Details

Friday, April 24, 2026 at 9am-12:15pm PT  \ 11am-2:15pm CT  \  12pm-3:15pm ET

Live Virtual Training (Zoom), 3.25 Hours

Facilitated by Anna Clark Miller, LPC-S, LMHC-S

This training will be recorded and all registrants will have 30-day access to it.

Description

Survivors of authoritarian systems face unique challenges in recovery that require a trauma-informed approach from the professionals who work with them. The suppression, moral injury, and social dysfunction of high-control groups inflict complex wounds that can't be adequately addressed with a one-size-fits-all treatment strategy. This training will offer helping professionals a foundational understanding of the impacts of high-control systems, empowering them to provide culturally competent care.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will gain foundational understanding of the common dynamics in high-control groups that can harm members. 

2. Participants will identify key symptoms and risk factors that impact survivors of high-control groups.   

3. Participants will be equipped with trauma-informed language and early treatment strategies for survivors of high-control systems.

Training Agenda

• Part 1: High-Control Groups

  • Define high-control groups and the contexts in which they thrive.

  • Explore unique power and control dynamics when employed in group settings.

  • Identify warning signs of authoritarian systems and abuses of power.

• Part 2: Impacts on Survivors

  • Identify common signs and symptoms among survivors of high-control groups.

  • Identify risk factors and safety considerations for survivors actively involved in abusive groups. 

  • Explore recovery goals and possible barriers to treatment.

• Part 3: Trauma-Informed Approaches

  • Explore how helping professionals' unconscious biases can impact survivors.

  • Identify trauma-informed language and assessment questions for engaging with survivors.

  • Identify strategies for promoting survivor autonomy and reducing risk of revictimization.

Continuing Education Hours

This training offers 3.0 NBCC-approved continuing education hours (available for purchase).

Empathy Paradigm has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7921. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Empathy Paradigm is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

Presenter Qualifications

Anna Clark Miller, LPC-S, LMHC-S, NCC, is a licensed counselor and clinical supervisor practicing in Texas, Washington, and Oregon. She has a masters degree in counseling psychology and has worked in the counseling field since 2015. As a counseling graduate student, she learned about religious trauma and its impacts on people from high-control religious communities, igniting her interest in this specialty. Today she specializes in treating survivors of religious and spiritual trauma and training the mental health professionals who work with them. She is the author of the Religious Trauma Survival Guide: Education and Recovery for Survivors and Professionals, which offers a path to healing from high-control religious experiences. Through her company, Empathy Paradigm, Anna manages the Religious Trauma Therapist Directory and a library of other practical resources for religious trauma survivors and mental health professionals. Licensing: LPC (Texas) - 75728, LMHC (Washington) - LH61328702, NCC - 718936.

Additional Information

Research sources that inform this presentation are available here: www.empathyparadigm.com/sources.

Please send questions or accommodation requests to anna@empathyparadigm.com.