Last Chance Couples Therapy: Helping Couples On the Eve of Destruction

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts

Speaker

Peter Fraenkel, PhD Related seminars and products

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Peter Fraenkel, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and associate professor at City College of New York. He is the author of numerous publications, including Sync Your Relationship, Save Your Marriage, and the forthcoming books, Relationships on the Brink: Last Chance Couple Therapy and The Complete Guide to Couple Therapy: From Happy to Last Chance Across the Lovespan.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Peter Fraenkel maintains private practice and has an employment relationship with the City College of New York. He receives a grant for Fresh Start for Families from HELP USA and receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Fraenkel receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Peter Fraenkel is a member of the American Psychological Association, the American Family Therapy Academy, the National Council on Family Relations, the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, and the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy.

Objectives

1. Describe the four major last chance couple scenarios.
2. List the five principles of the Creative Relational Movement Approach to change.
3. Describe the steps to creating a therapeutic alliance and contract that honours the ambivalence of the partner(s) who are strongly considering ending the relationship, so that they can engage in “experiments in possibility” without fear that therapeutic progress will trap them in an unhappy marriage.
4. Describe the steps of a mindfulness-based approach to empathic problem discussion called Beginning Anew.
5. List three techniques that increase mutual respect, pleasure, and intimacy.

Outline

• The four most common “last chance” couples scenarios and how to intervene
• The five principles of the Creative Relational Movement Approach to change
• The steps to creating a therapeutic alliance that honours the ambivalence of the partner(s) who are strongly considering ending the relationship, so that they can engage in “experiments in possibility” without fear that therapeutic progress will trap them in an unhappy marriage
• The steps of a mindfulness-based approach to empathic problem discussion called Beginning Anew, which integrates Buddhist-based and traditional “Western,” research-based communication skills
• Three techniques that increase mutual respect, pleasure, and intimacy

Target Audience

• Counsellors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Addiction Counselors
• Physicians
• Physician Assistants
• Nurses
• Nurse Practitioners 
• Other Mental Health Professionals

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