Self-Meaning Based Couples Therapy®: From Relational Wounds to Relational Healing
Two-Day Couple Intensive Training for Therapists
November 7 & 8, 2026 | 11:00 AM to 4:30 PM Pacific Time
11 Training Hours
$499 / $449 early bird
Registration is open. Early bird pricing ends October 24.
At a Glance
- Who this is for: Clinicians who work with couples or want to use SMBT in couples practice.
- Format: Two 5.5 hour training sessions live online via Zoom
- Focus: SMBT applied to the couple system: self-meaning shaping attachment, conflict, intimacy, and compensatory cycles, with assessment, case conceptualization, and intervention for partners.
Who Should Attend
This training is designed for clinical psychologists, counselors, marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, psychiatrists, and other licensed or license-eligible mental health professionals who work with couples or wish to integrate Self-Meaning Based Therapy® into their couples practice.
Description of Training
01
A paradigm shift in psychotherapy.
This two-day intensive training introduces clinicians to the application of Self-Meaning Based Therapy® (SMBT) to couple therapy. The training explores how each partner’s deeply embedded Self-Meaning can shape attachment, perception, emotional reactivity, conflict, intimacy, and recurring relational patterns, often outside conscious awareness.
Participants will learn to move beyond the surface content of couple conflict to identify the underlying Self-Meanings and compensatory strategies that organize the couple’s relational system. Through didactic instruction, clinical demonstrations, case material, experiential exercises, and guided practice, clinicians will learn how to help partners recognize the deeper meanings activated within their relationship and interrupt the repetitive cycles that follow.
02
Working at the level of Self-Meaning.
The training will introduce an SMBT framework for couple assessment, case conceptualization, intervention, and transformation, including methods for working with relational triggers, defensive and compensatory strategies, emotional injuries, entrenched conflict, and disruptions in connection and intimacy. Particular attention will be given to helping partners differentiate past Self-Meaning from present relational reality.
03
Integrating depth and neuroscience.
Participants will develop the capacity to help partners encounter one another with greater emotional freedom, authenticity, empathy, and mutuality. By the conclusion of the 11-hour training, participants will have a practical framework for integrating SMBT into couples work and for understanding not simply what couples fight about, but why particular interactions carry such powerful personal meaning for each partner.
