Couples No Fault Counseling

Couples No-Fault Counseling

ÂŠ2012 Professional Development Resources | http://www.pdresources.org | email: ceinfo@pdresources.org

Title of Course: Couples No-Fault Counseling CE Credit: 3 Hours Instruction Level: Intermediate Author: Deborah D. Poor, LCSW Abstract: Couples counseling is a challenging undertaking for both counselors and couples. Counselors need to take a detailed history of both partners and gradually discover the real reasons they overreact to certain things their partner says and does. Couples need to be motivated enough to keep counseling appointments and need to believe that they can improve their relationship. This course will share four interesting case studies, where you will witness couples who came to therapy for an identified problem and left with a much greater understanding of the underlying causes of their difficulties. The studies clearly reveal the reasons the partners were attracted to each other, and what they can learn from one another began in their childhoods. After taking this course, you will know how to help couples to give up their BAD (blame, argue & defend) communication style and replace it with active listening. In doing so, you will help them to create more harmonious relationships by increasing the empathy they feel for each other.

Learning Objectives: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Identify techniques for discovering the real reasons couples have the same arguments over and over again Define the author’s concept of “original pain” that can cause partners to overreact to each other List methods for teaching active listening skills to clients Name ways to give partners a deeper understanding of themselves and each other Identify one’s own biases towards clients who have specific characteristics and issues

Couples No-Fault Counseling Part I Introduction Couples counseling is a challenging undertaking for both counselors and couples. Counselors need to take a detailed history of both partners and gradually discover the real reasons they overreact to certain things their partner says and does. Couples need to be motivated enough to keep counseling appointments and need to believe that they can improve their relationship. “Dealing with two people, two sets of hot emotions, escalating fights and clients who hurt but don’t want to slow down, be more reasonable and negotiate is not for the faint of heart” (Johnson, 2008). We believe this course will help you realize that by helping a couple who has children, you are making a positive difference in the couple’s lives, in the lives of their offspring and in the lives of countless unborn generations. We hope this information will encourage you to seize every opportunity to do couples counseling. “Society mistakenly tends to believe that only those individuals in relationships that are rocky need counseling, but this isn’t so. Note the word ‘individual.’ We are all very individual, separate people. We all have our own way of thinking and our own way of getting things done – and when two individuals come together to form a relationship, two worlds literally collide. The truth is that anyone who is serious about maintaining a relationship will benefit from couples therapy. Even the strongest of relationships can benefit and grow even stronger with the help of a qualified couples therapist” (Good Therapy, 2009). In a number of the case studies we will share, you will witness couples who came to therapy for an identified problem and left with a much greater understanding of the underlying causes of their difficulties. Their increased understanding of their partner, of themselves and what causes them to argue proved to benefit them greatly. Most marriages and other relationships aren’t perfect. Each person brings his or her own ideas, values, opinions and personal history into the relationship and they don’t always match their partner’s. Marriage counseling can give couples the tools to communicate better, negotiate differences, problem solve and even argue in a healthier way. I’ve noticed that my empathy for the couples I work with has increased since they started doing assignments from The Couples No Fault Workbook (included in Part II of this course). The worksheets they complete and later share in counseling sessions reveal that people who have had the most troublesome childhoods create the most difficult romantic relationships. The severely dysfunctional family they were born into appears to sentence them to a lifetime of trouble with their significant others. “If the frustration is repetitive, it will always have roots in childhood” (Hendrix, 2007).

To take this full course and get 15% off your purchase with coupon code, visit PDResources.org. Use coupon code: 15off

ÂŠ2012 Professional Development Resources | http://www.pdresources.org | email: ceinfo@pdresources.org

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