Full Course Description

Abandonment, Neglect and Developmental Trauma

Gently establish safety and trust with clients who push away connection
Tools to help clients silence their inner critic
Break cycles of perfectionism, self-sabotage and people pleasing
Step-by-step interventions you can implement immediately

You see so many clients like this … the ones who desperately seek connection yet push everyone away. People-pleasers trapped in perfectionism. Clients who self-medicate to survive the relentless ache inside.

Their early wounds and childhood traumas have shaped everything for them. Because when parents and caregivers were inconsistent, unavailable, or emotionally neglectful …

… your clients learned that love is conditional, connection is unsafe, and their needs don’t matter.

But treating these clients isn’t easy. They come to therapy with chronic shame, fear of intimacy, and relational patterns that are hard to break.

And every moment of trust can unravel in an instant. Every attempt at vulnerability is met with self-protective withdrawal. And every breakthrough feels fragile and easily undone.

That’s why we teamed up with expert Kaytee Gillis, LCSW to create this essential training.

An experienced clinician whose work has been featured in TIME magazine, BBC world news and Women’s Health magazine – she’s a survivor and best-selling author of Healing from Parental Abandonment and Neglect.

Kaytee has spent her career helping clients heal from the wounds of abandonment trauma. And now, she’ll guide you through a simple step-by-step framework, full of in-depth instruction, case examples, and demonstrations so you can:

Identify abandonment trauma and unhealthy attachment patterns
Recognize, reframe, and replace long-standing trauma responses clients live with
Help clients undo shame with understanding and self-compassion
Silence the inner critic that perpetuates cycles of self-blame
Apply a clinical toolkit to establish safety, security and repair attachment wounds
And much more!

PLUS you’ll be able to integrate these techniques with DBT, IFS, EMDR, CPT, and other modalities you may already be using in sessions.

Purchase now!

Program Information

Objectives

Examine the impact of abandonment and parental emotional neglect on the development of trauma and later adult functioning.
Identify the clinical relevance of childhood trauma’s impact on attachment styles and adult relationships.
Evaluate the impact of parental abandonment on the development of shame and self-blame in clients.
Utilize clinical strategies to reduce shame and avoidance by reframing client behaviors as trauma adaptations rather than pathology.
Choose validation, journaling, and modeling interventions with clients with histories of abandonment or neglect to establish safety, work with critical inner dialogues, and build self-compassion.
Use a phase-based treatment approach with adult clients in treatment for childhood trauma.

Outline

Abandonment, Attachment and Developmental Trauma 101

Overview
Influences in fields of trauma
What is abandonment trauma?
Developmental trauma & attachment-related trauma

Symptoms, Effects and Comorbidities

Intersectionality
Developmental trauma’s impact on the developing brain and personality
Symptoms & effects of abandonment trauma
Comorbidities and somatic symptoms
Trauma’s effect on health

Impacts on Attachment on Relationships, Parenting and More

Attachment theory and case examples
Attachment disruptions and emotional regulation
Impacts of abandonment trauma on relationships
Educational impacts
Parenting impacts
Psychoeducation to help clients understand their younger selves

Assessment and Trauma Treatment Using a 3 Phase Approach

Common survival responses: behaviors/outcomes/personality traits
Trauma-informed assessment principles
Assess PTSD & C-PTSD (symptoms, impairment, duration)
Treatment planning: goals, objectives, and progress markers
When to refer out
3 Phase trauma treatment support model:
- Phase 1: Stabilization & safety (rapport, psychoeducation, grounding)
- Phase 2: processing (methods, managing dissociation, journaling)
- Phase 3: integration & reconnection
Practice activity: grounding/self-regulation
Risk assessment & differential diagnosis
Research, risks and limitations

Negative Internal Dialogues, Shame and Emotional Flooding: Journaling, Guided Imagery and Reframing Techniques and Interventions

Modeling safe adult presence to help attachment trauma
Monitor and reframe negative internal dialogue
Journaling, grounding, guided imagery, art
Support with symptom and relational setbacks
Clinical strategies for managing shame and emotional flooding
Research, risks and limitations

Target Audience

Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Social Workers
Psychologists
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Registered Psychotherapists
Physicians
Nurse Practitioners
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 03/06/2026

Adult Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers

Dozens of tools for core shame, internalized criticism and more
Confidently navigate emotional enmeshment
Best practices to restore emotional safety and authentic identity
Keys to “low contact” and “no contact”

Anxiety, perfectionism, or relationships that never seem to work …

… whatever brings them to you, so many clients describe a childhood that wasn’t that bad” with a mother who was “hard to please.”

But when you start exploring that maternal relationship, the room changes. Defenses come up.

There’s loyalty. Confusion. Shame. Attachment is anxious, avoidant – or both. And their identity? Well, it feels entirely shaped by others’ expectations.

That’s why therapist and author of Recovering from Narcissistic Mothers: A Daughter's Workbook, Ellen Biros, created this one-day training …

… to give you a clear blueprint to identify and skillfully treat the core wounds these clients carry so they can reclaim their voice, rebuild their identity, and create relationships rooted in authenticity and self-respect.

When you watch Ellen, she’ll show you how to:

Spot the subtle but powerful markers of narcissistic parenting and attachment trauma
Work with core shame, internalized criticism, and identity confusion
Help clients navigate loyalty binds, complex grief, and emotional enmeshment
Use clinical strategies to restore self-agency, emotional safety, and authentic identity

PLUS you’ll learn how you can best help clients navigate decisions around low contact, no contact, or strategic interaction.

Whether you’ve had one client like this or dozens, you know how stuck these cases can feel – and how painful it is for clients to remain trapped in old dynamics.

This training gives you the tools to help them break that cycle – and finally begin to heal.

Purchase now!

Program Information

Objectives

Identify the relevance of attachment theory principles to psychosocial development.
Examine how parenting styles contribute to the development of early maladaptive schemas.
Determine how maternal parentification impacts clients’ cognitions, behavioral patterns, and identity in adulthood.
Evaluate the role of parental enmeshment, control, and boundary violations in shaping clients’ relational expectations and conflict responses in adulthood.
Use self-compassion, somatic, reparenting and self-soothing interventions to help clients restore identity, agency, and emotional regulation.
Identify and address countertransference reactions in therapeutic practice to maintain professional boundaries.

Outline

NPD, the Narcissistic Parenting Style and Its Impact

Define narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder
Identify narcissistic traits in parental dynamics
Common behaviors and manipulation tactics
Role reversal and parentification
The interplay between narcissism and codependency
How maternal narcissism distorts emotional development

The Daughter’s Role in the Narcissistic Family System

The scapegoat, the golden child, the invisible child
Emotional survival strategies and learned helplessness
Core developmental injuries: shame, self-doubt, perfectionism
Common adult symptoms: anxiety, people-pleasing, identity disturbance

Attachment Trauma in the Context of Narcissistic Parenting

How narcissistic parenting disrupts secure attachment
Emotional neglect, gaslighting, and chronic invalidation
Fear of abandonment, rejection sensitivity, and relational hypervigilance
Role confusion and identify struggles

Complex PTSD and the Long-Term Impact

Differentiate PTSD from Complex PTSD (C-PTSD)
Neurological and somatic consequences of prolonged emotional abuse
The chronic nature of relational trauma and its ripple effects

Build a Trauma-Informed Therapeutic Alliance

Establish trust and emotional safety in therapy
Validate ambiguous, minimized, or forgotten abuse
Recognize and working through transference and countertransference dynamics
Therapist boundaries and emotional resilience

Clinical Strategies and Targeted Interventions for Attachment Injury, Empowerment, Identity Restoration and More

Techniques to rebuild self-identity and autonomy
Help clients recognize and deconstruct internalized criticism
Teach assertiveness, boundary-setting, and emotional regulation
Encourage self-compassion, resilience, and post-traumatic growth
Attachment-based and relational interventions
Reparenting strategies and inner child work
Somatic practices and self-soothing techniques
Research, risks and limitations

Helping Clients Navigate Decisions around Low Contact and No Contact

How to assess current contact and relational patterns
Identify ongoing manipulation, guilt, and emotional control
Explore the client’s values and goals around contact
Boundary-setting methods and communication scripts
Disengagement

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Physicians
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Nurses
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 12/09/2025

Family of Origin Wounds

So many of our clients carry deeply entrenched wounds from their family of origin, but how do you really explore and heal these “origin wounds” in therapy without your client endlessly talking about their childhood? In this workshop, you’ll learn how to work specifically with clients whose current patterns and problems stem from these early experiences. You’ll be able to help clients identify, understand, and heal lingering wounds from their family that overshadow their present life. You’ll discover:

The five core “origin wounds” and help clients understand their impact in their present life and adult relationships
Specific techniques such as the Origin Healing Practice for working with these origin wounds on both a somatic and cognitive level
Strategies for working with couples or individuals in relationships who grapple with individual origin wounds that impact their romantic relationship.

Program Information

Objectives

Discuss the connection between clients' presenting concerns and their family of origin roots. 
Describe 5 core wounds that are created in our family of origin.
Summarize the Origin Healing Practice framework for working with clients and their origin wounds.
Implement at least one intervention related to origin wounds to assist couples in navigating conflict and improve communication.

Outline

Understanding the connection between presenting concerns and family of origin routs
Key questions and prompts you can use to help clients identify their role in their family of origin 
How and why we conceal our wounds both as children and as adults
The 5 Core Wounds and Their Origins 
The essential role of the Origin Healing practice and steps to take to utilize it successfully
Using family of origin work in couples therapy
Navigating origin wounds with couples
Risks and limitations

Target Audience

Psychologists
Physicians
Nurses
Counselors
Marriage and Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Social Workers

Copyright : 03/22/2024

Grieving the Lost Childhood: A Somatic Approach to Healing Past Wounds

How we deal with loss is complicated by a society that recognizes only certain types of losses. The loss of a safe and loving childhood may not be an obvious one, but therapists know the cost to their clients when it's not acknowledged. When left unprocessed, the intense pain of grief often leads to anger, either towards their attachment figures or themselves. In order to help clients safely grieve the wounds of childhood, we must have the right tools. In this session, you’ll discover a mindfulness-based somatic approach that:

Uses the body to achieve the optimal levels of sadness needed to process grief
Increases our clients’ ability to not only tolerate grief but befriend it in order to live at peace with losses from childhood
Diminishes the effects of isolation and loneliness in the past and present

Program Information

Objectives

Assess the physical and emotional consequences of acute loss.
Distinguish 3 variables associated with complicated bereavement.
Develop a practice of mindful grieving with clients.
Demonstrate 2 somatic-oriented interventions for regulating the intensity of grief.

Outline

The physical and emotional consequences of acute loss
The key factors that complicate the grieving process and how to help in therapy
How to facilitate “mindful grieving” in therapy
Implementing Somatic interventions for regulating the intensity of sorrow

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Physicians
Physician Assistants
Nurses
Nurse Practitioners
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 03/19/2023

Cross-Generational Trauma and Personality: How Overwhelming Experiences, Genetics, and Epigenetics Shape Who We Are and Who We Can Become

This presentation will explore the Patterns of Developmental Pathways (PDP) framework of personality and how traumatic attachment experiences may interact with innate temperament – influenced by both genetic and epigenetic factors – shape the enduring patterns of emotion and its regulation, thinking and meaning-making, and behavioral habits that we call “personality.” Understanding the role of subcortical influences on motivation and affect can greatly help in gaining insights into how overwhelming experiences early in life may impact the cortical learning that contributes to our adaptive strategies of survival. Practical applications of this PDP approach to working clinically with those who’ve experienced various challenges to secure attachment including developmental trauma will be explored. Cultural influences on how each of these patterns of personality express themselves in life will be discussed.

Program Information

Objectives

Catalogue three sub-cortical motivational networks underlying patterns of developmental pathways.
Determine three forms of “attendancy” that shape the direction of attention.
Determine how traumatic attachment influences the intensity of temperament.
Catalogue nine patterns of developmental pathways.
Identify the relationship between attachment and temperament in the formation of personality.

Outline

Attachment vs Temperament in forming personality
Three sub-cortical networks that underly development
Three forms of “attendancy” that shape our attention
Traumatic attachment in the development of personality
Nine patterns of development pathways

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

You know this client.

The adult child of emotionally immature, insensitive, self-absorbed, or controlling parents.

Session after fruitless session, you find yourself drained as they make the same self-destructive choices, again and again, struggle to set healthy boundaries and continue to fall prey to coercive tactics that put others emotional needs over their own.

How can we set them free, rescue their potential, and restore their confidence so they can become the person they were always meant to be?

Lindsay C. Gibson, PsyD is the Amazon #1 Best Selling Author of Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting or Self-Involved Parents.

Watch as she shows you how your clients can avoid emotional takeovers and take the first step toward reversing their toxic psychological legacy and reclaiming their lives!

Program Information

Outline

End Emotional Takeovers by Emotionally Immature Parents

Definition of Emotional Takeovers
Three Options To Help Clients Strengthen Against Emotional Takeovers
Characteristics of Emotional Immaturity
Emotionally Immature Relationship System
How Clients Get Pulled Into Emotional Takeovers
Teaching New Behaviors When Reacting to Emotionally Immature Parents
Utilizing In Session The Three Options To Help Clients Strengthen Against Emotional Takeovers

Objectives

Integrate characteristics of emotional immaturity into individual and group psychotherapy sessions.
Implement techniques to help clients strengthen against emotional takeovers.
Create effective methods to help clients understand how they might get pulled into emotional takeovers and how to positively react.

Target Audience

Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Social Workers
Psychologists
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Therapists
Physicians
Other Mental Health Professionals

Resilience through Attachment: Navigating Trauma and Addictions from Childhood: Navigating Trauma and Addictions from Childhood

Daniel Siegel spoke of the human dilemma of not being the “fittest” but learning how to “fit.” In this workshop, we explore the critical connection between early childhood trauma, addiction patterns, and the influence of personality-disordered parents. Discover how to integrate authoritative and secure attachment techniques into therapeutic relationships, fostering safety and regulation in complex and traumatized clients. Join us in understanding the vital principles required for this transformational process.

Program Information

Objectives

Examine the foundations of healthy attachment and effective parenting styles, including the impact of personality-disordered parents on early childhood development.
Analyze various parenting styles in the context of therapeutic interventions, considering their significance in addressing trauma and addiction patterns.
Develop trauma-sensitive techniques with neurobiologically-grounded principles to enhance the experience of felt safety in complex and traumatized clients.

Outline

Overview

Briefly introduce the topic of resilience through attachment.
Highlight the importance of addressing trauma and addictions.
Mention the relevance of narcissism and alcoholism in this context.

Understanding Resilience

Define resilience and its significance in mental health.
Discuss the role of attachment in fostering resilience.
Share research findings on resilience factors.

Trauma and its Impact

Explain what trauma is and its various forms.
Discuss how trauma can disrupt attachment.
Present case studies or real-life examples.

Addictions and Attachment

Explore the relationship between addictions and attachment.
Discuss the emotional needs that addictions may fulfill.
Address the challenges of breaking free from addictive behaviors.

Resilience Strategies

Provide practical strategies for building resilience.
Emphasize the role of healthy attachments in the recovery process.
Offer tips for individuals struggling with trauma and addiction.

Narcissism and Alcoholism

Dive into the connections between narcissism, alcoholism, and attachment.
Explain how these factors can influence one another.
Share relevant studies or case examples.

Target Audience

Addiction Counselor
Counselor
Marriage and Family Therapists
Physicians
Psychologists
Social Workers