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Join us for a hybrid course on couples therapy that provides a simple yet comprehensive map for working with couples. Love Made Simple emphasizes somatic and mindfulness-based work while integrating the essence of leading therapeutic modalities.
Our training uses hands-on experiential learning and goes beyond learning techniques; it helps participants become better therapists by developing their skills, unique style and therapeutic presence.
We created Love Made Simple as an integrative framework…
It brings together the most important insights from leading couples therapy approaches (EFT, PACT, IFS, Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychology and others) with our experience of working with over a thousand couples one-on-one and in our workshops.
Relationship patterns happen fast and in an unconscious way. An eye roll, a change of breath, a turn of the head can create an impact. Likewise, the therapist can use experiential exercises and somatic interventions to get beneath the words and the mind defenses and provide an embodied experience of change.
Using mindfulness enables people to slow down, develop self-awareness and learn to see their relationship challenges as an opportunity to grow. We believe that “secure attachment” is not enough and focus on relationships as paths of personal and spiritual growth.
Simple tools, maps and structured exercises help make couples therapy more effective and less chaotic. But they are only effective if you combine them with deep attunement to the clients and learning to trust your own intuition.
We focus on improving the maturity and relational skill of the therapist. We believe that developing these qualities is at least as important as learning techniques, if not more so. We want you to develop your own style of therapy, not follow a rigid method.
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2023 Schedule
Registration Deadlines
May 1: Super-early registration ends (see details in Tuition tab)
July 15: Early registration ends
Sep 7: Final registration date
This training consists of five online meetings and two 3-day in-person meetings at Sacred Stream in Berkeley.
Online Training Dates
Fridays: Sep 8, Sep 15, Sep 29, Oct 6, Oct 13
In-Person Training Dates
Thur-Sat: Sep 21-23
Thur-Sat: Oct 19-21
Session Times
Zoom Training Sessions
Fri: 8:30am-1:00pm
In-Person Training Sessions
Thur-Sat: 9:00am-4:30pm
(All times are Pacific)
Location
Online via Zoom sessions and at Sacred Stream in Berkeley for in-person sessions
For Whom
This training is designed for psychotherapists and experienced coaches who have a calling to transform people’s relationships. If you see relationships as a path for spiritual growth, if the words somatic, mindfulness and experiential excite you and if you know that being a better therapist starts with learning about yourself, then you’re the right fit!
This training is suitable for professionals with a variety of experience levels; new practitioners will gain tools, strategies and confidence in couples counseling, while more experienced practitioners can expand their skills of working somatically and with mindfulness, as well as develop their therapeutic presence and intuition.
Prerequisites
None
What You Will Learn
The relationship blueprint – Understanding what makes us feel loved; communication as a cycle and the structure of conflict; main challenges couples bring to counseling; a vision for satisfying and fulfilling relationships
About couples counseling – What makes couples counseling different from individual therapy or coaching, and what is required from the counselor; an integrative framework that combines attachment and differentiation; goals and frame of couples counseling
Strategies and skills – How to work somatically and experientially with couples; effective interventions – contact, empathic reflection, crossing interventions; how to use mindfulness and experiential exercises
Self of the therapist – Looking at the counselor’s own models of relationship and capacity for intimacy; developing empathy and intuition; learning to work with high conflict couples; developing a sense of confidence, groundedness and trust in yourself; working with countertransference in psychodynamic, somatic and energetic levels
Training Format
This is a hands-on training that focuses on helping participants develop their skills, unique style and therapeutic presence. The majority of the time will be devoted to experiential learning, including analyzing videos of live sessions, practicing with each other and doing exercises that are designed to promote personal reflection. Participants will be asked to learn some of the theoretical material at home through watching videos recorded in a previous training.
Class Schedule
Zoom Training Sessions
Fridays: 8:30am-1:00pm
(with two 15-minute breaks)
In-Person Training Sessions
Thursdays: 9:00am-4:30pm
Fridays: 9:00am-4:30pm
Saturdays: 9:00am-4:30pm
(with two 15-minute breaks and an hour for lunch)
(All times are Pacific)
Faculty
Gal Szekely and Liron Cohen
We are psychotherapists, teachers, parents, business owners and university professors. But (this is probably the most important part) we’re also a real couple who have different personalities, different likes and dislikes, and yet share a common vision.
We started The Couples Center in 2011 and Love Made Simple in 2020 – This is how passionate we are about couples work! We’ve been offering couples workshops (Level 1 and Level 2) for over seven years, and we’ve built a comprehensive online course and several other mini-courses, as well as “date nights” for couples.
Gal Szekely, MA, LMFT
Certified Hakomi Therapist and Teacher
Love Made Simple Founder
Gal is a Certified Hakomi Therapist and Teacher and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 50301) with a private practice in El Cerrito. Gal is passionate about working with couples and individuals on relationship issues and, together with his wife, he founded The Couples Center, a relationship counseling and education center. Besides Hakomi, Gal teaches the Tamura Method, a form of therapy that integrates touch and table work in psychotherapy. He is an adjunct faculty member at the California Institute of Integral Studies and is an experienced teacher and workshop leader. In addition to a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, Gal also holds a master’s in Social-Organizational Psychology and has a background in the business world and as a management consultant. His work is influenced by a long time meditation practice, his appreciation of the body and a multicultural background.
Liron Cohen, LMFT
Psychotherapist
Love Made Simple Founder
Liron Cohen is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice in El Cerrito. Liron is the co-founder of The Couples Center, where she leads workshops for couples and a couples therapy supervision group. She is also an adjunct faculty member at CIIS, where she teaches couples therapy from a somatic perspective. She is known for her natural authenticity, intuition and ability to balance warmth and directness. She explores the realms of sound healing and shamanic hypnotherapy in psychotherapy.
Tuition
Super-Early Enrollment through May 1:
Coaches and licensed practitioners: Use coupon code EARLYBIRDMAY to save $300 off regular tuition
Associates: Use coupon code ASSOCIATE500 to save $500 off regular tuition
Early Enrollment through July 15:
Coaches and licensed practitioners: Use coupon code EARLYBIRDJULY to save $200 off regular tuition
Associates: Use coupon code ASSOCIATE400 to save $400 off regular tuition
Regular Tuition: $2,450 if enrolled by September 7, 2023 (final registration date)
VISA, MasterCard, Discover and American Express accepted.
Cancellation Policy
Cancellations accepted via email. If you cancel 30 days in advance of the first day of training, you will receive a full refund less a $30 administrative fee. If you cancel 15 days in advance of the first day of training, you will receive a 50% refund less a $30 administrative fee. No refunds will be granted less than 15 days before the first day of training. No refunds will be granted for non-attendance
Continuing Education
CEs for this training will be provided by The Couples Center. This course meets the qualifications for 56 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. To qualify for CEs, the student must attend all of the training sessions and submit a program evaluation form. The certificate will be sent via email at the end of the training.
The Couples Center is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education, provider number 11425. The Couples Center maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content.
For More Information
For any questions, including requests for accommodation for special needs and for addressing grievances, contact info@lovemadesimple.com.
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