Trauma & Dissociation:
Ethics & Law in Treatment
(Includes Boundaries & Transference & Counter-Transference)
VIRTUAL
Friday, September 26th
9-4 PST / 10-5 MST / 11-6 CST / 12-7 EST
6 Ethics (including boundaries and transference/counter-transference) CE's available for counselors in:
Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma.
Social Workers: CEs Pending
Trauma & Dissociation: A History, A Culture, and a Four-Phased Treatment Model, [course number], is [PENDING] 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 [dates]. Social workers completing this course receive [number] [type*] continuing education credits.
(Social Workers PENDING: 6 Ethics Credits)
This event will be recorded, and it is for CLINICIANS ONLY.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course explores the ethical complexities of working with individuals who have experienced complex trauma and dissociation. Participants will examine the interplay of power, informed consent, boundaries, and structural oppression within trauma therapy. Grounded in relational and liberation-focused ethics, the course equips social workers to navigate dilemmas such as coercion, reenactment, and cultural betrayal, fostering safer, more attuned therapeutic relationships.
WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES:
Identify at least three ethical dilemmas common in complex trauma work (e.g., transference, reenactments).
Apply trauma-informed and culturally responsive strategies to address power and double binds in therapy.
Evaluate boundary-setting practices in dissociative clients through the lens of relational attunement and client autonomy.
Describe how to operationalize informed consent as an ongoing, relational process with clients who experience dissociation.
AGENDA TIMELINE (6 Hours):
10 min Welcome, framing ethics in trauma therapy
50 min Foundations of ethical decision-making:
• Competing values
• Trauma-informed vs compliance-based ethics
• Ethical principles across helping professions40 min Informed consent as ongoing dialogue
• Dissociation, memory, and parts
• Cultural access and relational consent10 min – Break
60 min Power, coercion, and double binds in trauma work
• Avoiding reenactments
• Fawning, fear, and relational complexity
• Case examples and reframing dynamics45 min Boundaries with complex trauma and dissociation
• Rigid vs relational boundaries
• Navigating parts with differing needs
• Dual relationships and systemic context60 min – Lunch Break
45 min Cultural and structural ethics
• Institutional betrayal
• Liberation psychology and decolonizing practice
• Centering community and safety10 min – Break
45 min Ethical rupture and repair
20 min Apology, attunement, and modeling accountability
25 min Realignment with parts and systems10 min – Closing reflections and next steps
• Ethical self-reflection prompts
• Sustaining relational ethics in practice
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. Dr. Sunshaw currently serves as faculty and as the Training Program Coordinator for the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD). 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.