People-Pleasing as Trauma Response: Paths to Healing

A Picture Of A Man Pleasing And Looking At The Camera Near A Black Wall

People-Pleasing as Trauma Response: Paths to Healing (3HR)

$45.00

Course Description

In this training, we will explore the deep connections between trauma, fawning behaviors, and self-abandonment. This training will examine how people-pleasing develops as a survival strategy in response to relational trauma and how it impacts clients’ sense of identity, boundaries, and emotional well-being. Through a blend of psychoeducation, case discussions, and experiential exercises, you will learn therapeutic strategies to help clients recognize, process, and heal from chronic appeasement patterns. You will leave with practical tools to support clients in developing authentic self-expression, strengthening boundaries, and reclaiming their personal agency.

Upon completion of the training, participants will be able to:

Implement therapeutic strategies with a wide range of clients
Identify the trauma origins of people-pleasing as a fawn response
Identify ways for clients to strengthen their boundaries

Social workers completing this course receive 3 Clinical asynchronous continuing education credits.

For other board approvals, this course qualifies for 3 hours of Clinical continuing education training.

Course Instructor: Dreya Blume, LCSW

Recording Date: 07/11/2025

Course Format

NBCC ACEP # 7091, CE Training Workshops has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP #7091. Programs that do not qualify are clearly identified. CE Training Workshops is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. CE Training Workshops designates this continuing education activity for 3 continuing education hours.

CE Training Workshops, LLC, #1770, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 08/02/2025 to 08/02/2028. Social workers completing this course receive 3 Clinical continuing education credits.

Meet Your Facilitator

Dreya Blume, LCSW, has traveled a long and winding road to arrive where she is today,as a therapist, coach, author, and group facilitator.

She has taught English in Thailand, Japan, Australia, and Hawaii. She has worked in psychiatric wards, served as a case manager, and eventually launched her own private therapy practice.

She has taught part-time as an adjunct professor for over twenty years, led multi-day international retreats, and written seventeen books, with an eighteenth on the way.

Syllabus

Introduction

This course explores people-pleasing behaviors through the framework of the trauma-based fawn response. Participants will examine how chronic appeasement, conflict avoidance, and self-silencing emerge as adaptive survival strategies in unsafe or unpredictable environments. The session also highlights the long-term psychological patterns associated with the fawn response and provides a foundation for trauma-informed therapeutic work.

Objective 1: Identify the Trauma Origins of People-Pleasing as a Fawn Response

Participants will begin by defining the fawn response and exploring the relational and developmental environments that give rise to it. This section examines how children learn to prioritize the emotions and needs of others in order to maintain safety, connection, or approval. It also explores the symptoms and behavioral patterns of the fawn response later in life, including chronic over-accommodation, difficulty asserting boundaries, emotional suppression, and persistent fear of disappointing others.

Objective 2: Identify Ways for Clients to Strengthen Their Boundaries

This portion focuses on therapeutic methods that support clients in reclaiming agency and rebuilding internal safety. Participants will explore CBT-based strategies for challenging people-pleasing beliefs, memory reconsolidation techniques for transforming deeply rooted emotional learning, and inner child work that addresses the developmental wounds underlying the fawn response. The emphasis is on helping clients create healthier, more flexible boundaries grounded in self-compassion and self-trust.

Objective 3: Implement Therapeutic Strategies With a Wide Range of Clients

This section covers how the fawn response manifests across different populations and how interventions can be adapted accordingly. Participants will examine patterns of people-pleasing in women, men, and adolescents, considering cultural norms, gender roles, family dynamics, and developmental factors that shape how the fawn response presents. Clinicians will learn practical approaches to tailoring interventions for each client group.

Objective 4: Reflect and Integrate

The course ends with a summary and Q&A, offering participants space to reflect on the material, deepen their understanding, and consider practical next steps for incorporating trauma-informed strategies for people-pleasing into clinical work