Maternal Perfectionism Treatment Workshop

Credit

Speaker

Patti Ashley, PhD, LPC Related seminars and products

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Patti Ashley, PhD, LPC, is a psychotherapist, international speaker and best-selling author of Living in the Shadow of the Too-Good Mother Archetype (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, 2014)

With over 20 years of experience as a licensed counselor, Dr. Ashley brings unique insights into the identification and treatment of trauma, shame, grief and dysfunctional family patterns. She has counseled individuals, couples, families and groups in mental health agencies, psychiatric hospitals, and private practice settings. She currently maintains a private practice in Colorado where her Authenticity Architecture model helps clients break through unconscious barriers and rediscover a sense of self-love, belong, and connection.

Dr. Ashley is also the author of Shame-Informed Therapy: Treatment Strategies to Overcome Core Shame and Reconstruct the Authentic Self (PESI Publishing, 2020) and Letters to Freedom (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, 2019). In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Ashley develops and teaches continuing education courses for psychotherapists, physicians, hospital wellness programs, universities, and several private organizations.
 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Patti Ashley has an employment relationship with Authenticity Architects. She receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Ashley receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Patti Ashley has no relevant non-financial relationships.

 

Additional Info

Program Information

You will have access for 90 days after the program for review. For live CE credit, you must watch the live webcast in its entirety at its scheduled time and complete the CE quiz and evaluation within one week. Please note that this requirement may vary by credit type. Please see detailed credit information for specific requirements for each credit type.

Please note: There will be a 70-minute lunch and two 15-minute breaks; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Lunch and break times will be announced by the speaker and at their discretion. A more detailed schedule is available upon request.

Visit our FAQ page at https://www.pesicanada.ca/faq or contact us at https://www.pesicanada.ca/contact-us.

Objectives

1. Examine the intergenerational roots of shame in mothers through the context of attachment.
2. Identify how intergenerational trauma is transmitted from parents to the next generation through attachment relationships.
3. Examine the association between attachment and self critical patterns, perfectionism and sensitivity to personal failure.
4. Evaluate the link between maladaptive perfectionism and parenting stress and burnout.
5. Use self-compassion-related interventions to reduce self-criticism in clients with perfectionism.
6. Use Gestalt chair dialogues between vulnerable child parts, disowned parts, and internalized critical parent voices in trauma treatment.

Outline

Maternal Perfectionism and “Too-Good Mother” Archetype

• The too-good mother archetype
• Maternal perfectionism as a relational survival strategy, not pathology
• Cultural and historical pressures shaping maternal identity
• Clinical implications of “goodness” as compliance and self-suppression

Attachment Injury and the Roots of Perfectionism

• Attachment theory foundations (secure vs. insecure patterns)
• How early attachment shapes the compliant, over-functioning self
• The child’s adaptation: “If I am good enough, I will be loved”
• Internal working models of worth, safety, and belonging
• Perfectionism as a strategy to maintain connection and avoid rejection
• Clinical markers of attachment-based perfectionism

Shame as the Organizing Core

• Understand shame vs. guilt
• Neurobiology of shame (ANS, threat response, collapse)
• Shame-driven compliance, self-erasure, and hyper-responsibility
• Work with implicit shame in clinical practice

Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma

• How perfectionism is modeled and inherited
• Epigenetics, implicit memory, and relational patterning
• The suppression of emotional expression across generations
• Identifying family-of-origin dynamics in session
• Projecting unmet emotional needs onto children

Reduce Shame, Set Boundaries and Break the Cycle with CBT, Self-Compassion, Gestalt, Creative Arts and Somatic Awareness

• Establish emotional safety in the therapeutic relationship
• PACE-informed micro-interventions (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, Empathy)
• Gestalt archetypal strategies for trauma
• Rewriting internalized relational scripts with CBT
• Boundary setting skills to interrupt perfectionistic self-erasure
• Self-compassion and somatic tools for shame
• Research, risks and limitations

Application, Case Integration and Treatment Planning

• Case examples: mothers, adult daughters and family systems
• Work across developmental stages
• Avoid reenactment and therapist countertransference
• Build long-term treatment plans for relational repair

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Psychologists
• Registered Psychotherapists
• Addiction Counselors
• Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners
• Other Menal Health Professionals