When Love Feels Unsafe

 Earn 3 CE Contact Hours

In this training, you will learn evidence-based strategies for working with couples in which one or both partners show features of BPD. You’ll discover how to identify and work with high-intensity pursue–withdraw cycles, emotional flooding, and relationship patterns driven by fears of abandonment or engulfment.

We will cover step-by-step approaches for de-escalating conflict, structuring productive sessions during moments of high distress, and guiding couples toward emotional safety and secure connection. At the end of the training, you will have practical tools and interventions to help couples transition from chaos to healing.

Learning Objectives:

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

• Participants will be able to identify BPD features in a couples context, including emotional flooding, fears of abandonment or engulfment, and high-intensity pursue–withdraw cycles.
• Participants will apply evidence-based, step-by-step interventions for de-escalating conflict and structuring productive sessions during moments of high distress.
• Participants will demonstrate techniques for guiding couples with BPD features toward emotional safety and secure connection.
• Participants will develop practical clinical tools to help couples transition from chaotic relational patterns to sustainable healing.

Who Should Attend:

Mental health professionals, therapists, social workers, counselors, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, and other clinicians who work with couples and relational distress. This workshop is especially valuable for practitioners seeking practical, evidence-based strategies for working with high-conflict couples, emotional dysregulation, attachment injuries, fears of abandonment, and relationship patterns commonly associated with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) features. Clinicians interested in couples therapy, trauma-informed care, attachment-based interventions, and relational healing will gain practical tools to help partners move from reactivity and disconnection toward greater emotional safety and secure connection.

Meet Dr. Francis:

Lastenia Francis, PhD, LMFT, is a therapist, supervisor, and faculty member specializing in trauma, couples therapy, military families, and intersectional family dynamics. She developed the Bidirectional Intersectional Supervision (BIS) model and researches power in Black female breadwinner couples.