Shame Specialist Certification – Free Training with Patti Ashley
Shame can sit beneath perfectionism, people-pleasing, self-sabotage, and the deeply rooted “I am not enough” story that many clients carry into therapy.
2-Day Shame Specialist Certification Training: Tools for Attachment Trauma, Identity Wounds and the “Not Enough” Story brings together shame-informed clinical concepts and practical treatment strategies with Patti Ashley, PhD, LPC.
You’ll explore how shame relates to attachment injury, trauma, identity formation, nervous-system states, emotional dysregulation, and protective patterns. The training also introduces narrative, somatic, mindfulness-based, experiential, and parts-work approaches for working with shame in the therapeutic relationship.
Through clinical teaching, case examples, and practical interventions, Dr. Ashley offers a framework for recognizing shame more clearly and supporting clients as they develop greater self-compassion, agency, authentic self-expression, and connection.
Why Attend “2-Day Shame Specialist Certification Training”
Shame can appear alongside anxiety, disordered eating, addiction, relationship difficulties, perfectionism, avoidance, people-pleasing, and other patterns that bring clients into therapy. Because shame is closely tied to identity, attachment, and early self-narratives, addressing it directly can require particular care.
Dr. Patti Ashley presents a shame-informed framework that looks beyond surface symptoms to the attachment patterns, nervous-system responses, emotional states, and internalized beliefs associated with core shame.
The training combines clinical concepts with practical interventions, including strategies drawn from narrative therapy, somatic work, mindfulness, imagery, experiential approaches, and parts work. You’ll also explore the therapist’s role in attunement, validation, empathy, rupture repair, and creating greater relational safety.
Who Should Attend
This training is designed for mental health professionals who want a deeper understanding of shame and practical ways to address shame-related patterns in clinical work.
It may be especially useful for professionals whose clients struggle with attachment wounds, trauma, emotional dysregulation, perfectionism, self-criticism, people-pleasing, avoidance, identity difficulties, or persistent feelings of not being good enough.
- Psychotherapists seeking a more shame-informed treatment framework
- Counselors working with trauma, attachment wounds, grief, or dysfunctional family patterns
- Clinicians supporting clients with perfectionism, people-pleasing, avoidance, or self-sabotaging patterns
- Professionals interested in the relationship between shame and nervous-system states
- Therapists who want to integrate narrative, somatic, mindfulness-based, and experiential strategies
- Clinicians interested in parts work and corrective emotional experiences
- Professionals seeking tools for strengthening emotional literacy, agency, self-compassion, and authentic self-expression
What You’ll Learn
You’ll begin by examining shame as a clinical process, including distinctions between shame and guilt, identity-based distress, early attachment injury, trauma, internalized shame schemas, and the ways shame can become embedded in a client’s sense of self.
You’ll then explore how shame interacts with autonomic nervous-system states and emotional dysregulation, along with the importance of attunement, co-regulation, empathy, validation, and relational repair in the therapeutic process.
The training expands into practical interventions drawn from narrative therapy, imagery, somatic approaches, mindfulness, movement, therapeutic art, nature-based strategies, chair work, role play, and parts work, with attention to relevant research, risks, and limitations.
- Clinical distinctions between shame and guilt and why those differences matter
- How attachment injury, trauma, family patterns, and cultural influences can contribute to shame-based identity formation
- How shame may relate to collapse, shutdown, hypervigilance, emotional dysregulation, and maladaptive coping
- Ways to use attunement and co-regulation to support greater relational safety
- Narrative techniques for externalizing shame and working with the “not enough” story
- Self-compassion, mindfulness, breathing, movement, art, and nature-based approaches
- Experiential and parts-work interventions for addressing internalized shame voices and protective patterns
- How validation, empathy, rupture repair, and secure attachment experiences can support dignity and connection
- Strategies for strengthening agency, boundaries, authentic self-expression, and social connection
Training Schedule
The curriculum moves from foundational concepts about shame, attachment, trauma, and emotional regulation into an applied treatment toolbox of narrative, somatic, mindfulness-based, experiential, and parts-work interventions.
Clinical examples and practical exercises help connect the concepts with therapeutic work while maintaining attention to research, limitations, relational dynamics, and professional judgment.
Shame, Attachment & Emotional Regulation
- Shame as a Core Clinical ProcessExplore shame versus guilt, identity-based distress, and shame as a transdiagnostic clinical concern.
- Childhood Attachment Injury, Trauma & the Origin of ShameExamine attachment injury, internalized shame schemas, trauma, dissociation, cultural influences, and relational survival strategies.
- Shame, the Nervous System & Emotional DysregulationConsider collapse, shutdown, hypervigilance, maladaptive coping, attunement, and co-regulation.
- Strategies to Build Emotional Literacy & AgencyExplore discomfort tolerance, anger expression, emotional regulation, and exercises that support greater agency.
The Shame Treatment Toolbox
- Narrative, Somatic, Mindfulness & Complementary ApproachesExplore externalization, imagery, self-compassion, breathing, movement, therapeutic art, and nature-based strategies.
- Experiential & Parts-Work InterventionsUse chair work, role play, attunement, validation, empathy, rupture repair, and work with protective parts.
- Build Shame Resilience & Authentic IdentitySupport self-compassion, agency, connection, authentic self-expression, and healthier boundaries.
About Patti Ashley, PhD, LPC
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.
With more than 25 years of experience as a licensed counselor, Dr. Ashley has worked with individuals, couples, families, and groups in mental health agencies, psychiatric hospitals, and private practice settings. Her clinical work includes trauma, shame, grief, and dysfunctional family patterns.
Dr. Ashley develops and teaches continuing education programs for psychotherapists, physicians, hospital wellness programs, universities, and private organizations. She is also the author of Living in the Shadow of the Too-Good Mother Archetype and Letters to Freedom, and host of The Inner Space Project Podcast.
Optional Upgrade Bonuses
Continuing Education & Certification Application
- An optional paid upgrade offers up to 12.5 continuing education hours
- The upgrade includes the Shame-Informed Treatment Specialist certification application
- Professional and clinical experience standards apply to certification
Shame-Informed Therapy by Dr. Patti Ashley
- A physical copy of Dr. Ashley’s book is included with the continuing education upgrade
- The book explores practical shame-informed treatment strategies and clinical interventions
- Topics include core shame, self-compassion, therapeutic empathy, somatic techniques, and the Four Therapeutic R’s
Frequently Asked Questions
Select any question below to reveal the answer.
What is the Shame Specialist Certification Training?
Who is Patti Ashley, PhD, LPC?
Who is this training for?
What clinical approaches are covered?
Does the training address attachment trauma?
Does the training cover the nervous system?
Does the training include parts work?
Is the training free?
Is continuing education credit available?
How does the certification option work?
Is Dr. Ashley’s book included?
Will the training address the “not enough” story?
Will self-compassion and agency be covered?
Does the training discuss research, risks, and limitations?
The contents of this website/e-mail and this event are for general informational and educational purposes only. They are not legal, tax, accounting, financial, employment, compliance, clinical, or other professional advice. Consult appropriately qualified professionals about decisions specific to your practice, jurisdiction, clients, and circumstances.
We are grateful to be of service and bring you these life-changing events free of charge. In order to do this, please note that whenever you click the links and purchase items, in most (not all) cases we will receive a referral commission. We may receive a listing fee for publishing this event.
Your support in purchasing through these links makes it possible for people in over 150 countries globally to attend these life-changing events for free. Thank you!
Join Patti Ashley, PhD, LPC, for practical clinical education on shame, attachment, identity, nervous-system responses, and integrative treatment strategies.
- Jan 11 - 12 2027
- 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
Local Time
- Timezone: America/New_York
- Date: Jan 11 - 12 2027
- Time: 11:00 am - 9:00 pm
More Info
- Worldwide
