Shame and Complex Trauma: Shame-Sensitive Practice with Torture and Refugee Trauma Survivors
18 November 2026 | 3.30-5pm AEDT | Free webinar | → Register now!
FROM SILENCE TO SAFETY: SHAME-SENSITIVE PRACTICE WITH TORTURE AND REFUGEE TRAUMA SURVIVORS
Shame can be a profound yet often overlooked dimension of complex trauma, particularly for survivors of torture, sexual violence, persecution and forced displacement. For practitioners working with refugee trauma and torture survivors, understanding shame is critical because it can influence disclosure, help-seeking, therapeutic relationships, engagement with services and recovery.
This live Clinical Master Class webinar explores the relationship between shame and complex trauma and introduces practical approaches to shame-sensitive, trauma-informed practice. Participants will learn how shame can operate within relationships, communities and service systems, and how practitioners can create therapeutic environments that foster dignity, safety, recognition, connection and recovery.
LEARN FROM LEADING EXPERTS IN COMPLEX TRAUMA AND REFUGEE PRACTICE
Join Professor Michael Salter, internationally recognised trauma researcher and Professor of Criminology at UNSW Sydney, and Jeanette Ninnis, experienced social worker and STARTTS torture and trauma counsellor, as they bring together contemporary research and clinical practice.
Professor Salter will explore how shame operates across relational, community, institutional and structural levels and introduce shame-sensitive practice as an important development of trauma-informed care. He will examine how practitioners and services can recognise, prevent and repair experiences of shame and use dignity-affirming approaches grounded in recognition, safety, fairness and shared authority.
Drawing on more than two decades of clinical practice, Jeanette will present a clinical case exploring an integrative and culturally responsive approach to working with survivors of torture, refugee trauma and conflict-related sexual violence. Her presentation will demonstrate how safety, therapeutic alliance, cultural meaning, strengths, values, resilience and acts of resistance can become important resources for trauma recovery. Jeanette utilised Narrative Therapy principles coupled with Emotion Regulation skill development to challenge shame experienced by a woman subjected to sexual torture in the context of war.
WHAT YOU’LL GAIN
- A deeper understanding of shame and complex trauma
- Insight into how shame can affect disclosure, help-seeking, therapeutic engagement and recovery
- An understanding of how shame can operate across relationships, communities, institutions and service systems
- Practical principles of shame-sensitive practice and how these extend trauma-informed care
- Strategies for creating therapeutic relationships that foster safety, dignity, recognition and connection
- Greater awareness of cultural meanings and experiences of shame when working with people from refugee backgrounds
- A clinical case demonstrating culturally responsive practice with torture, refugee trauma and conflict-related sexual violence
- Ways to recognise and build on clients’ strengths, values, resilience and acts of resistance
- Practical approaches for reducing shame and supporting dignity within clinical and service settings
- The opportunity to engage directly with presenters during a live Q&A panel moderated by STARTTS CEO and Clinical Psychologist Jorge Aroche
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
- Psychologists, counsellors, psychotherapists and social workers
- Clinicians working with survivors of torture, complex trauma and sexual violence
- Practitioners supporting refugees and people seeking asylum
- Mental health professionals working in trauma counselling and recovery
- Caseworkers and practitioners working in refugee and trauma services
- Professionals working in humanitarian and settlement services
- Anyone seeking to deepen their knowledge of shame-sensitive, trauma-informed and dignity-affirming practice
Professor Michael Slater
Professor Michael Salter is Professor of Criminology at UNSW Sydney and Director of Childlight UNSW, the Australasian hub of the Global Child Safety Institute. He is an internationally recognised expert on child sexual abuse and exploitation, technology-facilitated abuse, gender-based violence and complex trauma. His research focuses on prevention, perpetration and systems reform and has informed policy and practice across mental health, social work, law enforcement and internet regulation. He has published two books and more than 60 journal articles and book chapters. Professor Salter is Chair of the Grace Tame Foundation and a past president of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. He also serves on national and international advisory groups on child protection and violence prevention.
Jeanette Ninnis
Jeanette Ninnis is a social work practitioner with 22 years’ experience in mental health, clinical therapy and counselling. For the past 10 years, she has provided specialist torture and trauma counselling at STARTTS, working with people from diverse refugee backgrounds across the lifespan in regional Australia. Jeanette holds a Master of Social Work Advanced Practice and teaches social work at Charles Sturt University. Her clinical experience includes sexual assault counselling, serious mental illness, first episode psychosis and family support. Her Master’s research developed a cross-cultural trauma counselling model integrating cultural knowledge, worldview strengths, Western counselling approaches and structural factors. Jeanette has presented nationally and internationally and contributed to publications on refugee mental health and access to services.
Jorge Aroche
Jorge Aroche is a clinical psychologist and STARTTS’ Chief Executive Officer. Jorge was born in Uruguay and has worked with migrants and refugee survivors of torture and organized violence since before 1989, when he joined STARTTS. He has led the organization since March 1997, through some of the most challenging times for refugee services in Australia, helping STARTTS grow from a dozen staff to more than 200, assuming a truly state-wide role and becoming a world leader in this field in the process, while continuing to learn from its clients, its culturally diverse staff and the latest scientific advances. Jorge has also held a number of honorary positions in international humanitarian organizations, Australia government advisory bodies and NGO boards. He was the President of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) from 2016 until November 2020.
FORMAT AND INCLUSIONS
- Presented by experts in the refugee trauma field
- Includes real-life scenarios, practical tips and a Q&A panel
- Claim 1.5 CPD points
- Receive a certificate of completion and a PDF of the presentation slides
- Free access to the webinar recording
DON’T MISS OUT
CONTACT US
stts-training@health.nsw.gov.au
(02) 9646 6700 Ask for the Training Administration Officer