- Duration: 9 months
- Number of Sessions: 5 training sessions
- Dates: November 30, 2026; January 18, February 1, March 1, and April 5, 2027
- Day and Time: Mondays, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
- Format: Online (live interactive sessions via Zoom)
- Eligibility: Licensed psychologists who have completed at least Year One of the Brainstation CBT Training Program. No prior couples-therapy experience is required.
- Examination: Online – June 2027
- Fee: $950
Course Description
The programme will cover:
- Couples Assessment: Identifying individual and relational difficulties, recognizing negative interaction cycles, conducting safety screening, and using relevant assessment tools.
- CBT Case Formulation: Exploring schemas, core beliefs, attachment patterns, and negative interaction cycles to develop comprehensive clinical formulations and hypotheses.
- Cognitive and Behavioural Interventions: Applying cognitive restructuring, thought records, behavioural experiments, cooling-down strategies, and time-outs to address patterns of conflict and escalation.
- Communication and Relationship Skills: Using I-statements, speaker/listener techniques, validation, behavioural exchange, and structured problem-solving to improve communication between partners.
- Emotion Regulation and Conflict Management: Applying emotion regulation and anger-management strategies to help couples manage disagreements and recurring conflict.
- Practical Skills Application: Consolidating the skills covered through simulated couple sessions, communication exercises, conflict-management activities, and a final role-play assessment.
Participants will gain practical clinical tools and structured CBT approaches to assessing and addressing relationship difficulties and improving communication between couples.
Completion and Certification Requirements
Participants must attend all five sessions and successfully pass the online examination in June 2027. Formal recognition of the additional subspecialty as part of the Three-Year CBT Diploma is granted only upon successful completion of the full Three-Year CBT Training Program. A separate academic transcript documenting the additional subspecialty training will also be issued.
Trainers
- Dr. Christina Riachi – CBT Consultant, Trainer and Supervisor, University of Oxford
- Ms. Zeina Bou Dargham – Senior CBT Therapist
