Eight Transformative Couples therapy® Core Training sessions on Zoom
beginning October 10th, 2026 For Charlottesville, VA for 2026 - 2027
This Core Training courses will present the theory and practice of Transformative Couples Therapy® through lively teaching from Dr. David Mars which includes inspiring video-recorded demonstrations of the work. Transformative Couples Therapy® is a body-oriented, affective neuroscience and attachment-based method. Core Training provides supervision and consultation for each group member's video-recorded session work to help participants learn to better track, inspire and affectively regulate two people at a time in couple treatment. The eight group members in each series will share their own clinical video to receive constructive support, reflection and guidance. Each participant will receive 40 minutes of focused attention each time they share their work.
The beauty of these Transformative Couples Therapy® Core Trainings is in the way we safely develop ourselves and our work with each other by using communication based on embodied witnessing through the seven channels of experience. This is a relieving alternative to "feedback" with it's inherent judgement, projection and often unsolicited offering of critique. Instead, we will use Process Language throughout each training session to build safety and develop optimal skillful communication for creating a secure base within ourselves and the group. We will use moment-to-moment tracking and body-based communication skills to increase your capacity to generate transformative outcomes for your couples.
These Core Training sessions will help participants to apply the Transformative Couples Therapy® model with a range of challenging clinical situations. "Unlikely transformations" is the theme of the teaching topics and the training videos selected. It is the couples who seem impossibly mired in their patterns of combined high reactivity, dissociation and low levels of positive responsiveness who the are our greatest teachers!
To discuss joining this Core Training group series, please contact Dr. David Mars using the link below to schedule an interview.
COURSE COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS:
Participants must complete sessions in person or on Zoom to be awarded CE for the training hours. An evaluation will be required prior to CE being awarded. The requirements include reading the course materials sent out before we meet each session. Any questions can be addressed to davidmarsphd@gmail.com. To attend this live, in-person, interactive course you must have a prior interview with David Mars, Ph.D. on Zoom or in person.
At the end of the course, CE can be applied for via this link
Credits.Educationis approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and LEPs. Credits.Education maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content. This course meets the qualifications for 16 hours of Continuing Education (CE) credits for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Please check with your state board to confirm if CAMFT CE apply to your licensure in your state.
The cost for 16 Continuing Education (CE) credits will be $50. An email will be sent to all participants who complete the course from Credits Education.
Many state boards, including Virginia, accept CE credits from organizations that are accredited by national organizations like AAMFT, with which CAMFT is affiliated.
And according to Virginia's Department of Health Professionals' Board of Counseling's "Regulations Governing the Practice of Marriage and Family Therapy":
d. Workshops, seminars, conferences, or courses in the behavioral health field offered by an individual or organization that has been certified or approved by one of the following: (1) The International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors and its state affiliates. (2) The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and its state affiliates [which includes CAMFT]....
*** Note: It is each participant’s responsibility to ensure that CE from CAMFT satisfy the requirements of your licensing board.
Transformative Couples therapy® Core Training In Charlottesville, VA
Monthly 2 Hour sessions on ZooM on Fridays
This eight session Core Training series is meant for those with a beginning to intermediate level of training and expertise in Transformative Couples Therapy®. This series costs $1150 if paid all at once and $1200 if paid by monthly subscription. Maximum six participants Fridays from 11 AM to 1 PM ET.
Training Objectives
At the end of this program, participants will be able to:
Identify transformance strivings in session.
Identify three ways to establish a secure base in treatment.
Describe two ways to regulate emotional reactivity.
Detect the healthiest aspects of each couple member.
Utilize two methods for couple members to process emotional experience.
Design a healing portrayal to treat relational trauma.
Describe why affirmation of the self is important.
Explain how clients can melt intellectual defenses.
Find matching values in couple members.
Describe how to process warded-off emotional experience.
Conduct meta-processing in response to new positive experiences.
Define the value of the core emotion of surprise.
Integrate core affect through slowing down.
Identify two ways to adapt treatment for an avoidant attachment style.
Select opportunities to help couple members to feel and show more positivity.
Utilize openings to soften defenses.
Define three early signs of dorsal vagal response.
Demonstrate knowledge of two ways to regulate dorsal vagal response.
Specify how the frequency of dorsal vagal response can be reduced in treatment.
Distinguish methods for engaging disorganized attachment patterns.
Describe the course of a tough case in which an unexpected breakthrough occurred.
Explain how a meditative state of mindfulness helps in treatment.
Conduct a role play of meta-therapeutic processing.
Explain the value of increased awareness in couple members.
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10/9/26
11/13/26
12/11/26
1/8/27
2/12/27
3/12/27
4/9/27
5/14/27
And a free session on 6/11/27 for CE grace purposes in case a session is missed.
Special Needs - If you require ADA accommodations, please contact our office 30 days or more before the event. We can only ensure accommodations with adequate prior notification.
The course will be conducted in the delivery format of in-person learning. Interactions will include recorded clinical video, role play, PowerPoint and live interactive group discussion.
Session Details
Cancellation policy: You may end your enrollment at any time and receive a refund for the remaining sessions of the course.
Complaints, questions or concerns may be communicated to David Mars, PhD by email at davidmarsphd@gmail.com for prompt attention.
David Mars, Ph.D., the presenter for this course, holds a Ph.D. in Psychology, is licensed as an MFT, and has taught Transformative Couples Therapy® (TCT) to psychotherapists for over sixteen years. He is the developer of the Transformative Couples Therapy® method and a former faculty member of the AEDP Institute. David is the director of the Transformative Couples Therapy® Institute has been treating couples and families in private practice for over forty years. Click here to see a more complete bio.
There are no conflicts of interest or external commercial support related to this course or any course offered by the Transformative Couples Therapy® Institute.
11:00am - 11:10am: Orientation and discussion of participants’ experience of practicing TCT between sessions
11:10am - 12:10pm: Presentation of a clinical video and didactic teaching demonstrating the theory and practice of Transformative Couples Therapy® presented by David Mars
12:10pm - 12:50pm: A participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation
12:50pm to 1:00 pm Metaprocessing and preparing for the next training session
Friday Meeting Schedule
For the First, Fourth and eighth session
All Times BELOW Are in Eastern TIME
Friday Meeting Schedule
For all sessions except the First, Fourth and eighth session
All Times BELOW Are in Eastern Standard TIME
11:00am - 11:10am: Orientation and discussion of participants’ experience of practicing TCT between sessions
11:10 am - 11:50am: A participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation
11:50 am - 12:00pm: Break
12:00pm -12:40pm: A second participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation
12:40pm to 1:00pm Metaprocessing and preparing for the next training session