Phobias aren’t always about spiders or heights. In trauma therapy, the most persistent and disruptive phobias are inwardly directed: fear of emotions, bodily sensations, relational closeness, or even healing itself. These trauma-linked phobias create a cycle of avoidance that prevents clients from feeling, processing, or integrating their experiences — keeping them stuck in survival mode.

This unique pairing of videos brings together two powerful clinicians who explore the internal architecture of trauma-related phobias and offer clear strategies for resolution. Kathy Steele, renowned for her work on dissociation and complex trauma, identifies five core trauma-related phobias and shows how to address them step-by-step. Christiane Sanderson brings her expertise on CSA to reveal how phobic reactions in survivors can be triggered by sensory cues, touch, shame, or even compassion — and how these can be safely desensitised.

Together, these trainings help therapists recognise avoidance as a form of protection and offer trauma-informed, body-aware strategies to gently expand a client’s capacity to stay present. If your clients struggle with shutdown, self-erasure, or an inability to tolerate closeness, this bundle is a vital clinical resource.

What’s Included:

• Trauma-Related Phobias and Inner Avoidance — Kathy Steele (3 CPD / 3 CE)
• Phobias in CSA Survivors: Transformative Therapeutic Insights for Embodied Healing — Christiane Sanderson (6 CPD / 6 CE)

Who It’s For:

• Therapists working with survivors of complex trauma, CSA, or dissociation
• Practitioners encountering stuckness, resistance, or shutdown in clients
• Clinicians looking to build clients’ capacity for affect and relational safety

What You Will Learn:

• The five key phobias in trauma recovery: emotional experience, memory, parts of self, relational closeness, and positive change
• How phobias manifest somatically and emotionally in CSA survivors
• Stepwise protocols for safely addressing avoidance and dissociation
• How shame and fear drive internal phobic reactions — and what breaks the cycle
• Somatic and sensory-based techniques to build tolerance and support embodiment
• How to map trauma cues and reintroduce the body as a source of safety

Course 1

Trauma-Related Phobias:

Understanding and Working with Inner-directed Avoidance in Complex

Kathy Steele

CPD/CE credits: 3

We tend to think of phobias as experiences of avoidance of external situations or experiences, such as spiders, heights, flying or driving. However, all phobias are actually an extreme avoidance of the inner experience, for example, the experience of imagining and thinking and feeling fear about flying.

We also think of phobias as being related to fear, but they can also be related to shame and can lead to profound avoidance strategies and defences in traumatized clients. Understanding that phobias feed a toxic cycle of fear and shame is a crucial step towards recovery. It is by learning to acknowledge their deepest phobias and the fear or shame that drives them, and by recognizing the role these play in our clients’ daily lives, that we can work towards breaking the subconscious cycle of trauma reactions. We can then help our clients move towards deconstructing, processing, and eventually recovering from the experience of trauma.

In this webinar, we will specifically explore five trauma-linked phobias and how these manifest in our clients.

The first phobia is a broad “umbrella” encompassing all types of inner experience such as emotions, thoughts, sensations, wishes, needs, fantasies, and dreams (nightmares). Special subcategories of phobic avoidance include the phobia of close relationships and their feared loss through rejection, criticism, or abandonment; the phobia of dissociative parts of self; the phobia of traumatic memories; and the phobia of adaptive change and risk-taking. Through case discussions and vignettes, we will also explore how these five specific phobias are related to complex trauma and are directed towards inner experiences that are either too fearful or shameful to tolerate.

Participants will learn how to identify and work with phobias in a systematic and step-by-step manner and how to employ specific interventions for each of the four subcategories of trauma-related phobias

Course 2

Phobias in CSA Survivors:

Transformative Therapeutic Insights for Embodied Healing

Christiane Sanderson

CPD/CE credits: 6

A The impact of child sexual abuse (CSA) can lead to a range of phobic reactions that act as a protective survival strategy to avoid the impact of exposure to trauma-related cues. Phobias may manifest in various forms, including avoidance of certain places, people, objects, or situations, as well as internal bodily sensations, feelings of shame, and intrusive thoughts and symbolic cues such as time associated with the trauma. These reactions, deeply rooted in the survivor’s psyche, can significantly impede their ability to navigate daily life. Moreover, survivors may grapple with dissociation, a coping mechanism that allows them to disconnect from distressing experiences, exacerbating the challenges of healing and recovery.

In this compelling webinar, we embark on an exploration of phobic reactions in survivors of CSA, seeking to unravel their complexities and offer transformative therapeutic insights for practitioners:

• Our journey begins with a comprehensive examination of the range and function of trauma-related cues that trigger phobic reactions. By understanding the underlying mechanisms driving these responses, therapists can better assist survivors in identifying and addressing their triggers. Through the use of clinical examples, particular attention will be focused on the range of sensory stimuli such as sound, smell, touch, visual and taste, as well as kinaesthetic cues such as body position, orientation, gestures, and movement which can trigger overwhelming reactions that need to be suppressed, masked, over-contained, or avoided.
• In addition, we will examine how dissociation acts as a form of avoidance of trauma reactions such as shutting down to stop intrusive thoughts and ruminations. We will also explore how deleting the body helps survivors to avoid somatic sensations and how this can lead to a lack of embodiment and alexisomia, making it difficult to be aware and express somatic sensations and feelings.
• Consideration will also be given to identifying phobic reactions to sex and sexuality, sexual acts, and sexual arousal such as interpersonal dynamics, personality traits, attachment, and trauma bond dynamics, gestures of caring and kindness, and being made to feel ‘special’ which can all trigger strong trauma reactions leading to avoidance and phobic reactions in relationships.

In mapping survivors’ individual trauma-related cues and stimuli and identifying specific phobic reactions and avoidance strategies, practitioners’ can begin to work with survivors on how to reclaim their bodies and mind and in order to become more embodied and present. Through engaging clinical examples and insightful case studies, we shed light on the diverse manifestations of phobias, from sensory stimuli to interpersonal dynamics, illuminating the multifaceted nature of survivors’ experiences. By incorporating emotional regulation and stabilisation skills, expanding the capacity for distress tolerance, and sensitively pacing systematic desensitization, practitioners can enable survivors to begin to tolerate previously suppressed trauma reactions and begin to process these rather than avoid them. This needs to be combined with trauma-informed practice to ensure the necessary safety for survivors to feel their feelings and sensations and to know what happened to them. This can be further aided by finding a language to describe their lived experience and how it has impacted them through somatic and emotional literacy – such that they can express internal states rather than be rendered voiceless.

Overall, in this comprehensive training programme, we will cover a wide array of topics aimed at enhancing practitioners’ understanding and therapeutic approach to phobic reactions commonly observed in survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA). These include:

• Identifying the range of phobic reactions, encompassing external, internal, somatic, and symbolic triggers
• Examining their intricate links to symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), such as flashbacks and avoidance
• Delving into the function of phobic reactions as protective survival strategies, exploring how survivors may engage in phobic avoidance of external cues, cognitive intrusions, and interpersonal dynamics associated with trauma and CSA
• Addressing the role of dissociation and shame in avoiding trauma-related stimuli, along with strategies for managing phobic reactions, such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Furthermore, the webinar will provide guidance on identifying and mapping phobic reactions, utilizing emotional regulation and systematic desensitization techniques to reduce their impact, and facilitating the process of reclaiming body and mind to promote embodiment and presence. Lastly, the webinar will encourage practitioners to recognize their own phobic reactions and develop the capacity to remain present and embodied in their therapeutic practice.

Through a refined understanding of phobic reactions and their underlying mechanisms, therapists can empower survivors of CSA to embark on a journey of healing and reclaim agency over their bodies and minds.

Overall Programme Learning Objectives for two sessions:

• Explain inner directed phobias in complex trauma
• Employ specific interventions to support clients in overcoming the general phobia of inner experience
• Identify a stepwise progression of working with trauma-related phobias
• Analyse the multifaceted nature of phobic reactions commonly observed in survivors of CSA, including external, internal, somatic, and symbolic triggers
• Discuss the interrelationship between phobic reactions and PTSD symptoms, such as avoidance and intrusive thoughts, to enhance therapeutic interventions
• Explain mapping trauma-related cues and stimuli, enabling practitioners to assist survivors in recognizing and managing their triggers effectively
• Implement trauma-informed practices and emotional regulation techniques to support survivors in reclaiming their bodies and fostering embodiment
• Discuss dissociation and its role in perpetuating phobic reactions, emphasizing the importance of integrating somatic and emotional literacy into therapeutic approaches

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