2-Day: The "Not Good Enough" Treatment Plan: A Certified Shame-Informed Treatment Specialist Training

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts

Speaker

Patti Ashley, PhD, LPC Related seminars and products

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Patti Ashley, PhD, LPC, is a psychotherapist, international speaker and best-selling author of Shame-Informed Therapy: Treatment Strategies to Overcome Core Shame and Reconstruct the Authentic Self (PESI Publishing, 2020).

With over 20 years of experience as a licensed counselor, Dr. Ashley brings unique insights into the identification and treatment of trauma, shame, grief and dysfunctional family patterns. She has counseled individuals, couples, families and groups in mental health agencies, psychiatric hospitals, and private practice settings. She currently maintains a private practice in Colorado where her Authenticity Architecture model helps clients break through unconscious barriers and rediscover a sense of self-love, belong, and connection.

In addition to her book for psychotherapists, Dr. Ashley is the author of Living in the Shadow of the Too-Good Mother Archetype (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, 2014) and Letters to Freedom (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, 2019). In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Ashley develops and teaches continuing education courses for psychotherapists, physicians, hospital wellness programs, universities, and several private organizations.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Patti Ashley has an employment relationship with Authenticity Architects. She receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Ashley receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Patti Ashley has no relevant non-financial relationships.

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Objectives

1. Articulate how shame influences various mental health conditions.  
2. Identify factors frequently related to the experience of shame.  
3. Explain the relationship between Polyvagal theory and the neurobiology of shame and trauma.  
4. Identify the four characteristics of empathy.  
5. Compare elements of family systems’ therapies, authenticity, shame, and the false self/true self.  
6. Utilize mindfulness, meditation, and HRV coherence exercises.  
7. Explain the role of yoga, dance, movement, and somatic practices in mediating shame and trauma.  
8. Identify how perfectionism, co-dependency, and other behaviour patterns are defenses against shame.  
9. Utilize somatic and mindfulness approaches to enhance emotional regulation. 
10. Recognize the impact of attachment on self-worth.  
11. Paraphrase how shame relates to body image, disordered eating, and self- worth.  
12. Categorize the role of self-compassion in the relationship between shame-proneness and self-forgiveness.

Outline

The Neurobiology of Attachment and Self-Worth

• Attachment and early brain development
• Social-emotional development
• Shame-based identify formation
• Why self-compassion is so hard to access
• Shame-based parenting and the first six years of life
• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES)
• Cultural influences

Shame through the Lens of Polyvagal Theory

• Understanding the vagus nerve
• ANS hierarchy – implications for emotional states and self-perception
• Neuroception’s role in assessing safety
• The power of co-regulation, emotional safety, and connection
• Stephen Porges’ four therapeutic “R”s

Create a Safe Therapeutic Environment to Process Shame

• Attunement as the key to therapeutic change
• Co-regulating safety and equal power in the therapeutic relationship
• Creating a holding environment
• Therapists as attachment figures
• Safe emergencies
• Epigenetics and neuroplasticity

Identify Core Shame and Feelings of “Never Good Enough”

• Recognizing implicit cues
• Non-verbal and non-linear awareness
• Attachment styles
• Pinpointing developmental traumas
• Strategies of disconnection
• Perfectionism, co-dependency, addiction, rage, disordered eating and other manifestations

Empathy as a Catalyst in The Therapy Room: The First Step in the Journey from Shame to Self-Worth

• Person-centered psychotherapy
• Empathy as a right-brain activity
• Mirror neurons role in paving the path of empathy
• Four characteristics of empathy
• Therapist self-assessment
• Four non-linear skills

Strategies to Build Clients Emotional Literacy and Agency

• Teaching clients to tolerate discomfort and embrace paradox
• Productive ways to express anger
• Emotional regulation ABCs and exercises
• Excavation exercise
• Connecting the emotional dots to early childhood trauma and shame

Family Systems, Authenticity and Somatic Embodiment: Writing a New Narrative of Self-Love and Compassion

• Functional vs. familiar dysfunctional family systems
• Virginia Satir’s Five Freedoms
• Brene’ Brown’s definition of love and belonging
• Defining authenticity
• Identifying emotional safety
• Old story/new story
• The somatic embodying of the new story
• The Hero’s Journey

The Shame Treatment Toolbox: Attacking “Not Enough” with Somatic, Mindfulness, and Complementary Approaches

• Narrative therapy techniques to externalize clients’ feelings of shame
• Self-compassionate visualization and letterwriting interventions
• Mindfulness for non-judgmental awareness
• Breathing techniques to bring emotional and physical calm
• Therapeutic art techniques – how clients can process pain outside of themselves
• The role of yoga, dance, and movement in mediating shame
• Reconnect to the self with nature therapy strategies

Evidence, Research Limitations, and Treatment Risks

• Examining the research and research limitations on discussed techniques
• Addressing potential risks
• Contraindications and other considerations

Compassion Fatigue and Self-Care

• Vulnerability, humility, self-awareness, and courage
• Support systems
• Remember the oxygen mask
• Healthy boundaries

Target Audience

• Counsellors
• Social Workers
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Psychologists
• Psychiatrists
• Physicians
• Addictions Counsellors
• Psychiatric Nurses
• Nurse Practitioners