Join us for a one-day professional workshop with Dr. Brent Atkinson as he outlines his pragmatic, experiential approach for clinicians working with couples.
6.0 CEUs, light breakfast, and a boxed lunch will be provided!
Dr. Atkinson will pre-select case studies from attendees prior to the workshop. Stay tuned for more info on how to submit your case study for consideration!
Part 1: Cutting Through the Blame Game
Most people who are in distressed relationships believe that their partners are more to blame than they are, but studies suggest that partners tend to engage in unhealthy relationship behaviors at approximately the same rates. Studies further suggest that mistaken beliefs about overall blame are no small matter. They fuel contempt, which is the most powerful predictor of divorce. In this workshop, Dr. Atkinson will demonstrate how you can go straight to the heart of the matter, helping partners realize that it’s in their own best interest to understand how their own dysfunctional habits have caused just as much trouble in the relationship as have their mates’. You will learn how to give critical feedback to clients without them feeling criticized, and help them understand the concrete changes they need to make.
Step by step, Dr. Atkinson will show how you can motivate and guide clients through the process of “laying down their weapons,” explicitly acknowledging mutual responsibility for the depleted condition of their relationships.
Part 2: Rewiring for Love
This workshop will build upon Part 1 by teaching you how to create detailed mind/body workout routines for inmate partners that enable them to develop the abilities that have been proven to be necessary to develop and maintain satisfying relationships. To execute the needed abilities, one’s brain must be wired in ways that promote mood-regulation, self-soothing, response-flexibility, and empathy. The neural mechanisms that enable such abilities cannot be willed at a moment’s notice, but hundreds of studies suggest that they can be strengthened through three types of daily practices. Dr. Atkinson is a master at translating the advances in neurobiology and relationship science into usable methods.
Through engaging examples and videos, he will show you how you can guide partners step-by-step in implementing them.
