*

THE CERS ASSESSMENT

Did you become an emotional expert to survive childhood?

If you’re here, you probably already know you have C-PTSD symptoms – intrusive thoughts, flashbacks or nightmares, unwanted thoughts or images popping in your mind, to name a few. But traditional trauma assessments might have missed crucial information about your childhood experiences.

Maybe you think your childhood “wasn’t that bad.” Meanwhile, you’re exhausted from managing everyone’s emotions, predicting disasters, carrying responsibilities that aren’t yours to carry.

Sound familiar?

WHAT TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENTS MISS

Traditional trauma tools ask what happened TO you. CERS measures what you learned to DO to survive.

The Childhood Emotional Responsibilities Scale identifies the sophisticated emotional management strategies you developed in dysfunctional families. Not the abuse or neglect – the advanced competencies you created to keep yourself safe.

CERS reveals:

Why you’re so good at reading others but struggle with your own needs
How your childhood emotional training affects your adult relationships
Why you feel “different” from other trauma survivors
The professional-level skills you developed for survival

400+ people have completed CERS. 97% said it was the first assessment that accurately captured their childhood experience.

THE FOUR SURVIVAL DOMAINS

Emotional Support Management
You became the family’s emotional thermostat, responsible for keeping volatile adults calm and stable.

Safety Monitoring
You developed hypervigilant threat detection systems, constantly scanning for emotional dangers.

Adult Problem Management
You handled crises, secrets, and adult-level decisions because family chaos threatened your basic safety.

Family Emotional Care
You served as family therapist and mediator, the one everyone came to with their problems.

These aren’t pathological responses. They’re sophisticated emotional competencies you developed because your survival depended on it.

YOU’RE NOT BROKEN. YOU’RE AN EMOTIONAL NINJA.

People with high CERS scores aren’t damaged by inappropriate responsibilities. They developed professional-level emotional intelligence through survival necessity.

You can:

Read micro-expressions most people miss
Predict emotional explosions before they happen
De-escalate conflicts others can’t handle
Manage multiple people’s emotional states simultaneously
Handle crises with unusual calm and competence

The problem isn’t that you have these abilities. It’s that your nervous system learned it could never stop using them.

You’re not healing from damage. You’re learning to use advanced skills by choice instead of compulsion.

HOW THE ASSESSMENT WORKS

Step 1: Download the CERS Assessment PDF (includes brief ACE questionnaire)

Step 2: Complete 24 questions about your childhood experiences (takes 10 minutes)

Step 3: Email your completed assessment to becky@rebeccatdickson.com

Step 4: Receive your detailed interpretation within 48 hours

What you get:

Your scores across all four survival domains
Specific survival strategies you developed
How your childhood emotional training shows up in adult life
Understanding of your developed emotional expertise
Insights into patterns traditional tools miss

THIS IS RESEARCH, NOT THERAPY

Your participation helps advance understanding of complex trauma patterns that traditional measures miss completely.

Important boundaries:

This assessment is for research and self-understanding
Results include coaching insights, not clinical diagnosis
If you need mental health treatment, seek appropriate licensed professionals
CERS identifies survival competencies, not mental health conditions

Privacy: Your data is used for research validation with your permission. Individual responses remain confidential.

WHO SHOULD TAKE CERS

You’re likely a good fit if:

You minimize your childhood (“it wasn’t that bad”) but struggle with symptoms
You’re exceptionally good at reading people but exhausted by it
You feel responsible for managing other people’s emotions
You handle crises well but fall apart when things are calm
Traditional trauma assessments don’t capture your experience

CERS might not apply if:

You experienced clear physical or sexual abuse (though you might score high anyway)
Your childhood involved obvious neglect or abandonment
You don’t resonate with being an “emotional expert”
You’re looking for clinical diagnosis rather than survival strategy understanding

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER

Understanding your results gives you language for experiences you couldn’t name before.

If you want to go deeper:

The Impact Method™ can help you work with specific memories that created these survival strategies
Individual coaching to learn using your emotional competencies by choice
Future CERS practitioner certification (when available) for coaches who want to work with other emotional ninjas

This assessment stands alone. You’re not obligated to purchase anything after receiving your results.

READY TO DISCOVER YOUR EMOTIONAL EXPERTISE?

Download the CERS Assessment and find out what you learned to do to survive – and how those skills show up as strengths in your adult life.

DOWNLOAD CERS ASSESSMENT PDF

Email completed assessment to: becky@rebeccatdickson.com
Expect detailed results within 48 hours.

The recognition that changes everything

Wow, thank you so much Rebecca. I feel seen. It is empowering and such a good process to acknowledge and I am grateful for the person you are and the work you are doing… I am learning and value this immensely.

Female, 54, ACE: 5, CERS: 112

“I’ve been in therapy for 8 years. No one has ever explained my exhaustion like this.”

Female, 36, ACE: 2, CERS: 156

I always thought something was wrong with me because I couldn’t figure out why I was so tired when ‘nothing bad’ happened in my childhood. CERS showed me I developed professional-level crisis management and emotional regulation skills before I was 12. I wasn’t damaged – I was incredibly competent. For the first time in my life, I feel seen.

“THIS IS ME.”

Female, 41, ACE: 2, CERS: 74 (Safety Monitoring: 60/60)

Perfect score on hypervigilant threat detection. I’ve been told I have anxiety for 20 years. CERS showed me I developed sophisticated environmental awareness as a survival skill. Not anxiety. Not paranoia. Professional-level threat detection that kept me alive. Finally, someone measured what I actually developed instead of treating me like I’m broken.

“I cried when I read my results. Not from sadness – from relief.”

Male, 33, ACE: 1, CERS: 142

I’ve always been the person everyone comes to in a crisis. I thought I was just ‘good with people.’ CERS showed me I became my family’s emotional expert and crisis manager as a kid – not to help them, but to protect myself. Understanding that I was a survival strategist, not a victim, changed everything about how I see myself.

“You just explained my entire life in three pages.”

Female, 28, ACE: 3, CERS: 187

High scores across all four domains. CERS showed me I was running four professional-level jobs simultaneously: emotional support specialist, safety monitor, crisis manager, and family therapist. All before I turned 15. No wonder I’m exhausted. I’m not failing at life. I’m doing the work of four people and have been since childhood.

“I’ve never felt so understood by an assessment.”

Female, 45, ACE: 5, CERS: 218

I wasn’t just traumatized. I became a complete family therapist as a child. Seeing my survival expertise validated instead of pathologized made me feel proud instead of broken for the first time in my life.

“Finally, someone who gets it.”

Male, 39, ACE: 2, CERS: 134

I’ve been told I have ‘boundary issues’ and ‘codependency problems’ for years. CERS showed me I developed sophisticated emotional intelligence and therapeutic abilities through survival necessity. I don’t have boundary problems. I have professional-level skills I’m using unconsciously. That reframe changed everything.

“I sent this to my therapist and said ‘THIS is what you’ve been missing.'”

Female, 52, ACE: 1, CERS: 163

Low ACE score, severe C-PTSD symptoms. Every therapist I’ve worked with has been confused about where my trauma came from. CERS identified it immediately: I developed master-level emotional management and crisis prevention skills to survive family dysfunction. The assessment gap is real, and CERS finally filled it.

“I’m not broken. I’m a fucking survival expert.”

Female, 31, ACE: 4, CERS: 195

That’s what I told my partner after getting my CERS results. For 31 years, I’ve been treated like my sensitivity and hypervigilance were problems to fix. CERS showed me they’re sophisticated survival competencies I mastered as a child. I developed skills that most therapists train for years to learn. I’m not too much. I’m incredibly gifted.

“My childhood ‘wasn’t that bad’ – but apparently I became a professional-level crisis manager by age 10.”

Female, 37, ACE: 2, CERS: 148

That’s what CERS showed me. I’ve minimized my childhood experiences my whole life because ‘other people had it worse.’ But the assessment proved I developed extraordinary competencies through survival necessity. My exhaustion finally makes sense. I’m not weak. I’ve been working four jobs since I was a kid.

“I feel seen, validated, and fucking powerful.”

Female, 29, ACE: 3, CERS: 182

For the first time, someone recognized that what I developed wasn’t damage – it was expertise. CERS showed me I mastered emotional regulation, threat detection, crisis management, and family therapy before I could drive. These aren’t character flaws. I’m not broken. I’m brilliant.*

Questions about the assessment? Contact becky@rebeccatdickson.com

The CERS Assessment is copyright protected and used for research validation. Your participation contributes to understanding complex trauma patterns that traditional measures miss. Individual results are confidential and used only with your permission.