Couples' Communication Retreat

Our inability to handle personal criticism from loved ones is a common Achilles’ heel. The more deeply we love, the more fragile we feel. Soon, couples feel they are walking on eggshells, unable to express themselves honestly, and their love fades. Raising children and money magnify the problems even as they become the reason couples stay together. The result? Couples often remain legally married but psychologically divorced — in a minimum-security-prison marriage.

The biggest culprit? Defensiveness. Active listening, a good solution, is rarely used. When Warren Farrell discovered that active listeners often said the right thing, but did not feel safe on the inside, he developed a method of transforming the internal defensiveness into feeling loved. This workshop is for couples — two people with a history who desire a future (e.g., parents, married or divorced; newlyweds; parent-child; siblings). This workshop is especially useful for health professionals in their work with clients and patients.

Recommended reading: Farrell, Women Can’t Hear What Men Don’t Say and Father and Child Reunion.

For continuing education syllabus, see https://www.esalen.org/couples-communication-retreat.

CE credit for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs; see page xx.

CE credit for nurses; see page xx.