NEW! Hosted by Dr. Diane Poole Heller…
Introduction to
Overcoming Self-Doubt and Shame
A free 90-minute masterclass with Dr. Ronald D. Siegel & Dr. Diane Poole Heller
Discover an attachment and trauma-sensitive approach to working with shame, self-comparison, and the cycles of self-evaluation that keep clients stuck.
- April 15, 2026 (Wednesday)
1 pm ET / 12 pm CT / 11 am MT / 10 am PT
Find the time in your area
NEW! Hosted by Dr. Diane Poole Heller…
INTRODUCTION TO OVERCOMING SELF-DOUBT AND SHAME
A free 90-minute masterclass with Dr. Ronald D. Siegel & Dr. Diane Poole Heller
Discover an attachment and trauma-sensitive approach to working with shame, self-comparison, and the cycles of self-evaluation that keep clients stuck.
- April 15, 2026 (Wednesday)
1 pm ET / 12 pm CT / 11 am MT / 10 am PT
Find the time in your area
In this FREE, 90-Minute Live Training, we’ll explore…
1
Understand the hidden roots of self-doubt and shame
Explore how self-judgment is shaped not only by thoughts, but by evolution, attachment, trauma, and the nervous system’s sensitivity to social rank, rejection, and belonging. Dr. Siegel will show why shame and self-doubt are not personal failings, but deeply human survival strategies that can be understood and worked with skillfully.
2
Recognize the boost-and-collapse cycle that keeps clients stuck
Learn why self-criticism and inflated self-esteem are often two expressions of the same protective system. You’ll see how clients can become trapped in cycles of comparison, striving, overcompensation, collapse, and shame—and why trying to simply “boost” self-esteem often reinforces the suffering.
3
Learn practical ways to work with self-evaluative thinking in session
Discover a body-aware, mindfulness-informed approach to helping clients notice self-critical patterns without getting swallowed by them. Dr. Siegel will share practical ways to help clients relate differently to shame, loosen the grip of the judging mind, and move toward greater connection, presence, and psychological flexibility.
Learn how a trauma- and attachment-informed approach helps clients work through shame, self-doubt, and self-evaluation, creating more stable, compassionate ways of relating to themselves and others.
FREE 90-minute LIVE Masterclass!
Introduction to
Overcoming Self-Doubt and Shame
Includes teaching + LIVE DEMO plus Q&A
- April 15, 2026 (Wednesday)
1 pm ET / 12 pm CT / 11 am MT / 10 am PT
Find the time in your area
Can’t join live? Sign up now and we’ll send you a free replay!
Help clients break free from self-doubt and shame
Why do so many clients stay stuck in self-doubt and shame?
Many clients live in a constant state of self-evaluation.
They compare themselves to others. They question their worth. They chase approval, fear failure, and feel thrown off course by even small moments of criticism, rejection, or not-enoughness.
Sometimes this looks like collapse, perfectionism, or chronic self-criticism. Sometimes it looks like defensiveness, overcompensation, or a relentless drive to prove worth.
On the surface, these responses may look different.
Underneath, they are often organized around the same painful question:
Am I enough?
As therapists, we see how exhausting this can be. Clients may understand the pattern intellectually, yet still get swept into it again and again. And often, we feel versions of it ourselves in the room—wondering whether we’re helping enough, doing enough, or getting it right.
Why insight alone doesn’t shift it
Self-doubt and shame are not just distorted thoughts to correct.
They are shaped by attachment history, trauma, biology, and the mind’s deeply conditioned habit of measuring worth. When the nervous system is organized around vigilance, comparison, and protection, simply trying to think differently often doesn’t go far enough.
And when the goal becomes helping clients feel “better about themselves,” therapy can accidentally reinforce the same cycle: seek a boost, feel temporary relief, then crash again when life doesn’t cooperate.
What helps instead
Clients need a way to step out of automatic self-judgment—not by becoming more impressive, but by becoming more aware, more compassionate, and less trapped by the need to constantly evaluate themselves.
That is where this masterclass comes in.
Dr. Siegel will offer a grounded, practical framework for understanding shame and self-doubt through the lenses of attachment, trauma, contemplative psychology, and clinical experience. You’ll leave with a clearer map of the problem and a more skillful way to work with it—in your clients and in yourself.
How this approach changes the work for clinicians and clients
Rather than trying to fight shame head-on or inflate self-esteem, this approach helps people:
- Recognize self-doubt and overcompensation as protective patterns, not character flaws
- Understand how early attachment experiences shape ongoing self-evaluation
- Notice the judging mind without automatically believing or obeying it
- Use body-aware practices to work with collapse, activation, and shame
- Build more stable well-being through connection, common humanity, and values-based living
This is not about teaching clients to feel special.
It is about helping them become freer from the exhausting burden of having to prove their worth.
In this training, Dr. Siegel will show you how a more compassionate, clinically useful approach can shift the work.
Understand the Roots of Shame
Learn how self-doubt and self-criticism are shaped by attachment, trauma, and the nervous system, not just thoughts.
See the Cycle in Action
Recognize how clients become caught in cycles of striving, comparison, collapse, and shame patterns.
Work with Skill and Presence
Apply mindfulness and body-aware tools to shift self-evaluation and support steadier well-being.
This FREE training is a must-attend if…
- You work with clients struggling with shame, perfectionism, self-criticism, or chronic feelings of not being enough.
- You see clients who swing between collapse and overcompensation and want a clearer framework for understanding both.
- You want an alternative to approaches that focus mainly on boosting self-esteem.
- You’re interested in attachment-informed, trauma-sensitive ways to work with self-evaluative distress.
- You notice therapist self-doubt, pressure, or performance anxiety entering the clinical relationship.
- You practice somatic, psychodynamic, mindfulness-informed, attachment-based, or integrative therapy and want a compatible framework you can actually use.
Can’t join our session live?
Sign up anyway and we’ll send you a free replay!
Meet Your Guides
Practicing alternatives to self-evaluation, we can discover the joys of being present, connecting more deeply with others, experiencing gratitude, and finding freedom from everything being about us.
Dr. Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD, is Assistant Professor of Psychology, at Harvard Medical School, where he has taught since the early 1980s. He teaches internationally on the application of mindfulness in psychotherapy and other fields and maintains a private clinical practice in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Dr. Siegel is the author of The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary and The Mindfulness Solution, and coeditor of the critically acclaimed text Mindfulness and Psychotherapy. Known for his warmth, clarity, and depth, he helps clinicians understand complex emotional suffering in ways that are both humane and immediately useful.
It is possible to move out of cycles of self-doubt and self-evaluation. With awareness and compassion, real change can take shape for clinicians and the people they support.
Diane Poole Heller PhD, 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.
FREE 90-minute LIVE Masterclass!
Introduction to
Overcoming Self-Doubt and Shame
Includes teaching + LIVE DEMO plus Q&A
- April 15, 2026 (Wednesday)
1 pm ET / 12 pm CT / 11 am MT / 10 am PT
Find the time in your area