. It's a foundation, not a finished answer. With it, clinicians can choose, build, and offer survivors the care they need. Will you help carry it forward — toward healthcare that is truly accessible, even for survivors of sexual abuse?
SAIF goes beyond symtoms
SAIF helps uncover the underlying injuries, allowing you to see through the symptoms, enabling more precis treatment planning.
Founder
WONSA was founded by Researcher (PhD, MD) and Survivor Gita Rajan, in Stockholm, 2014.
Join our network
We are a community driven organisation. Our programs give you access to our social global network.
Raise the standard
At WONSA, psychiatrists are seen as natural leaders in an emerging paradigm — one grounded in understanding the root causes of injury, rather than managing its surface expressions. This foundation does more than improve current practice. It sharpens the ability to evaluate and adopt cutting-edge developments — from emerging psychedelic-assisted therapies to other frontline research — with clarity about what the treatment is actually targeting, and why. Without injury awareness, that evaluation becomes significantly harder. Whatever your clinical context, SAIF deepens diagnostic precision, sharpens treatment planning, and restores meaning to psychiatric practice.
Join a growing global network of psychiatrists raising the standard of care for survivors of sexual abuse.