Course content available in articles and chapters.
In spite of challenges navigating the logistics of virtual therapy, possibilities exist to engage clients in ways never possible before. Technology and the various platforms, rather than being obstacles, can be utilized to provide more productive and meaningful treatment.
This intermediate level course offers research backed strategies for expanding the way clinicians utilize the virtual environment. Available in both text and audio format, this course is comprised of six chapters from the Routledge publication “Advances in Online Therapy: Emergence of a New Paradigm” edited by Weinberg, Rolnick, and Leighton.
Each chapter focuses on a specific, well-established therapy and highlights how it is utilized in couple work. Concrete, actionable suggestions are provided on ways to implement these approaches in the virtual space in a way that facilitates therapeutic dynamics. While this course focuses on working with couples and families, many of the suggestions can be applied to groups as well as individual sessions.
Educational Objectives
This course will teach the participant to:
Identify advantages of engaging in couple and family therapy online
Discuss disadvantages to online couple therapy and when it may be contraindicated
Evaluate how they can implement recommended strategies in their own practices
Syllabus
An Introduction to online couple and family therapy
Uniqueness of online couple and family therapy
Advantages to working online
Emotionally focused couple therapy online
Emotional proximity handholding from a distance
Response to therapist questions and anxieties regarding doing EFT online
Tips
Adapting emotion focused therapies for online delivery
Emotion focused family therapy
Adapting EFT and EFFT for online delivery
Therapist and client preparation
Within session considerations
General adaptations for deepening emotional engagement
Preparation of space
Using chair work
Ending the session
Between session support
Gottman Method: Assessment and Treatment
Couple therapy online literature review
Assessment in online therapy
Use of video clips in online treatment
Physiology
Dyadic talk and Gottman interventions
Increasing couple fondness and admiration
Healing through the screen: using Imago relationship therapy online