The Skills Every Therapist Needs When Shame Hijacks the Session
If you’ve been in the therapy room long enough, you’ve seen it:
Your client is with you — breathing, reachable, softening — and then, in a split second, they slip away.
Their eyes lower.
Their chest collapses.
Their voice flattens into something smaller than it was a moment ago.
Or they suddenly brighten — smiling, explaining, performing —
as a way of outrunning what feels unbearable inside.
That’s the shame system.
Not the feeling… the state.
The collapse, the worthlessness, the internal attack.
The part of the client that believes their existence is the problem.
Most trainings name shame.
Very few teach you how to work with it when it hijacks the moment.
That’s what Part 2 is for.
The “okay… now what?” training.
This is where we go deeper —
into the shaming part that attacks,
the shamed part that collapses,
the nervous system patterns that lock them together, and the somatic pathways that help clients come back.
You’ll learn how to:
- unblend the internal critic without losing the client
- meet the collapsed exile with accuracy and care
- track the subtle somatic cues that tell you where shame is living
- and guide the client toward repair, dignity, and self-respect
The truth is: we don’t lose clients because they’re resisting.
We lose them because shame pulls them out of themselves.
And once you know how to meet shame in real time — sessions stop stalling, clients stay in the work, and something in the room finally begins to breathe again.
Drawing from Pat Ogden, John Bradshaw, and 15 years of walking therapists through these exact moments, this training gives you a grounded, compassionate, immediately usable roadmap.
Clear. Attuned. Transformative.
Exactly what shame work requires.
Why now? Shame work is having a moment.
Your clients are naming it, feeling it, and desperately need you to know how to hold it. This gives you the exact roadmap.
Get Instant Access — Watch immediately, use in tomorrow's session
What You'll Learn (& actually use)
Working With the Parts Involved in Shame A simple process for working with the shaming part and the shamed part so clients stay present instead of disappearing. (Value $197)
The Unblending Script Exact wording to help clients separate from the internal critic and reconnect with the vulnerable part. (Value $147)
Somatic Tools for Defense States Interventions for freeze, fight, flight, and submit (Value $297)
BONUS: The Shame Interrupt Protocol A quick somatic reset you can use immediately when shame hijacks the session. (Value $47)
Total Value: $688 → Yours Today for $39.99
If you’re ready for sessions to stop stalling in collapse,
this is where that shift begins.
It's been eye opening to learn skills for working with the shame-based client!
I began using what I learned immediately in session!
This training has helped me see the correlation between the attachment figure's need to down regulate the child and how implicit shame is born. Especially in the culture I work in, the parenting style is often shame-based. These interventions have been incredibly useful in helping my clients.
- Arianna Shepard, PHD
Let's get to know each other
I’m Esther Goldstein, LCSW — trauma educator,Author, EMDR consultant, and founder of Integrative Psychotherapy NY.
I’m also a mom, a hot-yoga lover, and a fellow human who’s spent the past 15 years immersed in the art and science of healing.
After teaching and supervising clinicians worldwide, I’ve seen that the most impactful therapists blend advanced skill with attuned presence — knowing not just what to do, but how and when to do it.
My work focuses on helping seasoned therapists refine mastery, deepen confidence, and expand clinical precision —
so your sessions feel clear, connected, and truly transformative.
It’s an honor to support you in doing such powerful, necessary work. 💛