Treating Stressed Out Couples: 22 Essential Interventions to Help Partners Set Healthy Boundaries, Overcome Resentment, & Thrive
- Speaker:
- Elizabeth Earnshaw, LMFT
- Duration:
- 6 Hours 22 Minutes
- Language:
- Presented in EN, subtitles in EN and FR, handouts in EN and FR
- Format:
- Audio and Video
- Copyright:
-
Aug 29, 2025
- Product Code:
- POS150237
- Media Type:
- Digital Seminar - Also available: Live Webinar
Description
Are you finding it difficult to engage with couples who arrive at therapy sessions feeling frazzled, angry, or emotionally distant?
Despite your best efforts for meaningful conversations about their issues, the sessions quickly escalate into conflict or shut down entirely, even resulting in one partner leaving the room …
Situations like this can leave you feeling ineffective and questioning your approach. Plus, your clients are more frustrated than ever …
So, what do you do?
Watch renowned couples therapist, relational expert, and author Elizabeth Earnshaw, LMFT, CGT (@lizlistens) as she delves deeper into understanding the root causes of stress between couples – and how this stress rears its ugly head in the therapy room.
Earnshaw will equip you with 22 proven interventions designed to help couples regulate their emotions, communicate more constructively, and reconnect emotionally both inside and outside the therapy room.
Purchase today to transform your ability to guide couples through their challenges, creating a safe and productive environment where they can openly explore their feelings and rebuild their relationship.
Credit
Program Information
Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationshipsAll 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.
NOTE: Tuition includes one free CE Certificate (participant will be able to print the certificate of completion after passing the online post-test (80% passing score) and completing the evaluation). Instructional methods will include PowerPoint, didactic lecture, and others.
Continuing Education Information: Listed below are the continuing education credit(s) currently available for this non-interactive self-study package. Program content is reviewed periodically per accrediting board rules for currency and appropriateness for credit. Credit approvals are subject to change. Please note, your licensing board dictates whether self-study is an acceptable form of continuing education, as well as which credit types are acceptable for continuing education hours. Please refer to your licensing board's rules and regulations. If your profession is not listed, please contact your licensing board to determine your continuing education requirements and check for reciprocal approval.
For other credit inquiries not specified below, please contact info@pesi.com or 800-844-8260 before purchase.
Materials that are included in this course may include interventions and modalities that are beyond the authorized practice of your profession. As a licensed professional, you are responsible for reviewing the scope of practice, including activities that are defined in law as beyond the boundaries of practice in accordance with and in compliance with your profession's standards.
For Planning Committee disclosures, please see the statement above. For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.
Earn up to 6.25 CE hours. Please see below, for more details, as credit amounts vary by jurisdiction and profession.
PESI, Inc. is approved by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association to offer continuing education for counsellors and psychotherapists. PESI, Inc. maintains responsibility for the program. This self-study activity is approved for 6.0 credit hours.
PESI, Inc. is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. PESI, Inc. maintains responsibility for the program. This program is approved for 6.0 self-study continuing education hours. Full credit statement at: www.pesi.com/cpa-statement

PESI, Inc., #1062, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: January 27, 2026 - January 27, 2029. Social workers completing this course receive 6.25 Clinical continuing education credits.
Course Level: Intermediate Format: Recorded asynchronous distance. Full attendance is required; no partial credits will be offered for partial attendance.
Canadian Social Workers: Canadian provinces may accept activities offered by providers approved by the ASWB ACE program for ongoing professional development.
This self-study activity qualifies for 6.25 continuing education clock hours as required by many national and local licensing boards and professional organizations. Save your activity advertisement and certificate of completion, and contact your own board or organization for specific requirements.
Handouts
| File type | File name | Number of pages | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual - Treating Stressed Out Couples (2 MB) | 37 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Manual - Treating Stressed Out Couples - French (2 MB) | 37 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Manual - Treating Stressed Out Couples - Italian (2 MB) | 37 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Manual - Treating Stressed Out Couples - German (2 MB) | 37 Pages | Available after Purchase | |
| Manual - Treating Stressed Out Couples - Spanish (2 MB) | 37 Pages | Available after Purchase |
Speaker
Elizabeth Earnshaw, LMFT Related seminars and products
Elizabeth Earnshaw, LMFT, 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
Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)Access never expires for this product.
For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepesi@pesi.com.
Questions?
Visit our FAQ page at https://www.pesicanada.ca/faq or contact us at https://www.pesicanada.ca/contact-us.
Objectives
- Identify the role and impact of stress when clients present with dysregulation in session.
- Determine the impact of stress on relational functioning within partnered relationships.
- Evaluate Diffuse Psychological Arousal (DPA) to de-escalate, regulate, and repair relational ruptures.
- Utilize tools for co-regulation, verbal negotiation, and conversation outlines to improve clinical outcomes with couples.
- Develop strategies to help both partners take accountability for the role they play in their own stress.
- Utilize a three-part system for helping couples manage stress within and outside the relationship.
Outline
Couples Under (Mismanaged) StressThe Impact of Stress on Relational Functioning and Happiness
- 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
Decreasing the Emotional Temperature in the Room
- 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
Lifestyle Change for Long-Term Relational Happiness
- 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
Staying Cool Despite the Heat
- 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
- Counsellors
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Physicians
- Other mental health professionals
Reviews
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