- Guilt vs. core shame
- Neurophysiological effects of trauma, attachment disorders, and core shame
- Developmental theories relevant to emotional safety
- The evolution of social-emotional development
- Polyvagal theory, neuroception and shame
- Trauma, shame and subsequent adult attachment styles
- Reactions that develop in attempts to find safety
- How clients use perfectionism to keep shame at bay
- Anger, rage and blame
- How trauma and shame-based beliefs or “stories” impact clients
- Nonverbal, implicit, and sensory aspects of trauma and shame
- Interview questions for assessing shame in relationships and current patterns
- Subtle cues of shame in the therapy room
- Why self-compassion is so hard to access
- Attunement as the key to therapeutic change
- Assessing adult attachment styles and shame
- Exercises to establish safety and trust
- Co-regulation strategies that create safety in the therapeutic relationship
- Self-assessment: identifying your own shame
- Interest inventories and values assessment
- Psycho-educational opportunities that demystify shame
Use the Present Moment and Movement to Build Calm and Release Shame
- The importance of non-judgmental awareness
- Breathing techniques to bring emotional and physical calm
- Mandalas as a meditation tool
- Mindfulness and meditation apps for clients
- Reconnect to the self with nature therapy strategies
- Self-compassion, forgiveness, and gratitude exercises
- The role of yoga, dance, and movement in mediating shame
Re-Write Trauma-Based Shame Stories into Safety and Being Enough
- Narrative therapy techniques to externalize clients’ feelings of shame
- Self-compassionate visualization and letter-writing interventions
- Homework assignments, prompts and using timelines
- Re-storying shame scripts and stepping into strength
- Creating, telling and using metaphors to de-shame trauma responses
- Therapeutic art techniques – how clients can process pain outside of themselves
- Combining top-down and bottom-up strategies in treatment
- Compassion and forgiveness exercises to let go of anger
- Choice Awareness Training for eating disorders and disordered eating
- How internalized shame can deepen depression
- Mediate the stress and anxiety of perfection with self-acceptance
- Addressing the shame of relapse with substance use disorders
- Research, risks and treatment limitations




