In couples therapy, it is easy to become absorbed in the content of the couple’s argument — the facts, the timeline, who said what, who did what, and who remembers it differently.

But often, the deeper work is not in the content itself. It is in the process happening between the couple as they speak.

This half-day training focuses on helping therapists recognise what is happening in the room in real time. You will explore how to listen beyond the presenting issue and begin tracking the interactional patterns, emotional shifts, positions, and responses that shape the couple’s dynamic.

This training is designed for therapists already working with couples who want to develop a more process-oriented way of working, rather than becoming pulled too quickly into problem-solving, mediation, or the details of the argument.

By the end of this training, you will have a clearer understanding of how to notice, track, and work with process in couples therapy.

You will explore how to:

• distinguishing process from content
• tracking interactional patterns
• noticing shifts in tone, position and body language
• deciding when to interrupt and when to let something unfold
• helping the couple become curious about what is happening between them
• avoiding becoming absorbed in the facts of the argument
• using differentiation and process frameworks to understand the dynamics

Couples often arrive in therapy with a story about what the problem is. They may talk about communication, parenting, sex, money, in-laws, affairs, or household responsibilities.

These issues matter. But in couples therapy, the presenting issue is often only the starting point.

The therapist’s task is to begin noticing how the couple relates to the issue, how they respond to one another, how each partner protects themselves, and how the same pattern begins to repeat.

When therapists can track process, they are less likely to get lost in the content and more able to support the couple to see what is happening between them.

This training is suitable for therapists who are already working with couples. It is designed both for experienced practitioners who are interested in working with couples in a more process-oriented, relational way; or graduates of the Institute of Couples Therapy

The programme assumes participants already have some experience of working therapeutically with couples and focuses on developing clinical skill rather than introducing the foundations of couples therapy.

Available to Watch Live and/or Recorded*

*(All sessions will be recorded, and participants will have access to the recording for 60 days following the programme.)

3.5 CPD hours by the Institute of Couples Therapy