NEW Five Transformative Couples therapy® Core Training Weekends
In-person core training beginning september 27th, 2025 in Charlottesville, VA
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 a 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.Education is 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 65 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 65 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
Saturday and Sunday Core training series once Every two months
This five weekend Core Training series is meant for those with a beginning to intermediate level of training and expertise in Transformative Couples Therapy®. Combined Saturday and Sunday Core Training weekend costs $650 per weekend or $3200 if paid in full or $3250 if paid by subscription in monthly payments.
Maximum eight participants
Saturday 9:00am-5:00pm EST with a one hour lunch break. -
September 27 and 28, 2025
November 22 and 23, 2025
January 17, and 18, 2026
March 14 and 15, 2026
May 9 and 10, 2026
Sunday schedule for the Weekend Core Training series
8:00am-4:00pm EST with a one hour lunch break.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.
Session Details
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.
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.
Saturday Meeting Schedule
All Times BELOW Are in Eastern Standard TIME
9:00am-9:30am: Orientation and opening three-minute Channels of Experience meditation, check-in and discussion of participants’ responses to the meditation as a check in.
9:30am-11:30am: Presentation of a clinical video and didactic teaching demonstrating the theory and practice of Transformative Couples Therapy@ presented by David Mars
11:30-11:45am: Break
11:45am-12:45pm: A participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation
12:45pm to 1:45pm Lunch Break
1:45pm-2:45pm: A participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation
2:45pm-3:45pm: A participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation
3:45pm-4:00 Break
3:45pm-4:45pm: A participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation
4:45pm-5:00pm: Closure and Q and A, including metaprocessing this Core Training session
Sunday Meeting Schedule
All Times BELOW Are in Eastern Standard TIME
8:00am-8:30am: Orientation and opening three-minute Channels of Experience meditation, check-in and discussion of participants’ responses to the meditation as an opening check in.
8:30am-10:00am: Presentation of a clinical video and didactic teaching demonstrating the theory and practice of Transformative Couples Therapy@ presented by David Mars
10:00am-10:15am: Break
10:15am-11:15am: A participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation
11:15am-12:15 A participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation
12:15pm -1:15pm Lunch Break
1:15:pm-2:15pm: A participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation
2:15pm to 3:15pm A participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation
3:15pm to 4:00pm Closure and Q and A, including metaprocessing this Core Training session