Recognising Emotional Abuse and Coercive Control

Author: Krasi Kirova
Study time: 8 hours
Lifetime Access
Video: 6o mins
Certificate Available

Limited Early Offer: 20% OFF until 31 October
USE CODE: EARLYOFF20

Does Any of This Sound Familiar?

"Where is the line between a difficult or unhealthy relationship and emotional abuse?"

"How do I know when I should become more concerned?"

"My client presents with anxiety, depression or trauma… but could there be something in their relationship I am overlooking?"

"What kinds of questions could I be asking to better understand what's happening?"

"How can I distinguish mental health symptoms or attachment difficulties from the effect of ongoing abuse in a relationship?"

"I have seen so many different lists of abusive behaviours or red flags, how do I make them into something practical to use in practice?"

"My client keeps minimising their partner's behaviour. Should I challenge that, or simply stay curious?"

"I think I would recognise obvious abuse, but what are the subtle, everyday behaviours that don't immediately stand out?"

Why This Course Is Essential Even If Domestic Abuse Isn't Your Area of Practice?

Did you know that only 16% of postgraduate psychology programs in Australia include a unit on family violence? As a profession, we are lacking even basic training in this area (The Clinical Psychologist, 2026).

  You're already seeing these clients, whether you know it or not
People affected by emotional abuse and coercive control commonly present with anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship difficulties and emotional distress, often without recognising or naming the abuse itself.

  There is a significant gap in our training
At the same time, knowledge about domestic violence is becoming an essential professional competency. AHPRA and The Psychology Board of Australia are now calling for family violence education for everyone, recognising it as fundamental to competent practice, rather than an optional area of specialisation.

  How you respond can either promote recovery or actively harm clients
Survivors consistently report feeling validated and empowered when therapists understand the dynamics of abuse. Meanwhile, responses that minimise, dismiss or misunderstand their experiences can be re-traumatising, mirror abuse tactics and discourage future help-seeking.

Psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists
Couples therapists
Students in Psychology, Counselling and Social Work
Mental health practitioners
Social workers and family violence practitioners

Write your awesome label here.

What Makes This Course Unique?

Built for psychologists and counsellors, not caseworkers

Most existing training on coercive control is designed for social workers or family violence practitioners. This course is written specifically for the therapy room. It covers what you need to notice, ask, and formulate, not how to conduct comprehensive risk assessments or provide case management.

Real People. Real Experiences

Woven throughout are insights from an extensive collection of first-hand accounts from people who have experienced coercive control and sought help through therapy. Their voices reveal the realities that theory alone can’t: what helped, what caused harm, what was missed, and what they wish therapists understood.

Application over theory

Every concept is brought to life through realistic therapy scenarios and case examples, then translated into practical questions and approaches you can take straight into the therapy room. The aim is not simply to know more, but to notice more, ask better questions, and apply what you've learned with confidence.

Developed Through Years of My Clinical Practice

Developed by a psychologist who recognised the same training gap many practitioners experience and set out to create the course she wished had existed earlier in her own career. This is a framework that has been stress-tested in the therapy room, not just in academic research.

Teaches pattern recognition and an effective organising framework

The focus is on recognising patterns, context and function, rather than ticking off checklists of behaviours. The 3Ds framework gives you a simple, yet memorable structure (Disrespect, Disempower, Distort) that reflects contemporary research without sacrificing the complexity and messiness of real-life.

Shows, rather than tells

Instead of long chunks of theoretical lessons, the course walks you through a running case study where you have to notice, interpret, and refine your own formulation as new information emerges. This reflects the way information and awareness builds over time in real therapy.

Real voices of lived experience

Grounded in current academic research

A case that unfolds step-by-step

Practical reflection exercises

A library of 10 downloadable handouts

A detailed Assessment & Formulation Guide

A list of many further resources

CPD certificate of completion

  Explain the relationship between emotional abuse and coercive control, and why physical violence is not the defining or most common feature of relationship abuse.

  Apply a pattern–context–function lens to recognise coercive control, rather than relying on isolated incidents or a checklist of behaviours.

  Apply the 3Ds Framework (Disrespect, Disempower, Distort) to identify the full range of behaviours and dynamics that characterise emotional abuse, including how the three domains overlap and reinforce one another.

  Recognise various forms of restrictions, including economic abuse, technology-facilitated abuse, surveillance and monitoring, manufactured dependence, reproductive and sexual coercion, and the gradual internalisation of control.

  Understand the cumulative impact of sustained emotional abuse and coercive control across psychological, physical, social, relational and economic domains, and formulate common presenting difficulties as potentially expectable adaptations rather than individual pathology.

  Recognise how coercive control can extend into parenting and family life, including its impact on children, children's autonomy and behaviour, and the ways the parent–child relationship may become a target of abuse.

  Integrate multiple sources of information when assessing, including the client's own story, behavioural patterns, relationship context, cumulative impact, validated measures, risk indicators, and exploratory, abuse-informed questioning.

  Identify evidence-based family violence risk factors, recognise indicators of serious or escalating risk, and understand when specialist family violence referral is warranted (distinguishing this role from conducting a comprehensive specialist risk assessment).

  Learn about the evolving legal recognition and criminalisation of coercive control.

Module 1 — Why This Matters
We begin by looking at why emotional abuse and coercive control matter in everyday therapeutic practice, including prevalence, mental health burden and the reasons these dynamics can be so difficult to recognise. We also introduce the voices of people with lived experience that are woven throughout the course, and meet Sarah, whose story develops through the course.

Module 2 — Making Sense of Emotional Abuse and Coercive Control
What do we mean by emotional abuse and coercive control, and how are they related? This module explores definitions, the relationship between the two, and the spectrum from harmful relationship behaviour through to an entrenched system of control. You'll learn to move beyond individual incidents and behavioural checklists by using the Pattern–Context–Function lens to understand what is happening within the relationship and what behaviours achieve over time.

Module 3 — The 3Ds: Disrespect
Here we introduce the 3Ds of Emotional Abuse — Disrespect, Disempower and Distort — as a practical framework for organising and making sense of the many behaviours that can occur. We then explore the first D, Disrespect: the repeated devaluation of a partner and how this gradually erodes their sense of worth.

Module 4 — The 3Ds: Disempower
The second D focuses on the erosion of autonomy, choice and freedom to act independently. We explore the many ways this can happen, from everyday micro-regulation and monitoring through to isolation, intimidation, manufactured dependence and restriction of resources. This module also takes a closer look at economic abuse and technology-facilitated coercive control, including financial exploitation, employment sabotage, surveillance and monitoring.

Module 5 — The 3Ds: Distort
The third D explores how an abusive partner can gradually shape a person's understanding of what is happening, who is responsible and whose version of reality can be trusted. We look beyond gaslighting to explore blame-shifting, denial, manipulation, unpredictability, intermittent affection, and public image management.

Module 6 — The Impact of Emotional Abuse
This module looks at the cumulative psychological, physical, social, relational and economic fallout of emotional abuse. Rather than viewing anxiety, hypervigilance, exhaustion or loss of confidence simply as symptoms within the individual, we consider what the person has had to adapt to. We also explore how the effects can continue after separation and how coercive control affects children and parenting.

Module 7 — Identifying and Assessing Emotional Abuse and Coercive Control
Assessment is approached as a puzzle rather than a checklist. You will learn how to ask exploratory questions, when to use validated measures and how to use the 3Ds Assessment & Formulation Guide to organise what you are hearing. We also look at evidence-based family violence risk factors, the difference between recognising risk and conducting a specialist risk assessment, when referral is needed, and the evolving criminalisation of coercive control.

Module 8 — Resources & Bringing It All Together
The final module gives you practical resources to take the learning into your work. You will have access to 10 downloadable handouts covering emotional abuse and coercive control, the 3Ds, impact, assessment and formulation, evidence-based risk factors, and Australian referral services.

Your Course Presenter

Krasi Kirova

Krasi is a Clinical Psychologist and Board-Approved Supervisor with extensive training and practice in emotional abuse, coercive control and complex trauma. She provides professional training to psychologists on coercive control and facilitates workshops for women navigating emotional abuse, difficult separations and Family Court proceedings.

Krasi is a member of Safe & Equal, Victoria's peak body for family violence, past participant in their Communities of Practice, and a regular guest on the award-winning Australian podcast The Divorce Course, where she discusses coercive control and post-separation abuse.

Patrick Jones - Course author