John Gottman – LEVEL 1 and LEVEL 2 Trainings presented by The Gottman Relationship Institute

The goal of this course

LEVEL 1 Training: Bridging the Couple Chasm presented by The Gottman Relationship Institute

The goal of this package is to examine the research conducted by the Gottman Institute, what that research shows about relationships, and how you can apply these findings in assessment and intervention for couples.

Drs. John and Julie Gottman provide you with a roadmap for helping couples to compassionately manage their conflicts, deepen their friendship and intimacy, and share their life’s purpose and dreams.

As a result of taking this training, you will learn:

• Research-based strategies and tools to help couples successfully manage conflict
• Skills to empower partners to dialogue about their worst gridlocked issues by uncovering their underlying dreams, history, and values
• Methods to help couples process fights and heal their hurts
• Techniques for partners to deepen their intimacy and minimize relapse
• New assessments and effective interventions to help understand couples’ struggles

LEVEL 2 Training: Assessment, Intervention & Co-Morbidities presented by The Gottman Relationship Institute

The goal of this package is to provide the learner with clinical familiarity, knowledge, and resources to integrate Gottman Method Couples Therapy assessments and interventions into their practices. In this dynamic experience with Drs. John and Julie Gottman, you will learn how to incorporate the research-based Gottman Assessment and Intervention Methods into your clinical practice. In these videos, you will:

• Assess a couple’s “Friendship Profile,” “Conflict Profile,” and “Shared Meanings Profile”
• Develop interventions that couples can use as antidotes to the “Four Horsemen”
• Help couples to soothe physiological flooding
• Apply six modes of changing the “Attack/Defend System” in a couple’s interactions
• Assist couples in establishing dialogue about their gridlocked conflicts
• Select and implement interventions to help couples deepen their “Friendship System” with rituals of connection
• Select and implement interventions to help couples create a shared system of values and meaning
• Identify five different co-morbidities common to couples using Gottman Core Assessments and implement interventions

Course Outline

LEVEL 1 Training: Bridging the Couple Chasm presented by The Gottman Relationship Institute

1. Summarize the research that allows us to predict future relationship stability
2. Describe the seven levels of the Sound Relationship House theory
3. Conduct a couple’s therapy assessment using elements of the couple’s narrative, the Oral History Interview, written questionnaires, observations of conflict and individual interviews
4. Describe two interventions to help strengthen a couple’s conflict management
5. Describe two interventions to enhance a couple’s friendship system
6. Describe two interventions to explore a couple’s system of shared meaning
7. Explain why physiological self-soothing is essential for a healthy relationship
8. Create a therapeutic contract with a couple, discuss and decide on goals and include a summary of the couples strengths and areas that need improvement
9. Describe the Philosophy of Therapy and including assumptions, overview of techniques and goals of therapy
10. Describe the Rapoport Intervention and when to use it
11. Describe the process of therapy, including the structure of a session

LEVEL 2 Training: Assessment, Intervention & Co-Morbidities presented by The Gottman Relationship InstituteExplain the basics of observation including why it’s important to recognize Emotions on the

1. Human Face, Tension in the Voice, the Importance of Words and the use of the SPAFF coding system
2. Describe the seven levels of the Sound Relationship House theory
3. Describe how to recognize Bids and Turning Towards
4. Explain the components of the first three Assessment sessions
5. Explain and demonstrate how to conduct an Oral History Interview
6. Explain and demonstrate how to conduct a Feedback Session, including how to formulate a Treatment Plan and how to present it to the couple using the Sound Relationship House model
7. Describe the use of the core assessments with couples, including the Locke-Wallace, Weiss-Cerretto, Gottman Sounds Relationship House Questionnaires, Gottman 19 Areas Checklist, EAQ, SCL-90, Detour Scales, CAGE, and b-MAST
8. Explain and demonstrate the rules for Gentle Start Up
9. Develop interventions that couples can use as antidotes to the “Four Horsemen”
10. Prepare couples to physiologically soothe when flooded
11. Select and implement interventions to help deal with conflict
12. Apply different modes of changing the “Attack/Defend System” in a couples interaction
13. Assist couples to establish dialogue about their grid-locked conflicts
14. Instruct couples on how to work towards compromise on perpetual problems using the Two Oval method
15. Describe the five steps of processing a fight or a regrettable incident using the Aftermath of A Fight intervention
16. Use and describe the Stress-Reducing Conversation to minimize relapse
17. Select and implement interventions to help couples deepen their “Friendship System” by working on Fondness and Admiration
18. Select and implement interventions to help couples Build Shared Meaning with Rituals of Connection
19. Identify and formulate a plan for different co-morbidities common to couples using Gottman Method Couples Therapy Assessment and Intervention
20. Describe how to apply Gottman Method Couples Therapy to a couple who has experienced an affair
21. Describe when it is appropriate and inappropriate to use Gottman Method Couples Therapy with a couple dealing with substance abuse
22. Describe how to apply Gottman Method Couples Therapy to a couple experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
23. Describe the differences between situational and characterological domestic violence and when it is appropriate and inappropriate to use Gottman Method Couples Therapy with a couple dealing with domestic violence

About the Author: 

John Gottman, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Washington, where he established what the media called, “The Love Lab,” and conducted much of his award-winning research on couple interaction and treatment. Dr. Gottman has studied marriage, couples and parent relationships for nearly four decades. He has authored or co-authored 119 published articles as well as 44 books, including: The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, The Relationship Cure, Why Marriages Succeed or Fail, and How You Can Make Yours Last, Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child: The Heart of Parenting, And Baby Makes Three and The Marriage Clinic.

World renown for his work on marital stability and divorce prediction, Dr. Gottman’s research has earned him numerous national awards, including: Four five-year-long National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Awards; The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Distinguished Research Scientist Award; The American Psychological Association Division of Family Psychology Presidential Citation for Outstanding Lifetime Research Contribution; The National Council of Family Relations 1994 Burgess Award for Outstanding Career in Theory and Research.

Dr. Gottman, together with his wife, Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman, is the co-founder of The Gottman Institute, which provides clinical training, workshops, services, and educational materials for mental health professionals, couples, and families. He is also the co-founder and Executive Director of the Relationship Research Institute which has created treatments for couples transitioning to parenthood and couples suffering from minor domestic violence.

Dr. Gottman has presented hundreds of invited keynote addresses, workshops, and scientific presentations, to avid audiences around the world including Switzerland, Italy, France, England, Israel, Turkey, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Sweden and Norway. A wonderful story-teller and expert, Dr. Gottman has also appeared on many TV shows, including Good Morning America, Today, CBS Morning News, and Oprah, and he has been written up in numerous print articles, including Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, Glamour, Woman’s Day, Men’s Health, People, Self, Reader’s Digest, and Psychology Today.

Drs. John and Julie Gottman currently live on Orcas Island, near Seattle, Washington. They conduct weekly and intensive couples therapy sessions, provide small group retreats, teach workshops and clinical trainings and give presentations and training workshops around the world.

Speaker Disclosures:

Financial: Dr. John Gottman is the Co-Founder of The Gottman Institute and has an employment relationship with the University of Washington. Dr. Gottman receives royalties as a published author. He receives a speaking honorarium, book royalties, and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.

Non-financial: Dr. John Gottman is a member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and the American Psychological Association. He has no relevant non-financial relationships.

More courses from the same author: John Gottman