This Home Study Program was recorded as a live event on July 17, 2019.
When: Any (Distance Learning/Home Study)
Instructor: Nancy Knudsen, LMFT
Rate: $35 (one time registration fee of $5)
CEs: 1.5 CEs approved for LICSWs, LMHCs, and Lic. Psychologists
Target Audience: Marriage & Family Therapists, Social Workers, Mental Health Counselors, Psychologists
Level: Intermediate
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Hosted by the Smith College School for Social Work
This course explains how doing effective therapy with more than one person in the room is a whole different endeavor from working with an individual. Couple therapists often find that people come in not to make changes in themselves but to get the therapist’s help in changing the other. Shifting the frame from the problem lying inside one person to one that stems from an interactive pattern between two people can be a major undertaking. How to accomplish this task while offering deep empathy and validation for each member of the couple involves skillfully shifting back and forth from the systemic view of the couple to the careful exploration of the inner worlds of each individual.
This webinar is based on the basic concepts of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), an evidence-based approach that has been shown to be highly effective in helping distressed couples repair and create a secure bond. Based on an integration of structural systems theory, the theory of attachment and emotional bonding, and an experiential humanistic approach to exploring emotions, EFT offers a roadmap to help couples stuck in a perpetual cycle of conflict to find their way back to loving connection.
If you are considering offering couples therapy or have already started seeing couples without a clear road map, this webinar can begin to orient you to the particular challenges of this important specialty.
At the conclusion of this program, participants will be better able to:
- Describe the fundamental differences between individual and couple therapy.
- Explain the challenges of holding two competing perspectives simultaneously.
- List three contra-indicators for couples therapy.
- Define the role of the therapist as the safe attachment figure.
Nancy Knudsen, LMFT is a Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in Northampton, MA with over 30 years experience in the field. She has used a family systems orientation over the years to work with individuals, couples, and families on a wide range of issues. Over the past 10 years, Nancy’s primary clinical modality has been Emotionally Focused Therapy. She is a certified EFT therapist as well as a certified EFT supervisor, and served two years as the Assistant Director of the New England EFT Community. Nancy has taught a number of workshops on EFT for professionals, and has facilitated over 12 couples weekend workshops using the Hold Me Tight® Program developed by Dr Sue Johnson. Additionally, she is a Past President of the Massachusetts Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and an AAMFT Approved Supervisor. Her most recent enterprise is Co-Founding and Directing the Couple & Family Institute of New England.