Friday 17th April 2026.

ONLINE via Zoom and CATCH-UP for 28 days.

Event Times: 10.00am – 4.00pm GMT (London)/ 11.00am – 5.00pm CET (Paris)/ 5.00am – 11.00am EST (New York).

Tickets: £115 or £99 (full ticketing information at the end of this listing).

Please note that this workshop will be delivered on a Friday.

Summary: An introduction to working with shame and Shame Containment Theory  .

*Shame: Working Effectively with Shame in Therapy*

Event Description:

This is a one-day workshop that will introduce you to the principles of working with shame and the groundbreaking theory of Shame Containment Theory.

Shame is a common but often misunderstood emotion. Shame Containment Theory (SCT), which is rooted in attachment theory, offers a powerful framework for recognising how shame develops within early relational experiences and how it can be safely held and transformed in the therapeutic space.

Through a blend of theory, reflection, and applied techniques, participants will increase their confidence in recognising and working with shame. From the perspective of Shame Containment Theory (SCT), shame is understood not as a defect or pathology, but as a fundamentally protective emotion that signals a threat to connection and belonging.

Rather than seeking to eliminate shame, SCT invites practitioners to relate to it differently – to recognise its adaptive origins and to approach it with curiosity, respect, and permission. By seeing shame as an attempt to protect the self and preserve attachment, practitioners can engage with clients in ways that restore safety and relational trust, rather than reinforcing shame’s isolating effects.

This innovative theory offers a language with which to understand and work with shame, allowing the emotion to be accessible to practitioners and clients.

This one‑day introductory training is designed for psychotherapists and counsellors who wish to deepen their understanding of shame and enhance their capacity to work more effectively with it in their practice.

Aims

•  To introduce participants to the core principles of Shame Containment Theory and its foundations in attachment theory.
• To increase practitioner confidence in recognising and working with shame within therapeutic and social care contexts.
• To enhance relational awareness and skills for creating safe, shame-sensitive environments that support healing and growth.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the training, participants will be able to:

• Describe the relationship between the five components of shame – attachment injuries, contained shame, uncontained shame, shame containment strategies and re-containment strategies.
• Identify signs of contained shame and shame containment strategies commonly adopted by clients
• Reflect on their own relational positioning when working with clients’ shame experiences.
• Integrate SCT principles into their existing therapeutic or care frameworks.

Trainer:

Lisa Etherson is a qualified psychosexual therapist, PhD researcher, and creator of Shame Containment Theory (SCT), an innovative framework for understanding and working with shame from an attachment perspective. Lisa developed SCT to describe shame as a complex, lifelong process involving attachment injuries, shame containment strategies, and the impact of uncontained shame.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP

Online Workshop: This workshop will be delivered via Zoom. Bookings close 24 hours before the start of the workshop , and joining details will be sent to all delegates after bookings close (the Thursday before the workshop between 2pm and 6pm). Please note that by booking a ticket for this workshop, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions for Zoom events, so please read through them carefully before making your purchase.

Catch-up:  This workshop will be recorded. A link to the recording will be emailed out to all delegates on the Thursday AFTER the event. This recording will then be available to view in your own time for 28 days. Full details are included in emails sent to delegates. After this time the recording will no longer be available, so if you are planning to use the catch-up function, please ensure that you have adequate time to view the recording within this time frame.

Discounted Ticket Price – £99 

Available until Saturday 28th March 2026, subject to limited availability. Pick this ticket if you are on a reduced income or a student counsellor/psychotherapist.

Standard Ticket Price – £115

Available until 11am on Thursday 16th April 2026 when bookings close. Pick this ticket if you can afford to pay this, or if all the discounted tickets have been sold.

*Please be aware there are a limited number of tickets at each price point, including where a Super Early Bird ticket price is offered*

Please note that the use of the new subscriber code is limited for each workshop and when the maximum number is reached the code will no longer work.

Ticket Payment: 

Bookings must be paid for either via Paypal, Credit/debit card (via Paypal, no Paypal account required), or bank transfer. All payments via bank transfer must be made by 11am on Thursday 16th April to secure your place! 

CPD Certificates: 

All delegates will be supplied with a CPD Certificate. This will be available after completing a short feedback survey, the link for which will be sent out on the Thursday AFTER the workshop takes place.