Trauma & Dissociation:

Coercive Control

Friday, February 20th - VIRTUAL ONLINE - live interactive virtual course

8-11 PST / 9-Noon MST / 10-1 CST / 11-2 EST

3 CE’s available for psychologists in Washington.

3 CE's available for counselors and marriage and family therapists in:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, DC, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

Trauma & Dissociation: Coercive Control, course number XXXX, is [NOT YET] approved by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program to be offered by Emma Sunshaw as an individual course. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE course approval period XXX. SOCIAL WORK CEs PENDING.

For CE credit, your zoom sign-in must match your registration name and email. Course completion requirements must include attending the entire course and completing evaluation. Certificates will be issued by email within the week following the training. Please contact us if you have not received your certificate by Friday, February 27th, 2026.

For CE credit, your zoom sign-in must match your registration name and email.

This event will be recorded, and it is for CLINICIANS ONLY.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Registration Deadline: Friday, February 13th, 2026.
Cancellations up through Friday, February 13th, 2026 may be credited for a different training.

ADA Accommodations: Zoom captions will be enabled as needed.
Contact us HERE for other ADA accommodation requests by Friday, February 13th, 2026.


COURSE DESCRIPTION:


This training examines coercive control as a relational trauma system that shapes dissociation, identity fragmentation, attachment distortions, and long-term recovery trajectories. We will explore intimate partner violence (IPV), spiritual abuse, psychological coercion, gaslighting, threat-based attachment, trauma-bonding, and the neurobiology of domination/submission cycles. Special attention will be given to how dissociation functions both as a survival necessity and as a target of coercive tactics. The course integrates research from trauma studies, dissociation, feminist theory, IPV advocacy frameworks, and clinical practice with complex trauma survivors.

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES:

  • Define coercive control and identify at least four core tactics used in IPV and relational domination.

  • Describe the relationship between coercive control, freeze responses, and dissociative processes.

  • Distinguish coercive control from situational couple violence and conflict-based aggression.

  • Identify three common presentations of coercively controlled dissociative survivors.

  • Apply trauma-informed strategies for safety planning, stabilization, and treatment pacing.

AGENDA TIMELINE (3 Hours):

Welcome, Framing, & CE Housekeeping (10 minutes)

  • Introductions, community agreements, grounding

  • Course overview and learning objectives

  • Defining “coercive control”: pattern, not incident

  • Why this matters for dissociation and complex trauma

Understanding Coercive Control (40 minutes)

  • Stark’s framework: domination, entrapment, micro-regulations

  • Coercion vs. conflict: differentiating IPV typologies

  • Tactics overview:

    • Surveillance & monitoring

    • Gaslighting and perceptual control

    • Isolation from social, financial, and spiritual resources

    • Exploitation, degradation, and rule-changing

    • Threats, punishment, and fear conditioning

  • Who is at risk? (attachment needs, developmental trauma, systemic oppression)

Coercive Control as Relational Trauma (40 minutes)

  • Betrayal trauma (Freyd)

  • Entrapment and trauma bonding

  • Threat-based attachment

  • Identity shrinkage, submission, shame

  • Dissociation as survival:

    • Freeze, faint, and appease

    • Fragmentation & compartmentalization

    • Loss of self-agency and autonomy

  • Why abusers target dissociation (compliance, confusion, control)

Clinical Presentations in Survivors (30 minutes)

  • Common presentations:

    • Confusion, disorientation, memory gaps

    • Emotional withdrawal or flatness

    • Submissive/appeasing relational patterns

    • Identity deactivation (“I lost myself”)

    • Parts conflict: protector vs. fawn vs. fear-based loyalty

  • Distinguishing coercive control effects from:

    • BPD

    • PTSD

    • Attachment disorders

    • “Mutual conflict” mislabeling

  • Clinical red flags of ongoing coercion in therapy

Assessment, Safety, and Stabilization (30 minutes)

  • Screening for coercive control (direct and indirect questions)

  • Assessing dissociation without increasing danger

  • Mapping control systems (System Speak: bridges / thresholds / internal contracts)

  • Working with ambivalence, attachment to the abuser, and trauma-bonding

  • Safety planning for dissociative clients

    • Slow pace

    • Parts-informed risk assessment

    • Confidentiality, technology safety, mandated reporting

  • Special considerations in LGBTQ+, immigrant, spiritually abusive, and disability contexts

Treatment Strategies (30 minutes)

  • Stabilization first: resourcing, body literacy, orienting

  • Undoing gaslighting through co-regulated reality anchoring

  • Rebuilding autonomy and self-agency (“micro-choices”)

  • Working with parts harmed or trained through coercion

  • Repairing identity and strengthening self-states

  • Boundaries, relational pacing, and therapeutic neutrality

  • Supporting survivors through separation, court processes, or community responses

Integration, Q&A, and CE Evaluation

  • Key takeaways

  • Resources for practitioners

  • Evaluation and certificate reminders


SPEAKER BIO:

Emma Sunshaw, Ph.D., has a Bachelor's Degree in Human Development, a Master's Degree in Professional Counseling, and her Doctorate is in Marriage and Family Therapy. As a licensed clinical counselor, she has been in private practice since 2003 and licensed and working in the field since 1999, with additional experience in ER triage, inpatient psychiatric, residential treatment, school-based, and outpatient settings.

She is a current clinical honorarium of the Harvard University Women Kennedy School of Government Women and Public Policy Program. 

She is on faculty with the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), and teaches beginning, intermediate, and advanced courses about complex trauma and dissociative disorders.

She offers frequent trainings for therapists and psychoeducational classes for peer support groups.

She has served as the international clinical coordinator for humanitarian aid organizations offering counseling and trauma resiliency training to government leaders, humanitarian aid workers, and first responders in war zones and natural disaster sites. Dr. Sunshaw has published articles, written books, and she lectures internationally about trauma and resiliency.