Breaking the Cycle of Shame
A 2.5-hour self-discovery workshop where you explore strategies to address shame and find relief through self-compassion and daily healing practices
Course Description
Quiet your inner critic, restore confidence, and heal from trauma. Learn to address shame and find relief through self-compassion and daily healing practices.
Watch a Preview of the Training
Get a first-hand look at the approach, teaching style, and format you can expect in our on-demand learning sessions.
What’s included in the training?
Here is everything you get for just $67!
2.5-Hour On-Demand Recorded Workshop led by Dr. Diane Poole Heller + Q&A,
Learn why we experience shame and how it becomes destructive. You’ll practice techniques and exercises to stop shame spirals and shift harmful thoughts––and we’ll explore ways you can begin to develop greater self-esteem and self-compassion.
In-Class / Take-Home Experiential Healing Exercises and Prompts
Watch and learn as Diane guides you through several experiential exercises that will help you recognize where (and how) you feel shame to deepen your self-awareness.
You’ll also feel what it’s like to begin healing physically and emotionally as you release shame, judgment and self-blame—and instead, offer yourself kindness and empathy.
You’ll also get 30 days worth of self-directed exercises and prompts you can use daily to reinforce these skills and practice new, empowered thinking.
Follow-Along PDF Course Companion Workbook
Your interactive (digital or printable) PDF workbook is filled with helpful information, space for notes or personal insights, and prompts for deeper reflection.
You’ll find each exercise from the workshop outlined, plus easy-to-follow instructions for the self-directed exercises and additional resources that further support you in your ongoing healing journey.
FREE Bonus: Symptoms of Unhealthy Shame Checklist
This useful checklist helps you identify the most common signs of shame, so you can better understand how (and when) they affect your life, relationships, and work.
It’s also a valuable tool to assess and check ongoing progress.
Why take this course?
Learn to identify, understand, and heal shame through compassionate, body-based practices that restore self-worth and emotional balance.
Shame is one of the most painful emotions we carry. It convinces us that we are broken, unworthy, or beyond repair—often long after the original source of pain has passed.
As therapists and healing professionals, we see how deeply shame can shape a client’s inner world. It can hide beneath perfectionism, people-pleasing, or chronic self-criticism, quietly reinforcing disconnection and isolation. Even skilled clinicians can struggle to help clients access the tenderness beneath shame’s protective layers.
When shame remains unaddressed, it can sabotage progress in therapy, limit trust, and prevent genuine self-compassion from taking root. Traditional cognitive methods often fall short because shame lives not only in thoughts, but in the body—within posture, breath, and nervous system responses that carry implicit memories of unworthiness.
This course offers a somatic and attachment-based framework for transforming shame into self-understanding. Through experiential practices, guided demonstrations, and reflective exercises, you’ll learn how to create safety, interrupt shame spirals, and help clients rebuild confidence and connection.
Build the skills to recognize shame’s subtle patterns, support nervous system regulation, and guide clients toward genuine self-acceptance and belonging.
What you’ll learn?
Develop somatic and attachment-based tools to interrupt shame spirals, restore self-worth, and guide clients toward genuine self-compassion.
Recognize the roots of shame in both early attachment dynamics and trauma, understanding how it becomes internalized as a core sense of defectiveness or unworthiness.
Differentiate healthy and toxic shame so you can help clients regulate emotions, set appropriate boundaries, and build self-trust.
Identify shame’s somatic markers—posture, breath, tone, and nervous system responses—and use embodied interventions to restore safety and connection.
Interrupt cycles of self-blame through experiential exercises that integrate mindfulness, compassion, and curiosity into therapeutic work.
Rebuild self-esteem and self-compassion by helping clients transform inner criticism into self-understanding and care.
Support long-term healing with practical tools and daily self-directed exercises that reinforce new neural patterns of kindness and belonging.
Here's what you'll learn in the workshop...
What’s included
Discover how shame and toxic shame develop from early childhood through adulthood. Learn the difference between healthy shame, toxic shame and guilt—and the role that shame plays in our relationships and behaviors.
- Define shame and how to recognize it
- Distinguish between healthy and toxic shame
- Practice strategies to reframe your inner critic
- Understand how to counter shameful voices and stories
- Understand how early attachment injury or trauma influence our adult attachment styles
Meet Your Instructors
You don’t have to keep hiding. You don’t have to prove yourself. You are more than your shame. Without condition, you deserve a fulfilling and joyful life. True healing is possible––for yourself and others.
Dr. Diane Poole Heller is an internationally recognized speaker, author, and teaching expert in the field of adult attachment theory and trauma resolution.
Her signature approach—DARe (Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning experience)—provides therapists and individuals with relevant skills and practical exercises that facilitate healing from attachment and trauma wounds.
Her work with adult attachment has forged a path for adults with childhood attachment injuries to develop Secure Attachment Skills (SAS) that lead to more connected and fulfilling adult relationships.
She has authored several books, including the widely acclaimed The Power of Attachment: How to Create Deep and Lasting Intimate Relationships. Her expertise in trauma healing has supported survivors, helpers, and families affected by events such as 9/11, Columbine, and other school shootings.
Through various training programs, books, lectures and her own work as a clinical therapist, Dr. Heller has helped a countless number of people in their healing journey towards experiencing greater intimacy, wholeness and more fulfilling relationships.
She believes that when we heal ourselves first, we heal our families, our communities and the world as a whole.
What Our Students Say About This Training
“So helpful! I see that a lot of my response to recent events are most likely rooted in shame that is hiding beneath what’s visible. I feel I have more tools now to look at this, which makes me more hopeful. Thank you!”
Lana N.
“This has been incredibly helpful, thank you. I was terribly stuck in shame and fear and really didn’t know what to do. I feel you have become a protective figure in my arsenal!”
––Alison O.
“Thank you very much, great course, I have learned a lot. Many thanks for the exercises and your great examples; your understanding of this subject is second to none – and also good value in these challenging times ❤️”
––Lona
“I have realized during this call that my Mum has projected her shame unto me all my life and I’ve internalized all this toxic shame. I have told my Mum to take responsibility for her own shame and emotions and I have handed it all back to her. I feel a huge sense of relief and it finally feels like the end of a cycle 💚🩷”
––Suzanna B.
“Thank you Dr. Heller. This workshop and the support content was so helpful to me and my journey. I am grateful that my therapist shared this webinar with me. I feel validated and connected and have hope.”
––Monica
“This has been absolutely amazing — I have been going through a really deep reclamation, wounding, uncoupling and it gave me such hope and understanding of my partners and my fears AND THAT it was a natural response to not blame myself so much!!!!!! Wow I am forever grateful thank you!!!”
––Libby
Do I need to be a therapist to benefit from this training?
No! While Diane originally developed this material for therapists and healing professionals, the insights and practices apply to anyone seeking freedom from shame and self-criticism. Whether you’re a clinician, coach, or someone navigating your own healing journey, you’ll gain a compassionate understanding of how shame develops—and learn practical tools to quiet your inner critic, nurture self-worth, and build healthier relationships with yourself and others.
How long can I access the course materials if I purchase this training today?
You’ll have lifetime access to ALL training materials, including videos, transcripts, worksheets, demos, resources and bonuses too. You may also download, print or save materials at any time to your professional reference library for personal use.
In the interest of privacy, client demo videos are not downloadable.
Are the class sessions live or recorded?
This workshop was delivered live, including the Q&A segment. This reissued training features a full recording of the two-and-a-half-hour session, along with audio recordings, written transcripts, complementary resources, and exclusive course bonuses.
All of the training is on-demand, so you can learn at your own pace, or revisit the content more than once.
Are CE credits available for this course?
Continuing Education (CE) credits are not available for this training at this time.
I’m having trouble completing the purchase. How can I get support?
If you have additional questions or need technical support, please contact our friendly Customer Support Team for help.
Is there a refund policy?
We’re confident this program will be a valuable investment in your education, personal growth and clinical practice.
Because this is a re-issue of previous of previous training (at a special promotional price) and course materials are downloadable, all sales are final.
If you have further questions, do not hesitate to reach out to our Customer Support Team for help.
Dr. Diane Poole Heller
Get immediate access…
- 2.5-hour Recorded, On-Demand Workshop
- Interactive PDF Workbooks with in-class exercises + 30 days of take-home experiential activities
- Private Course Portal with Lifetime Access to Video Recordings, Audio, Transcripts, and Resources
- + FREE Bonus: Symptoms of Unhealthy Shame Checklist
Own It Now For Just
$67
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