Transformative Couples therapy® SMALL GROUP supervision and Training

Sessions begin January 10th, 2025

This group is fully enrolled

These small group supervision and training sessions provide an opportunity for participants to deepen their skills and effectiveness in treating couples using the Transformative Couples Therapy® (TCT) method. During each four-hour meeting on Zoom the members of the group will receive forty minutes of focused attention a couple session on video.

We will give and receive training constructive witnessing and supervision in a balanced way from David Mars, Ph.D. and the group participants. We will be witnessing each other’s work, which is different than the commonly used practice of giving “feedback”. Feedback can often invite judgment, projection, and labeling of the work, while witnessing allows us to safely explore our learning edges.

In this group we will hold both the therapist and the couple in a deeply respectful and resonant place. We will use I-statements and the Seven Channels of Experience to stand in the shoes of both the therapist and the couple members. The result is that we co-create the secure base with each other that we want to co-construct with our couples. We will practice with each other the TCT consciousness of mindful perception, reception and expression in order to facilitate maximum growth.

Session Calendar

  • Six monthly four-hour sessions
  • Fridays 1:15 PM to 5:15 PM PT
  • COST:
  • $100 per four-hour session
  • Total cost $600 by subscription

  • January 10, 2025

    February 7, 2025

    March 7, 2025

    April 4, 2025

    May 9, 2025

    June 6, 2025

TRAINING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this program, participants will be able to:

  • 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 avoidantly attached patients in treatment.

  • Detect an example 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.

  • Identify transformance striving in a session.

  • Identify three ways to help establish a secure base in treatment.

  • Describe two ways to regulate emotional reactivity in both couple members.

  • Detect the healthiest aspects of each couple member.

  • Utilize two methods for couple members to process emotional experience.

  • Design healing a portrayal to treat relational trauma.

  • Define why affirmation of the self is important.

  • Explain how clients can melt defenses of intellectualization.

  • Find shared matching values in couple members.

  • Describe how to process warded-off emotional experience.

  • Conduct meta-therapeutic processing when couples have reparative experiences.

  • Define the value of the core emotion of surprise in treatment.

  • Integrate core affect through slowing down.

  • Locate two ways to tailor treatment to a couple member’s attachment style.

SESSION DETAILS

This course is designed for therapists who have some knowledge of TCT as intermediate to advanced learners.

Our target audience is Psychologists, MFTs, Licensed Professional Counselors, Psychiatrists, Licensed Social Workers and Pastoral Counselors.

Cancellation policy: You may end your enrollment at any time and receive a full 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.

Lisa Gardner, LCSW is the presenter for this course. She is TCT Faculty and is a TCT Certified Practitioner and Supervisor. Lisa has been central to the development of the TCT Institute and the TCT Research Project.

There are no conflicts of interest or external commercial support related to this course or any course offered by the Transformative Couples Therapy® Institute.

1:15pm-1:25pm PT: Orientation and opening three-minute Channels of Experience meditation

1:25pm-1:55pm PT: Check-in and discussion of participants’ responses to the meditation and any breakthroughs or problems in treating their couples with TCT.

1:55pm-2:45pm PT: David Mars presents a PowerPoint and clinical video demonstrating the theory and practice of Transformative Couples Therapy®.

2:45pm-3:20pm PT: A participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation focused on creating a secure base in treatment and regulating emotional reactivity.

Break: 3:20pm-3:35pm PT

 3:35pm-4:15pm PT: A second participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation focused on creating a secure base in treatment and regulating emotional reactivity.

4:15pm-5:05pm PT A third participant shares video of a session for supervision and supportive consultation focused on creating a secure base in treatment and regulating emotional reactivity.

5:05pm-5:15pm: Closure, including metaprocessing this Small Group Supervision and Training session.

MEeting AGENDA

COURSE COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS:

Participants must complete all sessions to be awarded CE. Cameras on Zoom must be left on, with only brief exceptions. A post test with a 70% pass rate will be required prior to CE being awarded. Attendance will be taken and documented each session by the course instructor. No specific assignments are required, other than reading the course materials sent out before we meet each session. Any questions can be addressed to lisagardnerlcsw@gmail.com. To attend this live, interactive course you must have access to a working computer, a room with sufficient privacy to protect the confidentiality of couple members whose clinical work is shown and internet connectivity sufficient to maintain a stable connection to Zoom.

At the end of the course, CE can be applied for via this link

Transformative Couples Therapy@Small Group Supervision #2, course 6117, is pending approval by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program to be offered by David Mars as an individual course. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE course approval period: February 19, 2025 to Nov 19, 2025. Social workers completing this course may receive 22.5 clinical continuing education credits. "