Transformative couples therapy®

certification guidelines

Transformative Couples Therapy® was founded in 2008 by David Mars, Ph.D. and is solely affiliated with the Center of Transformative Therapy. (From 2009 to 2019 this method was called AEDP for Couples [AEDPfC]).

No specific number of training units or levels are required to qualify for certification in Transformative Couples Therapy®. Readiness for certification is shown by demonstrating competency in facilitating couples sessions using the model. This can be done by sharing video during Core Training, individual or group supervision.

OVERVIEW

Certification in the Transformative Couples Therapy® (TCT) method can be achieved through participation in couples therapy training courses facilitated by David Mars, Ph.D.:

  • TCT Core Training

  • Multi-Channel Webinar

  • TCT Individual or Group Supervision

  • TCT Workshops on Zoom

  • DVD/Streaming Video study

  • TCT EA training group

  • TCT Experiential Course

  • Hong Kong Intermediate/Advanced Course

fundamentals to demonstrate in Certification

  1. Move from wronging to longing: help couple members move from dwelling on complaints to discovering the more vulnerable and compelling expression of what they enjoy about each other and on what they long to co-create.

  2. Model your own capacity to skillfully and selectively perceive, receive and express using the Seven Channels of Experience: Sensation, Emotion, Movement, Auditory, Visual and Imaginal.

  3. Help couples cultivate their mindful capacity and willingness to directly communicate their embodied longings in their relationship to live a more connected, intimate and peaceful life together.

  4. Evoke, amplify and scaffold the couple members in making explicit the felt experience of love between them during sessions and inspire this practice between sessions.

  5. Use process language to shift patterns of blaming and shaming into safe, “level” and self-responsible communication. Here is a link to Process Language Description

  6. Prioritize the core affects of joy and surprise to expand embodied relational experiences of hope.

  7. Conduct healing portrayals such as Reunion, Redo/Repair, Rescue, Anger and/or Rage.

  8. Help anger to be expressed in ways that are deeply received and taken in as deeper understanding and clarification of boundaries rather than being used punitively.

  9. Use the newly developed TCT Fidelity Scales, created for the TCT Research Project which gives many details and examples of the TCT method in clinical practice. (This guide is available from your TCT supervisor upon request.)

steps to Certification:

1.) Receiving supervision of your clinical video from a TCT supervisor in individual, small group and/or Core Training.

2.) A letter or email from your supervisor indicating that the body of your work shows competency in the method of Transformative Couples Therapy®.

3.) In consultation with your supervisor, select two video recorded sessions to submit for certification: one from the first three treatment sessions and one from a mid to late treatment session. The videos can be from the same couple or two different couples.

4.) THE CERTIFICATION PACKET needs to include:

  • Two video recordings (described above) sent via email link, such as via Hightail.com, DropBox or Google Drive which is encrypted and password protected . Be sure that the videos do not have any last names visible.

  • The video recording should incorporate subtitles or captions that briefly name the TCT principles or interventions and the specific channels of experience you are tracking that inform your clinical interventions.

  • Also include any reflections of what you could have done differently to deepen, heighten, affectively regulate and ensure safety with either couple member in both sessions.

  • Each video clip must be between 20 and 25 minutes in length.

  • Submit your certification materials to David Mars to initiate the review process. The fee for the final Transformative Couples Therapy® Certification review is $200US.