Treating Couples: Surmounting Challenges

Treating Couples: Surmounting Challenges

Couples therapy presents complexity unlike any other form of therapy, and today's therapists treating couples need to address increasingly difficult situations. Effective couples therapy requires clinicians to understand and address many relational challenges in an intimate context that can sometimes invite defensiveness and repetition of problematic patterns. In addition, the persistent stress of our socio-political-cultural contexts has been a strain on couples and therapists alike. 

This course will focus on doing effective relational work in the midst of specific challenges, including working with couples in significant conflict; helping couples with marginalized BIPOC and LGBTQIA identities maintain stable and cohesive relationships; healing from infidelity; addressing the needs of gay male couples; as well as working with neurodiversity and different attachment needs in couples treatment. We will also discuss the therapeutic position of a couples therapist using concepts from Emotionally Focused Therapy, the Developmental Model, and other integrative models.  

We continue the popular series format this year to delve deeper each week and allow ample time for audience questions. Clinicians will gain key strategies to help advance their treatment skills and improve their effectiveness with couples.

Who Should Attend

• Primary Care Physicians
• Psychologists
• Social Workers
• Counselors
• Family Therapist
• Other

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:Review how neurotype impacts clinical practice with neurodiverse couples.

• Review how neurotype impacts clinical practice with neurodiverse couples.
• Organize a coherent treatment plan when one partner continues obsessing after infidelity, recognizing what obsessing accomplishes and what it does not.
• Articulate key interventions that help clients to regulate key emotional responses and reduce reactivity.
• Conduct an assessment of the couples’ relational health using two frames related to systemic trauma.
• Identify specific norms for treating male couples compared to other populations, and address intersectionality issues that may arise.

ABMS/ACGME Competencies

This course is designed to meet the following American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) / Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Educational (ACGME) competencies:

• Patient Care and Procedural Skills
• Interpersonal and Communication Skills
• Professionalism

IOM Competencies

This course is designed to meet the following Institute of Medicine Core Competencies:

• Provide Patient-Centered Care
• Employ Evidence-Based Practice

Course Directors

Elizabeth Brenner, LICSW
Jill Harkaway, EdD
Karen Kuc, MPH

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Elizabeth Brenner, LICSW (Course Director)

Director, Therapy Training Boston
Supervisor, Couples and Family Therapy Program, Cambridge Health Alliance
Teaching Associate in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Private Practice, Watertown, MA

Jill Harkaway, EdD (Course Director)

Senior Faculty and Consultant, Couples and Family Therapy, Cambridge Health Alliance
Assistant Professor in Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Co-Director, Couples Therapy Project
Private Practice, Newton MA

Karen Kuc, MPH (Course Director) 

Director, Continuing Education in Psychiatry, Cambridge Health Alliance​​​
Associate in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Ellyn Bader, PhD

Co-founder, The Couples Institute

George Faller, LMFT

President, New York Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy
Director of Training, Greenwich Center for Hope & Renewal
Board Member, Porter Cason Institute at Tulane University

Rick Miller, LICSW

Author, Business Consultant, Public Speaker, Teacher, and Psychotherapist in private practice

Grace Myhill, MSW

Director, Peter M. Friedman Neurodiverse Couples Institute
Director of Couples and Partner’s Services, Asperger/Autism Network (AANE)
Psychotherapist in private practice

Akilah Riley-Richardson, MSW, CCTP

Founder, BIPOC Relational Healing Institute
Psychotherapist and facilitator in private practice

In support of improving patient care, Harvard Medical School is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team. 

Physicians

The Harvard Medical School designates this live virtual activity for a maximum of 7.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.  

Psychologists

Cambridge Health Alliance, Division of Continuing Education in Psychiatry is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Cambridge Health Alliance, Division of Continuing Education in Psychiatry maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This course offers 7.50 continuing education credits.  

Social Workers

Application for social work continuing education credits has been submitted. Please contact us at cme@challiance.org for the status of social work CE accreditation.

Counselors

Cambridge Health Alliance, Division of Continuing Education in Psychiatry has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 5444. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Cambridge Health Alliance, Division of Continuing Education in Psychiatry is solely responsible for all aspects of the program. This course meets the requirements for 7.50 continuing education hours, and is also applicable for Commonwealth of Massachusetts Counseling/Allied Mental Health accreditation for 7.50 credits.  

Marriage/Family Therapists

Application for LMFT continuing education credits has been submitted. Please contact us at cme@challiance.org for the status of CE accreditation

Physician Assistants

The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) states that AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ are acceptable for continuing medical education requirements for recertification. We would also suggest that learners check with their state licensing board to ensure they accept reciprocity with AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ for re-licensure.

Nurse Practitioners and Registered Nurses

For the purpose of recertification, the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board and American Nurses Credentialing Center accept AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ issued by organizations accredited by the ACCME (Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education). We would also suggest that learners check with their state licensing board to ensure they accept reciprocity with AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ for re-licensure.

Canadian Accreditation

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada recognizes conferences and workshops held outside of Canada that are developed by a university, academy, hospital, specialty society or college as accredited group learning activities.

European Accreditation

The American Medical Association (AMA) has an agreement of mutual recognition of continuing medical education (CME) credit with the European Union of Medical Specialties (UEMS). Additional information regarding this agreement may be found here: https://www.uems.eu/areas-of-expertise/cme-cpd/eaccme

Please note: For psychologists, social workers, family therapists, and counselors, this course has been approved for a set amount of credits and CHA is not able to issue CE certificates for partial credit. In addition, this course has been approved as a live virtual series and we cannot issue certificates for only watching the recordings; participants must be present for all of the live sessions. For any questions regarding CE credit, please email cme@challiance.org. 

Disclosure Policy

In accord with the disclosure policy of the Medical School as well as standards set forth by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), course planners, speakers, and content reviewers have been asked to disclose any relationships they have to companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. In addition, faculty have been asked to list any off-label uses of pharmaceuticals and/or devices for investigational or non-FDA approved purposes that they plan to discuss.

Disclaimer

CME activities accredited by Harvard Medical School are offered solely for educational purposes and do not constitute any form of certification of competency. Practitioners should always consult additional sources of information and exercise their best professional judgement before making clinical decisions of any kind.

Note: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ is calculated based on submission of a preliminary agenda and may be subject to change.

Tuition for Treating Couples: Surmounting Challenges is listed below. You may register through our secure online environment and will receive an email confirmation upon receipt of your payment. Electronic syllabus and access to recordings for 30 days after the course are included.

At the end of the registration process, a $10 non-refundable processing fee will be added to your registration. Refunds, less an administrative fee of $75, will be issued for all cancellations received at least two weeks prior to the start of the course. Refund requests must be made in our secure online system or by email. “No shows” are subject to the full course fee.

Course Tuition

Course Registration - Treating Couples: Surmounting Challenges

Physician (MD/DO)

$275 / ($245 if registered by Wednesday, September 25, 2024)

All Other Health Professionals

$215 / ($190 if registered by Wednesday, September 25, 2024)

Tuition includes electronic syllabus.