Trauma & Dissociation:
Psychodynamic & Relational Treatment
Tuesday, June 16th - 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, June 30th, 2026.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Registration Deadline: Friday, June 12th, 2026.
Cancellations up through Friday, June 12th, 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, June 12th, 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:
Identify the core psychodynamic principles underlying dissociation and multiplicity.
Describe how relational trauma shapes self-states, internal working models, and therapeutic process.
Apply relational and psychodynamic interventions to stabilize dissociative systems.
Distinguish between enactments, transference-countertransference cycles, and dissociative symptoms.
Utilize trauma-informed relational pacing, attunement, and repair processes in complex DID/OSDD cases.
Integrate attachment, affect regulation, and right-brain-to-right-brain frameworks into treatment.
AGENDA TIMELINE:
Foundations of Dissociation & Relational Theory (45 minutes)
Welcome, orientation, CE objectives
Psychodynamic foundations of dissociation
Relational trauma, attachment disruption, and self-state formation
Developmental Trauma & the Relational Roots of Dissociation (45 minutes)
Misattunement, disorganization, betrayal trauma
Internal working models & early relational encoding
“Not-Me” states, shame, and fragmentation
Assessment & Early Treatment Tasks (60 minutes)
Relationally sensitive assessment of DID/OSDD
Establishing safety, pacing, and stabilization
Mapping self-states and identifying relational patterns
Transference, Countertransference & Intersubjectivity (30 minutes)
Self-state–mediated transference
Countertransference as clinical data
Early relational enactments & repair
Relational Parts Work (45 minutes)
Working with protector, child, persecutor, and manager parts
Attunement, pacing, and collaborative meaning-making
Supporting internal communication & reducing avoidance
Trauma Processing in a Relational Frame (45 minutes)
Readiness for processing
Co-regulation & titration
Memory reconsolidation within the therapeutic relationship
Integration, Working-Through & Termination (45 minutes)
Integration as coherence, not fusion
Repair processes & long-term developmental goals
Ending treatment, planned transitions
Ethical, Cultural & Systemic Considerations (45 minutes)
Ethical pacing & trauma-informed consent
Cultural humility in psychodynamic work
Documentation, risk management, supervision
Closing & CE Evaluation
Summary, Q&A, final reflections
CE forms and completion instructions
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.