Clinical Intervention for Shame and Abandonment Trauma

Shame is a universal vein that runs beneath the surface of human experience. It is also a pivotal feature of abandonment trauma. Shame is easily triggered, yet its impact on our emotions and behavior can remain subliminal. Many clients lack a language with which to articulate shame, share it with therapists and others, and release its impact on self-esteem and quality of life.  

In this 2-hour continuing education web conference, Susan Anderson, LCSW will provide didactic discussion about the origins of primal shame and fear. She will review key features of abandonment trauma, a subtype of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD). 

Susan will discuss how the relationship between therapist and client, due to its hierarchical nature, can unwittingly reinforce shame, and remedies for that eventuality. She will also discuss techniques for helping clients overcome shame’s interference in their relationships and goal achievement.

This introductory instructional level web conference is designed to help clinicians:

1. Recognize shame as a key component of C-PTSD and abandonment trauma. 
2. Recognize how clients can distinguish between shame and guilt so they can better access and identify their feelings.
3. Assess how addressing shame and employing empathy techniques can enhance the effectiveness of therapeutic process.  
4. Explain how clients can overcome self-comparison which is one of the ways they may shame themselves. 
5. Prepare clients to recognize their positive traits stemming from Post Traumatic Growth (PTG) as a shame-reduction tool.
6. Practice with clients to use Radical Unconditional Acceptance of Imperfection as a shame reduction self-repair tool. 

If you have any questions or would like information regarding disability accommodations, please contact us here.

Continuing Education (CE) Information

2 CE contact hours will be provided by GoodTherapy for attending this web conference in its entirety.

To receive CE credit hours for a recorded event, you will need to complete a survey as well as a 15-question exam, verifying that you listened to or watched the event in its entirety. Recorded CE events are generally considered "homestudy" by licensing boards.

GoodTherapy is an Approved Education Provider by NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals (provider #135463). Of the eight counselor skill groups ascribed to by NAADAC, this course is classified within Counseling Services. 

GoodTherapy is an NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEPTM) and may offer NBCC-approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements.

GoodTherapy.org, provider #1352, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. GoodTherapy.org maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 3/30/2022 - 3/30/2025. Social workers completing this course receive 2 clinical continuing education credits.

GoodTherapy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. GoodTherapy maintains responsibility for this program and its content. GoodTherapy.org received APA approval in May 2011. Events after 2011 may meet APA requirements for Continuing Education credits.

GoodTherapy, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0395.

GoodTherapy, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0022 and for licensed mental health counselors #MHC-0031.

To receive CE credit hours for an archived event, you will need to complete a survey as well as a 12 or 15-question exam, verifying that you listened to or watched the event in its entirety. Archived CE events generally are considered "homestudy" by licensing boards.

Registration Information

Premium and Pro Membership with GoodTherapy includes access to this web conference at no additional cost, as well as other member benefits such as a profile listing in GoodTherapy's Therapist Directory. Not yet a member? Sign up for a Premium or Pro Membership, here.

Just want CE credits? Sign up for a monthly or annual CE Subscription with GoodTherapy to get unlimited access to our CE Program, including this event, other live CE web conferences, and hundreds of hours of homestudy courses.

Mental health professionals who are not members can access the homestudy recording for $15.50. Sign up here to purchase this CE course and earn a CE certificate.

If the event is canceled by GoodTherapy, registrants who purchased the event will be notified and the charge for the event will be refunded

If you have any questions or would like information regarding disability accommodations, please contact us.

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