COURSE 4 OF 12 · WINTER SEASON
Healing Fears of
Abandonment with Parts
Work and Mythic
Storytelling
Healing Fears of
Abandonment with Parts
Work and Mythic
Storytelling
Healing Fears of
Abandonment with Parts
Work and Mythic
Storytelling
Using attachment theory, parts work, and mythic storytelling to explore and ease fears of abandonment in adult relationships.
Your client knows the fear is old, but when a text goes unanswered, a younger part takes over. This course gives you a parts-based framework centered on the Sovereign Self, plus experiential tools to help clients build inner safety and stay steady when abandonment fears arise.
3.0 CE Contact Hours
(NYS) LCAT + LMHC
Self-Study
About this course
Participants will examine how emotional abandonment, inconsistent caregiving, unmet attachment needs, and protective survival strategies can shape clients’ relational patterns, emotional reactivity, and self-abandonment in adulthood.
The course references Internal Family Systems Theory (IFS) as a parts-based clinical framework, and focuses on the role of the archetypal “Sovereign Self” as an inner leader capable of restoring steadiness, self-trust, and internal collaboration.
Through case material, guided visualization, expressive arts integration, and EFT tapping, participants will learn practical methods for helping clients identify which parts become activated when abandonment fears arise, and how to work with them to reduce anxiety and improve inner attachment security.
How this course follows the SEED Framework
Across three lectures and an experiential art activities, this course moves through every step of the SEED Framework, so you experience the process yourself before you guide clients through it.
S – Soulful Inquiry
Begins by asking what the “self” actually is, and introduces it as an inner ecosystem of parts. In the Inner Sanctuary visualization, clients create a safe space in the heart and gently ask a younger part: What would you have me know about you?
E – Exploration
Maps how fear of abandonment forms across attachment styles, then introduces the Inner Diamond, a baseball-diamond map of the Manager, Exile, Firefighter, Spiritual Self, and Sovereign Self. In the Walking the Diamond visualization, clients practice staying on the pitcher’s mound, present with each part, without blending.
E – Expression
Clients create a visual representation of the diamond and the lines that connect each part using color, shape, texture, and form, depicting the energy and boundaries between parts and giving them a shared visual container.
D – Deep Receiving
A playful mythic story, The Journey of the Student and the Manager, translates parts work into a personal healing narrative. Clients assign meaning to each character and symbol, then tap through an EFT sequence that anchors the shift from control and self-abandonment into inner leadership and compassionate protection.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
OBJECTIVE 1
Identify at least three ways fear of abandonment may present across anxious, avoidant, disorganized, and secure-leaning attachment patterns.
OBJECTIVE 2
Describe the clinical role of the Sovereign Self within a parts work framework for addressing abandonment fears.
OBJECTIVE 3
Apply at least two experiential or expressive interventions to support clients in building internal safety, self-trust, and relational regulation.
This is for you...
This is for practitioners who…
✓ Work with clients navigating abandonment fears, relationship anxiety, emotional withdrawal, hypervigilance, or self- abandonment.
✓ Want a practical parts work framework for helping clients understand inner child wounds, protector parts, and relational triggers.
✓ Use or want to integrate attachment theory, expressive arts, guided imagery, somatic awareness, EFT tapping, and symbolic storytelling.
✓ Support clients who intellectually understand their patterns but struggle to stay grounded when attachment fears are activated.
✓ Want experiential tools that help clients build inner safety before doing deeper trauma or attachment repair work.
This will help your clients…
✓ Recognize when fear of abandonment is activating younger parts, protector strategies, or reactive coping patterns.
✓ Build a more compassionate relationship with protective parts instead of shaming, suppressing, or bypassing them.
✓ Develop internal safety, emotional regulation, and self-trust when relationship uncertainty, distance, conflict, or rupture arises.
✓ Use imagery, art-making, journaling, and tapping to establish safety and translate emotional overwhelm into clearer needs, choices, and secure relational responses.
Tools to use in practice
A self-assessment, based on the lesson topics
Guided visualization and expressive arts exercise
A story-based scripted EFT Tapping Practice
Downloadable guidebook and lesson summaries
TESTIMONIALS
What practitioners are saying...
"Invigorates my practice."
"As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with over a decade of experience, finding continuing education that not only meets my licensure requirements but also invigorates my practice is rare. The courses offered by Briana’s continuing education school have been so helpful. Her psycho-spiritual approach deeply resonates with my work, and I've been able to integrate the concepts into therapy with profound results."
- Lena M. LMHC
"A rich tapestry of insight."
"As an art therapist, I'm always seeking ways to deepen my skill set and offer more to my clients. The workshops and seminars at Briana's school are exceptional; each course is a rich tapestry of insight, practical skill-building, and transformative knowledge."
-Michelle C. LCAT
"Fills a gap in the field."
"Holding licenses in both clinical social work and art therapy, I find Briana's continuing education offerings to be unparalleled in their depth and relevance. Her unique blend of traditional psychotherapy with spiritual and creative modalities fills a gap in our field."
- Patricia M. LCSW, LCAT
ENROLLMENT
Choose Your Plan
SINGLE COURSE
$97
Healing Fears of Abandonment with Parts Work and Mythic Storytelling
3 Contact Hours for LCATs and LMHCs in New York State
Self-Study
NO REFUNDS
BEST VALUE
THE WINTER SEASON
$194
Courses 1, 2 & 3 · buy two, get one free
9 Contact Hours for LCATs and LMHCs in New York State
Self-Study
NO REFUNDS
About your instructor
My name is Briana MacWilliam, and I’m a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT), Board Certified Registered Art Therapist (ATR-BC), educator, and the founder of Soul-Centered Security®.
I didn’t come to this work because my own relationships were easy. Divorce, grief, and heartbreak brought me face to face with the same attachment patterns I was helping my clients understand. What helped was building a deeper relationship with my body, emotions, creativity, and spirituality.
Over the last 20 years, I’ve served more than 6,000 clients and students across inpatient psychiatry, community mental health, higher education, and private practice. My work weaves together attachment theory, creative arts therapy, embodied practice, and spiritual growth.
I also have additional training in trauma-informed somatic therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), hypnotherapy, and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. And I am the author of Secure in the Spark: A Spiritual Path to Heal Attachment Wounds, available on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble.
My courses for practitioners share the tools and creative processes that supported my own growth, and the healing of the people I’ve had the privilege of serving.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to take the 12-part courses in order? No. Each course stands alone and is designed to be entered at any point. That said, we recommend starting with Course 1 if you're new.
How will I receive my certificate? After completing your course work, there will be a learning evaluation, instructor evaluation, and webform to complete. After submitting your webform, your certificate will automatically be emailed to you.
How long will I have access to the course? Your purchase includes lifetime access, including to any updates we might make in the future. If a course is retired in the future, we will email you the digital files to download to your own device.
Which boards approve these courses? Briana MacWilliam, Inc. is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists (#CAT-0014) and licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0224). The ATCB has also accepted our courses in the past, because of our state approval, however, we recommend contacting the ATCB directly if you have a concern.
What if I have further questions? You can contact us at [email protected].
Start where your clients are stuck.
PROVIDER INFORMATION
Briana MacWilliam, Inc. is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists; #CAT-0014, and is also an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors; #MHC-0224.
PLEASE NOTE:
While some subject areas overlap in education, a course that includes art therapy directives does not qualify a counselor to practice art therapy, and similarly an art therapist is not qualified to practice as a counselor, without proper licensing.
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