When Shame Speaks: Somatic and Relational Approach for Trauma, Sexual Wounding, Affairs, and Addiction

Overview:

Shame is one of the most powerful and misunderstood human emotions often hidden beneath trauma, infidelity, and addiction. Rather than pathologizing shame or seeking its elimination, this workshop reframes it as a transformative experience that illuminates where individuals feel disconnected from self and others.

Drawing on over three decades of clinical experience, Dr. Tammy Nelson integrates theory, case examples, and trauma-informed practices to examine how shame functions as both a symptom and a root cause of relational disintegration, secrecy, and self-sabotage. Participants will learn how to recognize and work with shame somatically and relationally, using it as a guide toward reintegration, authenticity, and embodied connection.

Through clinical demonstrations, experiential exercises, and somatic techniques, attendees will gain strategies to help clients move from shame-based defenses toward post-traumatic growth, relational repair, and deeper intimacy. This training is applicable for clinicians working with individuals and couples affected by betrayal trauma, compulsive behaviors, sexual wounding, and early attachment disruptions.

Objectives:

• Describe the role of shame as an organizing principle underlying sexual trauma, infidelity, and compulsive behaviors.

• Apply trauma-informed and somatic interventions to help clients identify and integrate shame-based experiences.

• Differentiate between adaptive and maladaptive shame responses and develop strategies to facilitate post-traumatic growth and relational healing.