Many hard-pressed therapists believe the best they can do is help the couple take their relationship from abysmal to okay. This workshop will present Relational Life Therapy (RLT), an approach that counters that conventional view. RLT focuses on helping each partner move below the childish “first consciousness” feelings of anger, self-righteous indignation,

Sexuality cases can challenge our clinical beliefs and personal values, while simultaneously highlighting our discomfort or ignorance---and increasingly, we’re seeing cases that didn’t exist 20 years ago, such as cybersex and Internet porn. In this workshop, we’ll examine a range of sexual issues, such as affairs, desires, infertility, sadomasochism,

Every therapeutic approach has its distinctive strengths and limitations, so knowing how to combine differing approaches can increase our therapeutic effectiveness. Through case histories and demonstrations, this workshop will show the value of integrating Imago Relationship Therapy with Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT). You’ll learn

If you work with couples, you’re no stranger to infidelity, and because healing from infidelity is challenging, it behooves us to have a clear roadmap of the territory. In this workshop, we’ll go over an array of post-affair issues, including ways to deal with intense emotions, whether to discuss the details of the betrayal, whether to insist that the affair be ended, how to help partners

For anyone looking to meet someone, the Internet and online dating sites is the new normal, whether for good or bad. It’s no wonder the cyber-dating world can feel confusing or overwhelming to our clients seeking a relationship. For anyone starting out or starting over at midlife, this new territory can be overwhelming, at best. Yet, if we ourselves aren’t familiar

After nearly 30 years of batting about terms like sexual addiction and sexual compulsivity to describe out-of-control sexual behavior, the panel for DSM-5 is considering formally recognizing hypersexual disorder. Yet therapists generally remain confused about the different behaviors that distinguish hypersexuality. This workshop will teach you

The impact of Asperger’s Disorder (AD) on communication and conflict in intimate relationships has, for the most part, been overlooked. But with almost one percent of children today diagnosed as being on the Asperger’s/autism spectrum, and with increasing numbers of adults only now being identified as having AD, it’s a factor that can no longer be ignored.

When Freud called what would become psychoanalysis “the talking cure,” talking became and has remained the signature intervention of most therapies. Yet, both research and clinical experience is making it increasingly clear that it isn’t talking as much as being listened to that helps clients. The full, empathic, attuned attention of the therapist or one’s

Partners who are completely at odds about whether their marriage is even worth salvaging challenge the basic premise of marital therapy: that both clients have at least a minimal stake in preserving their union. Most therapists are unprepared to treat a couple in which one partner is a real “customer” and the other is a spoiler. In this workshop, we’ll discuss how

When same-sex partners enter couples therapy, attachment issues often take center stage. The reasons become clear as clients reveal stories of being ostracized or kicked out of their families because of their sexual orientation. In addition, they have often absorbed and internalized the homophobia of their surroundings, leading to an ongoing angry,