How To Work With Couples: 6-Week Hands-On Experiential Course

How To Work With Couples: 6-Week Hands-On Experiential Course
(Online Format)
Marla Silverman, Ph.D.

Six Saturdays in 2026:
February 7
February 28
March 7
March 21
April 4
April 18

9 am – 12 pm (ET)
18 CE hours
$810

How do I make sense of the behavior between a couple? How do I understand what fears/hurts/wounds each member is protecting? How do I help them move to a place of greater safety and connection? This hands-on, practicum style, 6-week course is for therapists who want to develop or increase their skills with couples. Each 3-hour session includes: Didactic: principles and strategies of couples work; Questions: about your cases and the 5 didactic material; Practicum: hands-on practice with couples role-played by group members, get feedback on your interventions - what did and did not work - and a chance to try other interventions.

Objectives:

1. Help couples recognize their patterns that cause distress.
2. Help each partner connect to the beliefs, fears and protective mechanisms that fuel their reactive responses.
3. Personally experience, via hands-on practice, the client’s protective mechanisms and fear, different character structures’ internal life, and the impact of the therapist’s stance, openness and interventions.

Marla Silverman is a psychologist in private practice in Rockland County, N.Y. She specializes in working with couples and has been working with couples and individuals, as well as teaching, supervising and training therapists for over 40 years. She is faculty and former Director of Training at the Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training in New York City. She has presented at many conferences in the U.S., Israel and Europe. Her work is informed by Gestalt Therapy and Internal Family Systems, 57 years of marriage, and her own orientation toward the work and joy of helping couples keep it real. She has created “Keeping It Real - A Therapists’ Guide to Working with Couples,” a six-hour video of principles and practices, as well as demonstration sessions available on Vimeo. Link at Marlasilverman.com.

Refund Policy: 75% refund if cancelled more than 7 days in advance. 50% if cancelled less than 7 days in advance.

Cancellation Policy: Occasionally, the Gestalt Center needs to cancel a workshop due to unforeseen circumstances. In such cases, we will inform you the Monday prior and provide you with a full refund.