Back to Connection: Four Dimensions of Hope for Couple Interventions After Exposure to Trauma

 Earn 3 CE Contact Hours

This 3-hour online workshop is designed for clinicians working with couples impacted by trauma and war. We’ll delve into the profound effects of traumatic experiences on couple relationships, highlighting the inherent capacity of the relationship itself to foster resilience and recovery.

Drawing on established therapeutic models, this workshop will demonstrate how couple therapy can create a safe and supportive space for partners to reconnect, rebuild trust, and navigate the aftermath of trauma together.

We will introduce a multidimensional framework for understanding and addressing the impact of trauma on couples, structured around four key dimensions of hope:

1. Safety and Regulation: Learn strategies to help couples re-establish a sense of security and emotional regulation within their relationship.
2. Dialogue and Communication: Enhance your skills in facilitating open and effective emotional communication between partners.
3. Joint Activities: Discover ways to guide couples in re-engaging in shared activities and reducing unhelpful compensatory behaviors.
4. Cognitive Balance: Explore techniques for helping partners differentiate between individual thoughts and relational dynamics.

Each dimension will be illustrated with brief, practical examples to deepen your understanding and provide tangible tools for your clinical practice.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will be able to:

• Describe the multifaceted impact of trauma and war on couple relationships, emphasizing the relationship’s potential for resilience and recovery.
• Apply strategies to help couples re-establish safety and regulation within their relationship following trauma.
• Utilize techniques to improve dialogue and emotional communication between partners impacted by trauma.
• Guide couples in returning to joint activities and reducing compensatory behaviors after traumatic exposure.
• Facilitate a more accurate “cognitive balance” for couples by helping them differentiate between personal and relational thoughts in the context of trauma.

Who Should Attend:

Family therapists, social workers, and mental health professionals

Meet Dr. Ron Nasim:

Ron Nasim, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and a certified couple and family therapist and supervisor, currently living in London, UK.

He is a former coordinator and supervisor for the couple and family therapy program at the LOTEM clinic for sexual abuse survivors at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel. Dr. Nasim lectures and supervises at the Mifrasim Institute for Psychotherapy Research and Teaching at the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, in the psychoanalytic couple therapy track at Tel Aviv University, at the Barkai Institute for Couple and Family Therapy, and at the Adelphi University couple therapy program. His writings have been published in leading international journals. His areas of interest include theoretical integration in psychotherapy, relational psychoanalysis, narrative psychotherapy, treatment of sexual trauma survivors, and couple and family therapy.

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