COMING SUMMER/FALL 2025!

Find live and pre-recorded courses on couples work, discernment counseling, implicit bias and diversity when working with couples, etc.

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ALL COURSES

Discernment Deep Dive Courses (Pre-recorded/Home Study)

WHAT IS "DISCERNMENT DEEP DIVE"?

Discernment Deep Dive Courses are for mental health professionals who offer discernment counseling.

Like me, every discernment counselor I meet seems hungry for more conversation, information and insights into the unique circumstances that come up in the work of discernment counseling. AND --- we are frustrated to find virtually NO trainings in discernment counseling that can be applied to required continuing education credits. The Discernment Deep Dive courses fill that gap. Most are one-hour in length and (no surprise) are designed to do a "deep dive" into specific topics of interest. You'll find an inviting mixture of lecture with power point presentations, interviews with other experts, real case examples and even some brief on-your-own exercises to complete.

All Discernment Deep Dive courses are either taught or moderated by Dr. Ginny Wright. Ginny is a licensed psychologist and is both a Certified Discernment counselor and a Discernment Counseling Master Practitioner. Her advanced training with Dr. Doherty, along with years of experience in the mental health field, serve as the basis for these courses. She also provides group and individual consultation to other providers. You can learn more about those offerings here.

NOTE: These courses are considered supplemental in nature and ARE NOT part of the basic training in Discernment Counseling provided by the Doherty Relationship Institute! Taking these courses alone does not prepare therapists to provide this specialized service. If you are not fully trained, I hope these courses will pique your interest in getting trained and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about the process. Feel free to reach out here.

Mastering the Individual Summaries

The success of discernment counseling lies in its primary goal: to help each spouse develop a deeper understanding of what has happened in the marriage and each person’s contributions to the problems. In the discernment counseling protocol, sessions are a combination of both joint and one-on-one conversations. After each individual conversation, the spouse creates, with the help of the discernment counselor, a summary of the conversation that is shared with the spouse. The clients’ production of their Individual Summaries is a critical part of the discernment counseling protocol and serves as a critical opportunity to guide clients toward this goal of having a deeper understanding of the issues.

In this course, we review the protocol-driven process for completing the Individual Summaries and discuss the critical role they play in supporting the goals of discernment counseling. Participants will learn strategies for helping clients gain a deeper understanding of the relationship problems and personal contributions by identifying examples of self-awareness in the one-on-one conversations. Discernment counselors advance their skills by learning appropriate times and methods for proactively assisting with the Individual Summaries and how to use them for establishing clients’ Personal Agendas for Change. We discuss how working with the leaning in or leaning out spouse requires different strategies. Finally, participants learn about common clinical opportunities when working with clients on their Individual Summaries and how to respond to those challenges by adhering to the protocol and remaining focused on the goals of the process.

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Strategic Documentation in Discernment Counseling

This course is part of an educational series which provides advanced strategies to practitioners who offer discernment counseling to couples on the brink of divorce. Discernment counseling is hard work! Providers are faced with the challenge of keeping lots of details straight while staying true to the protocol. Perhaps most importantly, discernment counselors are ever mindful of the ultimate goal: helping couples gain a deeper understanding of what happened in the marriage and each person’s contributions to the problems.

Of special interest is the suggested assumption in discernment counseling that a “deeper understanding” requires that spouses go beyond recognizing their problematic behaviors (“behavioral intelligence”) by also recognizing both the emotional underpinnings of those behaviors (“emotional intelligence”) and how behaviors and emotions impact the dyadic relationship (“relational intelligence”).

Structured note documentation, in general, is known to improve the quality of documentation and, in some cases, improve case formulation skills. With that in mind, participants of this course will learn structured documentation strategies that help discernment counselors recognize a client’s current level of self-awareness and guide them to a deeper awareness. At the same time, the documentation strategies help providers stay true to the protocol.

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Recognizing and Addressing Implicit Bias When Working with Couples

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

COURSE CURRICULUM:

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In this 1-hour course, there will be brief exercises to supplement the lecture format. Participants are expected to view the program in its entirety and to complete a post-test to receive CE credit.

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