Corporate Training & Public Speaking · Ontario

Training on the Human Side of High-Stakes Work.

The people who come to you in a family law matter are often in the most destabilizing period of their lives. Understanding what that does to someone, how it shapes what they say, what they can tolerate, and how they behave, makes for better professional practice.

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Shelby Doherty-Sirkovich, RP, MACP  ·  CRPO #12083  ·  CCTS-I  ·  Available virtually or in person

Clinical expertise, applied to professional contexts

Clinical Depth, Brought to Professional Development

Shelby Doherty-Sirkovich is a Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO #12083) and Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist with a focus on betrayal trauma, high-conflict relationship dynamics, and the long-term effects of institutional and family system failures.

Before training as a therapist, she worked in a family law setting. That context shapes her understanding of what legal professionals encounter, and why the clinical picture of a client in crisis rarely translates cleanly into a professional intake or a court document.

Her training sessions are grounded in clinical research and designed to be immediately relevant to practitioners who work with people in difficult family circumstances.

Credentials

  • Registered Psychotherapist, CRPO #12083
  • Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology, Yorkville University
  • Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist, Individual (CCTS-I), Arizona Trauma Institute
  • Certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution, York University
Session topics

Four Core Topic Areas

Sessions are tailored to the requesting organization. The four core topic areas are:

  • Based on Jennifer Freyd's Betrayal Trauma Theory, this session examines why people navigating separation, divorce, and family court often present in ways that are difficult to understand, and why the standard trauma framework doesn't fully account for what they're experiencing.

    Relevant for: family lawyers, paralegals, mediators, access supervisors, court-connected social workers, collaborative practice professionals.

    What the session covers:

    • What betrayal trauma is and how it differs from other trauma responses

    • Why clients struggle to give clear, linear accounts of what happened to them

    • How betrayal trauma responses are commonly misread in professional settings

    • What practitioners can realistically do with this understanding

  • Abuse in family breakdown often doesn't look the way people expect. Coercive control can be invisible in a file. High-conflict patterns can make it genuinely difficult to identify what's driving the conflict. This session offers a clinical framework for understanding what's happening beneath the surface.

    Relevant for: family lawyers, law clerks, mediators, collaborative practice professionals, family law associations.

    What the session covers:

    • The clinical difference between high-conflict patterns and abuse dynamics

    • DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender): recognizing the pattern in how clients describe their situations and in how conflict unfolds

    • Why coercive control is hard to see from the outside

    • How practitioners can hold appropriate professional boundaries while remaining informed

  • High-conflict patterns aren't exclusive to family breakdown. They surface in professional relationships, organizations, and disputes of all kinds. This session applies clinical frameworks to workplace and professional contexts.

    Relevant for: law firms, professional associations, HR professionals working within legal organizations.

    What the session covers:

    • What high-conflict patterns look like in professional relationships

    • Communication approaches that reduce rather than escalate conflict

    • When organizational difficulty reflects something more entrenched

    • Practitioner boundaries and self-protection

  • Working closely with people in crisis takes a toll that doesn't always get named accurately. Secondary traumatic stress (absorbing the emotional weight of difficult client situations over time) is common in legal practice and often mistaken for burnout or compassion fatigue. This session offers clinical clarity and practical tools.

    Relevant for: family lawyers, law clerks, court-connected professionals, legal aid staff.

    What the session covers:

    • Secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue: what distinguishes them and why it matters

    • How secondary trauma accumulates and what it looks like in practice

    • Regulation tools that fit within a professional workday

    • Organizational approaches to sustainable practice

How sessions are delivered

Formats Adapted to Your Organization

  • Keynote presentations: 45 to 90 minutes, suitable for conferences and association events.
  • Lunch-and-learns: 60 to 75 minutes, conversational format, suitable for firm or team sessions.
  • Half-day workshops: approximately 3 hours, including discussion and Q&A.
  • Full-day workshops: in-depth coverage of one topic area with applied components.
  • Webinars: live virtual delivery for distributed teams or national organizations.
  • Panel appearances: available for professional association events and continuing education panels.

All sessions are available virtually or in person.

Who these sessions are designed for

Built for Organizations Working With Family Breakdown and Conflict

  • Family law firms developing their team's understanding of client trauma responses.
  • Legal professional associations seeking continuing education content with clinical grounding.
  • Collaborative practice groups and family law mediators.
  • Court-connected organizations and family services providers.
  • Law schools and paralegal programs seeking guest speakers on trauma and family law.

If your organization works with people navigating family breakdown, conflict, or institutional processes, this content is built for your context.

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Discuss Fit and Availability

Sessions are priced based on format, length, and travel requirements. To discuss fit and availability, use the form below.

Shelby Doherty-Sirkovich, RP, MACP · shelby@365therapy.ca

Shelby Doherty-Sirkovich is a Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO #12083) practicing in Ontario. Corporate training and speaking services are distinct from psychotherapy and do not constitute a therapeutic relationship. Training content is educational and is not a substitute for clinical, legal, or organizational consultation.