Coercive Control Course
Dr. Ellerman teaches a live online course on coercive control and a 1 Day training.
“I recently had the opportunity to take Mei-Ling Ellerman’s course on coercive control, and I cannot recommend it enough for survivors of domestic violence. This course is incredibly insightful, breaking down the complexities of coercive control in a way that is both educational and empowering. Mei-Ling’s expertise and compassionate approach provide a safe space to understand the patterns of abuse that often go unnoticed but have lasting impacts.
For survivors, this course is not just informative it’s validating. It sheds light on the psychological and emotional aspects of abuse, helping individuals recognize the signs and reclaim their power. Most importantly, it highlights the significance of the new coercive control law, which is a critical step in protecting survivors from further violence and holding abusers accountable.
If you or someone you know has experienced domestic violence, I highly recommend taking this course. The knowledge gained here can truly be life-changing. Thank you, Mei-Ling, for your dedication to advocating for and educating survivors!” --N
Testimonials
“This workshop is filled with concise, clear material that helped me with personal healing, as well as, strategizing boundaries for myself as I limit my relationship with my ex/ the father of my children. Mei-Ling’s compilation of material reflects hours of her work and was compelling for waking me from my stupor that “it is fine” or “not so bad.” Please take this course. It’s important for us to wake up to the power inequality that has produced coercive control in the toolbox of too many domestic relationships. I needed this course and am still digesting all that I learned!” --J.
“The coercive control training was worthwhile for me. It validated a lot of what I’ve been through and helped me pick up on behaviors that I didn’t realize fit into the larger pattern. It also put new things on my radar, especially about what my children have gone through, and offered concrete ways to support their healing and build skills around critical thinking. Some of the material is heavy and it takes something out of you to go that deep, but Mei-Ling delivers it in a calm, clear way, which helped. I learned some tips on how to use what I learned to frame my narrative for court. Mei-Ling is very organized and well researched and I have already been referring back to the slides she prepared. She is responsive to participants’ contributions, requests for what to cover in the training, and even requests outside of the training. I admire her using her skill set to contribute to the evidence base around coercive control so that there will be more recent publications for women to cite. —A”
Coercive Control Course for Protective Parents
This 5-class course will educate survivors about coercive control, so they can use their knowledge to advocate for themselves and their children. Instead of relying on experts, lawyers, or coaches to identify the complex forms of abuse then create their narratives and arguments for them, the protective parents themselves should be trained. Then they can bring their narratives and counter-strategies to work with others on their case. No one else will work harder on their case and with more care.
The course will be taught live over Zoom and will not be recorded for safety purposes. A portion of the fee for the training will go towards funding coercive control research, education, and advocacy efforts. Participants who purchase the 13+ hour course, for the equivalent cost of hiring a lawyer for 1 hour, will gain a solid, practical, and detailed foundation in coercive control that they can then use to educate, advocate, protect, and heal.
What documents will the participants receive?
A toolkit with exercises, spreadsheet, and tips
Detailed PPT slides from each class
List of forms of coercive control and examples
What are the 5 class dates? The course dates are being changed, and I’m gathering input from those who have signed up. Please email me if you have a preference as to time. Tuesday June 17, Thurs June 19, Wed June 25, Friday June 27, and July 3 or 6th.
How do I sign up for the training? Please fill out the Google form at the bottom of the page.
COERCIVE CONTROL COURSE
Please check the hours for each day as they may differ. I will send the zoom link to participants ahead of time before each day of training.
Class 1 Coercive Control over the Protective Parent
Tuesday June 17 4 hours
Class 2: How Abusive Parents Manipulate Systems and Discredit and Silence Protective Parents
Thursday June 19 2 hours
Class 3: Coercive Control over Children
Wednesday June 25 4 hours
Class 4: Toolkit for Challenging Coercive Control
Friday June 27 2 hours
Class 5: Q&A
July 3 or 6 (TBA based on feedback) 1.5 hours
Class 1: Coercive Control over the Protective Parent 4 hrs
Tuesday June 17
This training will introduce you to the coercive control model, which can be used to explain an abusive parent’s motivation, and all their seemingly confusing and contradictory abusive and controlling behaviors. You will learn about how and why abusive parents use tactics of coercive control to disguise their abuse; victim-blame; harm the survivors; erode their independence, sense of safety, and self-identity; coerce them into changing their behavior; remove resources that would help them escape the relationship; and damage the protective parent’s ability to recognize the abuse for what it is. We will study the most common forms of coercive control over women and how they work, in order to help you identify and describe them.
Class 2: How Abusive Parents Manipulate Systems and Discredit and Silence Protective Parents
Thurs June 19 2 hours
This class will help you to understand the bigger picture, and how an abusive parent uses tactics to discredit and silence the protective parent within systems such as the Court or schools. We will study these tactics, which include allegations of DARVO and parental alienation, and the use of gender bias and a protective parent’s own trauma responses. Participants will learn how abusers are often “invisible” to the systems while they blame their victims, which not only allows the abuse to continue unchecked but elevates the risk of losing custody. Understanding these abusive tactics will help to identify and reframe them as part of your narrative.
Class 3: Coercive Control over the Children 4 hours
June 25
For this class, we will study how an abusive parent’s tactics are used against the children, both pre- and post-separation. We will also look at how psychological abuse and undermining parent-child relations work, which includes attempts to ally the children with the abuser. Participants will learn about signs of children’s trauma, the risks that the abuser presents, and aspects of law pertinent to custody and coercive control. Finally, we will explore ways to support children who experience coercive control.
Class 4: Toolkit for Challenging Coercive Control 2 hours
June 27
This class will introduce tools you can use to identify and pull together your experiences of coercive control. We will go over all the practical ways that were touched upon throughout the course, to counter DARVO accusations and attempts to discredit the survivors. After the class, you will be sent all the tools.
Class 5: Q&A 1.5 hours
July 3 or 6th (TBA)
After you have completed the four classes and had the opportunity to start working through the toolkit, you will have 1.5 hours to ask Dr. Ellerman your questions. You will also learn a great deal from the other participants’ questions and her answers.
13.5 Hour Live Course fee: $500
Link to Google Form to Sign Up for Coercive Control Course
One Day Training
This is a 4-hour training created for women whose current or former partners are abusive and controlling. It will explain the coercive control model, the many varied forms of abuse and control used against survivors, and the impacts. I will also discuss the favored tactics used by abusers post-separation, such as DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender). The training will give you a foundation for understanding and describing your experiences of pre- and post-separation abuse and control.
This will be a lecture format, 4 hours with a 30 min break. You will also receive a list of forms of coercive control with definitions and examples, which you can use to compare with your and your children’s experiences to create a narrative.
This training is provided periodically. If you are interested, please contact me directly at dvresearchadvocacy@gmail.com
1 Day Training Fee: $200
FAQs for Coercive Control Course
Safety: The course will be taught live for safety reasons, and will not be recorded. Each participant is asked to fill out a brief survey which will gather information about their interests and which will help screen out those who are not protective mothers.
What have you done to make your course more accessible?
I have significantly lowered the cost of the course, and offer a limited number of scholarships for survivors based on financial need. Please write to me directly.
How many courses will you offer this year?
I will likely teach 3-4 courses over the next year, depending on the demands of my research.
FAQs for 1 Day Training
This 4-hour training will not be recorded, it will be taught live over zoom. The number of participants is limited to 75. I offer a few scholarship spots based on financial need. Please contact me directly.