Episode Details
Back to Episodes138. Stage 2 Series: “Social Trauma in Stage 2: Inviting Every Part of Our Clients into the Room”
Description
Welcome to the Leading Edge in Emotionally Focused Therapy, hosted by Drs. James Hawkins, Ph.D., LPC, and Ryan Rana, Ph.D., LMFT, LPC—Renowned ICEEFT Therapists, Supervisors, and Trainers. We're thrilled to have you with us. We believe this podcast, a valuable resource, will empower you to push the boundaries in your work, helping individuals and couples connect more deeply with themselves and each other.
We aim to equip therapists with practical tools and encouragement for addressing relational distress. We're also excited to be part of the team behind Success in Vulnerability (SV)—your premier online education platform. SV offers innovative instruction to enhance your therapeutic effectiveness through exclusive modules and in-depth clinical examples.
In this deeply honoring conversation, Dr. James Hawkins and Dr. Ryan Rana return to the intersection of culture, oppression, and psychotherapy, focusing specifically on how these forces emerge in Stage 2 EFT. James introduces the idea of social trauma and social betrayal—those moments when central identity markers (race, gender, ability, class, religion, size, region, etc.) are attacked, marginalized, or devalued by the larger society. They discuss internalized racism (drawing from Dr. Ken Hardy’s work), the cumulative messages clients absorb about their worth, and how these experiences shape negative models of self and deep attachment fears.
Through vivid clinical examples—adoption, biracial identity, hearing impairment, body size, regional and racial identity—James and Ryan illustrate how Stage 2 work often pulls up stories and wounds that neither therapist nor client fully recognized at the start. They connect this to the CARE model (Context, Attachment, Relationship, Emotional capacity/strategies) and model a stance of curiosity, openness, and cultural humility. Listeners will come away with concrete questions, postures, and interventions to help clients discern where protective “armor” is needed in society, and where it may be blocking intimacy at home, so that partners can become safe places to “take the armor off.”
If you like the concepts discussed on this podcast, you can explore our online training program, Success in Vulnerability (SV).
Thank you for being part of our community. Let's push the leading edge together!