InterACT with Couples
with Lou Lasprugato, MFT
Learn a groundbreaking model based on acceptance and commitment therapy for effective work with intimate partners.
This reimagining of the ACT hexaflex extends psychological flexibility processes interpersonally and will allow you to incorporate yearnings and attachment-based relating into your case conceptualizations.
In this 12-hour live online course, you will practice building four foundational skills related to psychological flexibility, setting the stage for meaningful change in intimate relationships.
This includes classic ACT skills such as clients’ emotional openness to their own vulnerability as well as their partners’, defusing from judgments and criticisms they may have toward their partner, and the ability to take a broader perspective to consider their relationship as a whole rather than getting stuck in a me-versus-you dynamic.
In addition, you'll explore using creative hopelessness to pivot couples from inflexible to flexible pathways.
All of this will allow you to:
- Get at the root cause of conflict cycles for couples so you can break through unhelpful patterns
- Address psychological yearnings and attachment-based yearnings in your conceptualizations and interventions
- Structure intake sessions with the ACT matrix so you can start identifying unworkable behaviors from the start
- Create a safe space for emotional openness where clients can validate one another’s hurt without jumping into judgments and criticisms
- Help clients gain a better understanding of their own behaviors and the deep needs that underlie them
The workshop offers multi-faceted learning through didactics, experiential exercises, video vignettes, demonstrations, as well as dyadic and small group practice.
While the case examples and practice will be focused on intimate partners, most of the principles and processes presented in the course are applicable to any interpersonal context.
As with most aspects of ACT, you may also find them useful in fostering openness and connectedness in your own relationships.