Treating Shame in Clinical Practice-Somatic Strategies and Self-Compassion – Matthew J. Modrcin

• Help clients overcome their shame – a major underlying reason therapeutic gains aren’t being made!
• Learn how to work with emergence and the regulation of shame affective states
• Strategies for somatic processing of shame
• Strategies for disrupting shame identity and strengthening compassion capacity

How often do you and your clients come to an impasse in the therapeutic process? Change appears stalled and your clients’ progress is limited – and for most of us in clinical practice, navigating this impasse is challenging.

In this workshop you will learn how to identify and work with shame to restore the therapeutic alliance and re-engage the client in their process of change. Shame is not only a highly toxic affective state but also an embodied experience. In a constant state of vigilance against additional exposure to shaming events, the client is unable to access internal healing resources and is often reluctant to engage in therapy.

If you miss the tell-tale signs of shame, you not only rupture the therapeutic alliance – you’ll hinder any progress toward healing. Like me at one time in my practice, and like many others in our field, you have difficulty identifying shame, as the experience is often disguised as avoidance, rage, anger or sadness.

Leave the seminar armed with superior skills of seeing when shame is present, how it is adversely impacting the therapeutic alliance, and why progress has stalled – and give the client strategies to replace shame with self-compassion.