Understanding Shame: An Introduction for Therapists

Presented by Sheila Rubin, MA, LMFT, RDT/BCT on 05-13-2022 at 9 a.m. Pacific (noon Eastern) to 11 a.m. Pacific (2 p.m. Eastern)

This workshop provides essential, introductory knowledge for mental health professionals to understand the mysterious emotion of shame. Shame is perhaps the most painful of all emotions. It can be at the root of depression, substance abuse, and both the inner critic and perfectionism. It can bind with other emotions, such as anger and fear, so it is often hard to detect. Also, revealing shame can be in itself shameful. For some, even saying the word “shame” can feel embarrassing or shameful. Shame is often invisible and thrives on secrecy. Any time there are differences between people, there can be shame. Shame can be healthy or toxic; understanding the difference can help people better regulate their nervous systems so they can be kinder to themselves and others.

Shame is the breaking of the interpersonal bridge and heals through the restoration of the interpersonal bridge. It is the clinician's job to find ways to restore that interpersonal bridge in therapy--to be able to help the client gently explore what may be. Shame is the secret conversation going on inside, and it is often under depression and anxiety. Due to the special nature of shame, it cannot be worked with in the same ways as other primary emotions--it requires unique strategies.

In this 2-hour introductory continuing education webinar, Sheila Rubin, LMFT will explain strategies for clinicians to stop getting stuck in their clients' shame freeze and stop following them down an endless shame vortex. Often when a client goes into a shame state, the therapist follows them in a shame countertransference. This is a key moment in the therapy work. Sheila will help therapists learn ways to sit with shame that may come up within themselves as a key to the transformation of their clients' shame. She will also review a map that can explain people's reactions to shame. Additionally, she will help therapists understand the hidden shame under depression that can lead to suicidality and review tools for working with shame to prevent suicide. 

This introductory continuing education web conference is designed to help mental health professionals:

  1. Explain the continuum of shame for psychoeducation to teach clients.
  2. List four reactions to shame for psychoeducation to teach clients.
  3. Distinguish the differences between shame and other primary emotions.
  4. Utilize techniques to counter feelings of shame.
  5. Identify the differences between healthy shame and toxic shame and develop a kind inner coach.
  6. Describe the inner stories and inner conversations a client may tell themselves when they feel shame and describe strategies to develop a new coherent narrative that includes healthy shame, resilience, and creativity.

Declaration of any conflict of interest: None indicated.

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

Continuing Education (CE) Information

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

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 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, 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 attend this live web conference for $29.95 or access the homestudy recording for $14.95. 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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Meet the Presenter

Sheila Rubin, MA, LMFT, RDT/BCT

Sheila Rubin, MA, LMFT, RDT/BCT

Sheila Rubin, MA, MFT, RDT/BCT is a Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice in Berkeley, California. She is a leading authority on healing shame. She co-created the Healing Shame – Lyon/Rubin method and is the Co-Director of the Center for Healing Shame, a continuing education provider that offers Healing Shame workshops to therapists and other helping professionals. She has delivered talks, presentations, and workshops across the country and around the world for over 25 years.

Sheila is a Registered Drama Therapist and Board Certified Trainer through North American Drama Therapy Association. She has studied Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy with Diana Fosha and Emotionally-Focused Therapy with Sue Johnson. She is a graduate of California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and past adjunct faculty for the CIIS Drama Therapy Program and JFK University’s Somatic Psychology Department. Sheila has developed therapy techniques integrating somatic and expressive processes to work with the all-pervasive shame and trauma that can underlie eating disorders, addictions, and toxic family dynamics.

Sheila’s expertise, teaching, and writing contributions have been featured in numerous publications, including seven books and the Sounds True audio program, "Healing Shame." She is also the creator of Embodied Life Story Workshops, a theater for shy people, and a form of Drama Therapy she established 20 years ago that weaves writing, Jungian dreamwork, imagination, and improvisation into embodied storytelling. She has directed over 25 self-revelatory performances for CIIS Drama Therapy students for their capstone projects as well as hundreds of Life Stories performances in her Embodied Life Story classes and at conferences.

Sheila offers therapy through her private practice in Berkeley and offers consultation to therapists over Zoom. To download her free guidebook, Resilience and Hidden Shame, please visit SheilaRubin.com.

For more information about Sheila and Bret Lyon’s Healing Same workshops for helping professionals, please visit HealingShame.com.

Continuing Education Provider Approvals

  • aceGoodTherapy.org is Approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. GoodTherapy.org maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
  • Logo GoodTherapy.org has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6380. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. GoodTherapy.org is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
  • aceGoodTherapy.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: 03/30/2022 - 03/30/2025.
  • GoodTherapy.org, 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.org, 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.

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