Treating Stressed Out Couples

Credit

Program Information

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.

Speaker

Elizabeth Earnshaw, LMFT, CGT Related seminars and products

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Elizabeth Earnshaw, LMFT, CGT, is a Marriage and Family Therapist, Clinical Fellow of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), Certified Gottman Method Couples Therapist, Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, and AAMFT Approved Supervisor. She is the author of the best-selling relationship book I Want This to Work, The Couples Therapy Flip Chart, and Til’ Stressed Do Us Part. She is the owner of a national therapy practice that provides systemic therapy to individuals, couples, and families. Elizabeth has worked with hundreds of couples since becoming a couple’s therapist. She lives in West Chester, Pennsylvania, with her husband, children, and dog.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Elizabeth Earnshaw is the co-founder of The Rory Project and is the founder and Clinical Director of A Better Life Therapy, LLC. She receives royalties as a published author. Elizabeth Earnshaw receives a speaking honorarium, recording and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Elizabeth Earnshaw is a fellow of AAMFT.

Additional Info

Program Information

For live CE credit, you must watch the live webcast in its entirety at its scheduled time and complete the CE quiz and evaluation within one week. You will have access for 90 days after the program for review.

Please note: There will be a 70-minute lunch and two 15-minute breaks; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Lunch and break times will be announced by the speaker and at their discretion. A more detailed schedule is available upon request.

Visit our FAQ page at https://www.pesicanada.ca/faq or contact us at https://www.pesicanada.ca/contact-us.

Objectives

1. Identify the role and impact of stress when clients present with dysregulation in session.
2. Determine the impact of stress on relational functioning within partnered relationships.
3. Evaluate Diffuse Psychological Arousal (DPA) to de-escalate, regulate, and repair relational ruptures.
4. Utilize tools for co-regulation, verbal negotiation, and conversation outlines to improve clinical outcomes with couples.
5. Develop strategies to help both partners take accountability for the role they play in their own stress.
6. Utilize a three-part system for helping couples manage stress within and outside the relationship.

Outline

• Types and origins of stress in modern partnered relationships
• Identifying and navigating the mental load
• Neurological underpinnings of stress
• 3-part stress cycle
• Diffuse Physiological Arousal (DPA)
• Limitations of the research and potential risks

• How to recognize when an individual is flooded
• When to step in, when to step back
• Tools for turning down the temperature:
  • Stop Action
  • BPM Tracking
  • Deflating the Balloon
  • Doubling (The Dan Wile)
  • Cross Questioning
  • Relaxation, Mindfulness, Breathing, and Breaks
• Recovery, repair, and personal responsibility
• Tools for increasing closeness and attunement:
  • Psychoeducation
  • Acceptance
  • The Stress-Reducing Conversation
  • Negotiation
  • Remembering “We”
  • Coregulation
  • Creating a Break Plan

• Helping couples identify the stress they “create”
• The 3-part system for managing stress – individually and together
• Radical Responsibility
• Tools to help couples change their lifestyle:
  • Completing the Stress Cycle
  • Awareness of Tasks + Redistribution
  • North Star Values
  • Meaningful Time Together
  • The Weekly Meeting

• Self-disclosure and boundaries
• Navigate countertransference
• When the problem is bigger than stress levels
• Therapist tools:
  • Mindfulness
  • Appropriate Self-Disclosure
  • Thinking on Your Toes
  • De-triangulating

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Physicians
• Other mental health professionals