Couples’ Counselling: Online CPD

There can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware of a truth,
yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours. To the cognition of the brain
must be added the experience of the soul.
—Arnold Bennet

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the course candidates should be able to:

Identify the contribution of a couples’ counselling approach to therapeutic practice
Present an adequate understanding of the couples’ counselling processes.
Be conversant with the key concepts of couples’ counselling
Practically apply couples’ counselling techniques and skills in practice

This is an online CPD course designed to deepen your understanding of the Couples’ Counselling and the models used for counselling purposes. Scroll down the page for full details and curriculum

Cost £59

You will have 180 days to complete the course from your enrolment date. The online course constitues 25 CPD hours

Need help? See videos at the bottom of this page or Email: support@ukait.org

Course Contents

COURSE MODULES

Relationship Fits – The unconscious dynamics of relationships
John Gottman’s Sound Relationship House
An Introduction to Attachment Theory
Emotionally Focused Couples’ Therapy

Details of each model can be found below…..

RELATIONSHIP FITS

Relationship fits is a model that looks at the unconsious dynamics of relationships.

Why are you attracted to your partner?
Why do you gravitate towards your friends
Why do you gravitate towards certain people and repel others?

These questions can be answered in a superficial manner, but underlying all relatioships and friendships are unconscious dynamics that determine the friends and relationships we choose.

In all there are five fits:

Positive Mirror Image
Negative Mirror Image
Opposites
Insecure with Insecure
Unrelsoved Childhood Issues

EMOTION-FOCUSED COUPLES’ THERAPY THEORY

Note: This module includes an introduction to Attachment Theory, to lay the foundations for EFT

In this approach to treatment, the therapist and the person in therapy collaborate in an active process. Both are viewed as equal contributors. The person in treatment, not the therapist, is seen as the person most capable of interpreting their emotional experience.

EFT is founded in the idea that emotions should be used to guide healthy, meaningful lives. Its theory is based on a scientific inquiry into the human emotional experience. Scientific study of human emotion has provided information about:

How emotions are produced
The importance of emotions to human functioning
How emotions are related to thought and behavior

Emotion schemes is the core concept of EFT. It was developed largely from these theories of human emotion. Emotion schemes are models that outline how emotion can:

Be experienced physically
Cause physiologic changes
Influence thinking
Guide future action

EFT helps people both accept and change their personal emotion schemes.

TECHNIQUES USED IN EMOTION-FOCUSED THERAPY

EFT sessions typically centres around the development of two key skills. These are:

Arriving at one’s emotions through increased awareness and acceptance.
Learning to transform emotions and better use the information they provide to avoid negative or harmful behaviors or other effects of certain emotions.

Therapists practicing this method take a compassionate, non-judgmental, and reflective approach to listening and questioning. This allows the person in therapy to come to a better understanding of their emotions. Then, various therapeutic techniques known as emotion coaching are utilized. These help people learn new ways to use healthy emotions to guide their actions. Emotion coaching may further help people transform and move on from challenging emotions.

Initial sessions of therapy focus on helping people arrive at emotions. One or more of the following goals are often included in each session:

Become more aware of emotions
Learn to welcome, allow, and regulate emotions
Learn to describe emotions clearly and in detail
Increase awareness of the multiple layers of emotional experiences and learn to identify the most direct reaction

The next phase of treatment focuses on leaving. It may include the following goals:

Evaluate whether emotions are helpful or unhelpful in various situations
Learn to use helpful emotions to guide action
Identify the source of unhelpful emotions
Learn to change unhelpful emotions
Develop alternative, healthy ways of coping with situations that often elicit maladaptive emotions
Form personal scripts that help challenge the destructive thoughts that may be associated with unhelpful or maladaptive emotions

EFT is generally thought to have been successful when the person(s) in treatment have an increased awareness of their emotional experience. They may also have an improved ability to regulate emotions and be better able to transform unhelpful emotions.

JOHN’S GOTTMAN’S SOUND RELATIONSHIP HOUSE THERAPY

Dr. John Gottman introduced the concept that a foundationally secure partnership is like a house. It has weight-bearing walls and levels that each person builds upon to create a sturdy bond. He called this structure the Sound Relationship House, and for more than 30 years, it’s given countless couples the tools they need to have happy healthy relationships.

Floor 1: Build Love Maps

Floor 2: Share Fondness and Admiration

Floor 3: Turn Towards

Floor 4: The Positive Perspective

Floor 5: Manage Conflict

Floor 6: Make Life Dreams Come True

Floor 7: Create Shared Meaning

Course Structure

The course is relayed via a variety of classroom recorded videos, PowerPoint presentation videos, supporting videos, and demonstration videos. In addition, there are written theory modules, a quiz, case studies, handouts and downloads.

If you wish to enrol on the course, simply click the ‘Take this Course‘ button and you will be directed to registration and payment. Once you have registered and made payment, you will be logged in and directed to your profile page, which contains the links to your course(s). You can do the course at your own pace and in your own time.

You will use the email address and password you created at registration as your login credentials for all subsequent access, so please make a note of them. Login page is: https://alc2alc.com/course-login/

Welcome from course director: Paul Henderson