Couples and Money

 Earn 5 CE Contact Hours

This daylong workshop will help therapists engage couples in discussions of what is being transacted when money enters the conversation. Attending material concerns related to income, spending, debt and financial inequity between partners, allows therapists to access relational concerns around fairness, love, autonomy, control, power and safety.

We will explore what is enacted between partners, and within the therapist, as these themes emerge in the room and as couples walk through their financial and emotional lives together. We will examine the influence of gender scripts, family-of-origin legacies, cultural norms, and personal histories on partnership.

Participants will develop greater confidence to engage couples in frank discussion of money operations, communication, and what that means to couples in their relationships.
Drawing from work developed through the Money and Family Life Project at The Ackerman Institute, as well as iterations of systemic therapies, including the Ackerman Relational Approach and the Vulnerability Cycle, this workshop is applicable to a wide range of couples.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Therapists will be able to conceptualize money as both a material and relational process within couples therapy.
• Therapists will be able to apply principles from the Ackerman Relational Approach and the Vulnerability Cycle to assess and intervene in money-related concerns in couples’ relationships.
• Therapists will be able to identify and assess the impact of family-of-origin experiences, gender scripts, cultural norms, and personal history on couples’ financial interactions.
• Therapists will be able to implement collaborative interventions that support discussions of money, power, fairness, love, caregiving and equity to foster greater intimacy in couples’ relationships.

Who Should Attend:

Mental health professionals, therapists, social workers, counselors, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, and other clinicians who work with couples. This workshop is especially valuable for practitioners interested in helping partners navigate money-related conflict, financial inequity, power, fairness, family-of-origin patterns, and the deeper relational meanings that money can carry in intimate relationships.

Meet Keren:

Keren Ludwig, LCSW, is a psychotherapist, trainer, and consultant specializing in couples and families. In addition to her private practice, she is on the faculty of Columbia University and the Ackerman Institute. Keren consults to Showtime’s docu-series Couples Therapy.