Young people experience shame as a threat of being unloved; it is perhaps the most painful of all emotions. It is at the root of both the inner critic and perfectionism. It binds with and hides behind many other emotions, like anger and fear. It is often hard to detect. Many young people go to great lengths to avoid acknowledging or even feeling shame—and this gets in the way of them making progress. Research shows that young people who are shame-prone are more likely to engage in risky behaviours (substance misuse and school failure), compared to other young people.

In this interactive training, designed for helping professionals, parents & carers, you will become aware of shame as both a primary emotion and a freeze state. You will explore the reasons why shame cannot be worked with in the same way as the other primary emotions and learn specific techniques to work with shame in young people. In this workshop, we will offer tools you can use to help young people talk about, explore and heal the shame that can arise at any stage in the life.