Trauma & Dissociation:
Psychodynamic & Relational Treatment
Friday, April 24th - VIRTUAL ONLINE - live interactive virtual course
8-3 PST / 9-4 MST / 10-5 CST / 11-6 EST
6 CE’s available for psychologists in Washington.
6 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.
Social Workers:
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, April 30th, 2026.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Registration Deadline: Friday, April 16th, 2026.
Cancellations up through Friday, April 16th, 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, April 16th, 2026.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This training provides a clear, accessible overview of psychodynamic and relational approaches to treating dissociative disorders. Grounded in contemporary attachment theory, relational psychoanalysis, and the ISSTD Guidelines, the course explores how dissociation develops within early relational trauma and how these patterns emerge in the therapeutic relationship. Participants will learn how to conduct a relationally sensitive assessment, establish safety and stabilization, navigate complex transference–countertransference dynamics, and engage in collaborative parts work within a trauma-informed frame. Emphasis is placed on pacing, attunement, rupture-and-repair processes, and the central role of the therapist’s regulated presence. Practical guidance is offered for trauma processing, integration, documentation, cultural responsiveness, and ethical considerations in complex dissociative presentations. This training is designed to strengthen clinical confidence and deepen relational competence with DID/OSDD clients across treatment stages.
WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES:
Participants will be able to:
Identify the historical and theoretical foundations of dissociation within psychodynamic and relational traditions.
Describe how attachment disruption, betrayal trauma, and systemic power shape dissociative self-state organization.
Differentiate transference, enactment, reenactment, and projective identification within complex trauma treatment.
Apply relationally grounded stabilization and pacing strategies in DID/OSDD treatment.
Recognize and ethically manage transference–countertransference dynamics, including traumatic transference and attachment bondage.
AGENDA TIMELINE:
45 Minutes – Foundations of Dissociation & Relational Theory
• Historical evolution: Charcot, Freud, Janet
• From intrapsychic to relational field
• Dissociation as structural organization under relational threat
45 Minutes – Attachment, Betrayal & the Relational Roots of Dissociation
• Attachment as survival strategy
• Disorganized attachment and betrayal trauma
• Structural dissociation and self-state organization
• Safety as relational survivability
75 Minutes – Transference, Countertransference & the Relational Field
• Classical to relational evolution
• Heimann, Racker, Winnicott, projective identification
• Traumatic transference and complementary countertransference
• Authority, structural, and epistemic power
• Political transference and liberation-informed stance
60 Minutes – Assessment, Stabilization & Ethical Pacing
• Relationally sensitive DID/OSDD assessment
• Consent as ongoing dialogue
• Stabilization without coercion
• Attachment bondage and relational capture
• Collaborative readiness for trauma processing
75 Minutes – Relational Parts Work & Trauma Processing
• Working with protector, child, persecutor, and managerial states
• Tracking state shifts in the relational field
• Co-regulation and titration
• Trauma processing within relational containment
• Repair and rupture navigation
60 Minutes – Integration, Institutional Betrayal & Clinical Ethics
• Institutional betrayal and systemic reenactment
• Countertransference as social location
• Preventing reenactment
• Integration as coordination rather than fusion
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 was a 2025 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.