Certificate in Couple / Relationship Therapy

Prefer to study in person?
Enrol for the Spring 2023 intake

Course overview:

This 8-day certificate course, facilitated by Cabby Laffy and her daughter Shana Laffy, is designed for qualified counsellors, psychotherapists or psychologists who would like to become more skilled in working therapeutically with couples and other relationships. This course provides a solid foundation for therapists who have an existing scope of practice in working with adult clients as individuals. This is a foundation training for practitioners to become more confident and capable in working with couples or other forms of intimate relationship (or adult family members). Through teaching and experiential work, including role-plays and skills practice you will gain some insights and tools to work with the dynamics of relationships, as well as common issues arising in couple therapy – such as desire, conflict, potential separation, lack of relationship vision, communication blocks, endings.

The course will include an introduction to working with sexually diverse couples, other forms of relationship in addition to couples, common presenting problems, such as differing sexual desire and managing conflict in relationships, a consideration of the therapeutic meaning of clients’ presenting issues, what may be achievable and a presentation of different models of working with relationships. The programme covers an introduction to psychosexual issues, with a greater emphasis on relational work.

The course description is intended to be inclusive of GSRD (Gender & Sexual & Relationship Diversity) to encompass intimate relationships other than couples, such as polyamory or open relationships or multi-party sexual encounters. After completing this course, therapists may choose to work with family relationships among adult family members, such as siblings or parent-child dialogues. However, unless the therapist is already qualified in working with children and adolescents or families, this course in our view is insufficient training for working therapeutically with the dynamics of children or families.

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Aim of the course

Through teaching and experiential work, including role-plays and skills practice you will gain some insights and tools to work with the dynamics of a couple client, as well as common issues arising in couple therapy or working with other forms of intimate relationship.

The “Certificate in Working with Couples and Other Relationships” is awarded by The Grove Practice as evidence of 48 hours of CPD in this field, giving confidence to the therapist about an ethical stance for their scope of practice – with evidence of having undertaken relevant training.

To give reassurance to the clients, the therapist can describe themselves as having taken relevant specialised training in couple/relationship therapy.

As with any topic, there’s always more depth and breadth to study. This CPD course is a foundation or a refresher, rather than a multi-year deeper training.

Course content:

Introduction to working with relationships: Expectations, for therapists and for couples. Awareness of counter transference
Beginnings: Assessments. Contracts. History taking.
The Dynamics of working in Triads: Triads, Drama Triangle. Psychosocial development.
Philosophies and beliefs: Theories about working with relationships. Stages in relationship and life issues.
Working with Difference: Sexual diversity. Shame. Transference.
Desire, differentiation and conflict: Sexual desire and its connection with differentiation. Managing conflict in the therapy room.
Communication: Teaching and modelling Communication skills. Winner’s Triangle and Assertiveness.
Endings: Importance of Endings. Review of what you have learnt.

This course has a bio-psycho-social underpinning – whereby the body’s physiology and the client’s psychological process are considered within the sociological context. The training has a sex-positive philosophy, in which sex has a valid place within therapeutic work.

Written materials are provided throughout the course, containing theory as context for the learning. Each set of materials is intended as preparatory reading before each weekend of the course. The materials are accompanied by practice-based tips for working therapeutically with this client group. Although a reading list is provided, there is no formal requirement for further reading – although additional reading is recommended to enhance your professional development subsequent to the course.

Assessment:

Learning is absorbed by attendance and participation on the course. There is no assessment other than attendance and participation.

We also recommend that anyone undertaking couple therapy seeks supervision from a suitable qualified professional, to support this important area of work.

The award of the Certificate in Couple/Relationship Therapy will be issued upon completion of the course, provided that a minimum 80% attendance has been met and the course fee has been paid in full. If these criteria are not met, a CPD attendance letter will be provided. A digital certificate is provided as a matter of routine. Paper certificates despatched by Royal Mail are available upon request. Replacement certificates are available on request.

Faculty:

Cabby Laffy

Cabby Laffy has been a facilitator of training and workshops since 1991. She has also worked as a psychotherapist with individuals and couples, and a supervisor for individual and couple work, for over twenty-five years. She is a UKCP registered and NCP accredited psychotherapist, a COSRT accredited psychosexual therapist and supervisor, an educator and group facilitator, and a member of PCSR and PCU. Cabby’s book LoveSex: An Integrative Model for Sexual Education (Karnac 2013) presents a model for psychosexual health. Cabby is available for one to one and couple therapy, training, and supervision. www.psychosexualhealth.org.uk

Cabby has created a Homeodynamic Model for Psychosexual Health, which offers an integrative understanding of human relationships and sexuality encompassing the physical, emotional, spiritual, and our social and cultural environment. This approach includes research from neuroscience, complementary and alternative health therapies and cognitive behavioural therapy, and draws from eastern sexual healing practices as well western approaches to psychosexual therapy. The Homeodynamic Model is taught at Cabby’s Centre for Psychosexual Health (CPH) – www.psychosexualhealth.org.uk – primarily through a two year Diploma in Integrative Psychosexual Therapy. She is an experienced practitioner in her client work and training roles, with a speciality in psychosexual therapy.

Cabby and her daughter, Shana Laffy, have established Heartful Therapy to provide training courses and therapy with the aim of providing high quality and experiential training in relationship and couple therapy and using the arts as a therapeutic tool. Heartful Therapy Training offers a variety of courses, some 1-day CPD events, as well as this certificate course run in association with The Grove. www.heartfultherapy.co.uk

Shana Laffy

Shana Laffy is a qualified integrative creative arts therapist who trained with The Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education. Shana works with children and young people as well as individual clients and couples. She specialises in using the creative arts and neuroscience informed practice, with a particular interest in working with attachment and developmental trauma. Alongside her therapeutic work, Shana runs an educational consultancy and training business supporting those in Education, Social Care, as well as families and parents. Shana is a safeguarding expert and an accredited Emotion Coaching Practitioner Trainer. Please see her website www.engage-earlyyears.co.uk for more information.

Polly McAfee

Polly McAfee is is a graduate of the Diploma in Integrative Psychosexual Therapy taught by Cabby Laffy through CPH. Polly holds an M.A in Effective Learning. She has also trained with the Institute of Group Analysis, Pink Therapy, the Gestalt Centre, Barbara Carellas, Nick Totton and Spectrum Therapy. As well as teaching for CPH, she runs groups for women exploring sex and sexuality. These incorporate the breath and energy techniques of sacred sexuality as well as the educational, behavioural and therapeutic aspects of psychosexual work. Polly is passionate about people experiencing sexuality as an integral and joyful part of themselves, and about the potential of group work to assist with this journey.

Please note that the tutor team may vary according to feasibility in relation to the number of enrolled students. The Grove fully intends for the course to be taught as planned. However, sometimes tutor availability may change according to unforeseen circumstances such as but not limited to illness or bereavement. In any such circumstances, The Grove may be required to adjust the tutor schedule at short notice.

Autumn 2022 intake:

The 8 day course will run over 4 weeks on the following Friday and Saturday dates in Autumn 2022, held on Zoom:

9 & 10 September
7 & 8 October
11 & 12 November
9 & 10 December

Times each day:

10am – 4:30pm.

Please contact us to register your interest or enrol.

Spring 2023 intake:

This intake will be held in person at the training venue NCVO.

We are accepting applications for the Spring 2023 intake.

The 8 day course for the Certificate is taught over 4 weeks on the following Friday and Saturday dates in Spring 2023:

24 & 25 March
21 & 22 April
19 & 20 May
23 & 24 June

Times each day:
10am – 4:30pm.

Autumn 2023 intake:

We are accepting applications for this intake.

The 8 day course for the Certificate is taught over 4 weeks on the following Friday and Saturday dates in Autumn 2023:

8 & 9 September
6 & 7 October
10 & 11 November
8 & 9 December

Times each day:
10am – 4:30pm.

Fees:

£1,300 + VAT = £1,560 payable in full or by instalments. A non-refundable deposit of £300 is payable to secure a place on this course. After that, the total remaining payable must be reached by 6 weeks before the final weekend of the training. The course fee includes all training materials and the CPD certificate.

After paying the deposit of £300 including VAT, the remainder of the fee can be paid by instalments as indicated on the invoice. Some reduced-fee places may be awarded depending on student circumstances, subject to availability. The course fee can also be invoiced fully or partially to an employer or funding organisation. Please contact us for details.

Application criteria

Applicants are expected to be qualified and experienced professionals in a mental health or helping profession, who are established in their practice. This will be covered in the application form. All applicants are expected to:

be qualified and experienced in their field
be full members of their professional body (such as but not limited to BACP, UKCP, COSRT, BPS, AHPP, NCP, NCS, ACC)
hold professional liability insurance
have supervision arrangements in place for their client work as well as access to support for any clinical or organisation practice they undertake during the course

Professional standards

The Grove Practice is accredited by NCIP (National Council for Integrative Psychotherapists) as a CPD training centre. As such, all The Grove’s courses are awarded NCP accreditation for CPD (Continuous Professional Development).

This accreditation provides reassurance regarding high standards of teaching and course content.

Participants who successfully complete this course can use the qualification as evidence of CPD hours required for membership of COSRT.

The Grove’s courses have been successfully recognised as CPD for members of the following membership bodies: BACP, UKCP, COSRT, NCP, NCS, AHPP, BPS, among others. Organisations such as universities, colleges, the NHS, Relate, MIND, and Place2B have also supported their therapists in taking training with The Grove. This is a mark of unofficial validation of our courses as worthy of being listed on the CPD logs for these organisations and therapists.

This Certificate course is taught at Level 5 equivalence. This course is not Ofqual-registered. This training is a high-level integration of traumatology treatment, with clinical diagnostics, evidence-based treatment protocols, which require a mature professional who is established in working deeply with clients. Reference to a "Level" is drawn from the numbered educational levels according to Ofqual's Regulated Qualification Framework operating in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. (Scotland has its own educational levels in place.) This is a post-qualification training which requires theoretical evaluation, self-reflection, and interpretation of how to apply the models in mental health settings such as clinical practice or multi-disciplinary teams in organisations. The Grove is setting its own courses at a training level in line with industry-wide language for evaluating the academic level of the course.

Our guidance to anyone researching CPD courses is to ask any training provider to provide the Ofqual qualification number (which looks like this 601/8674/4) if the course description states a "Level". If the training provider cannot give this information for their course, then the course is unlikely to be allocated an official Level by Ofqual. In our view, any other course provider should state that their course is taught “at a level equivalent to Level x but is not a qualification regulated by Ofqual”. This wording is implemented by The Grove for clarity.