Couples Therapy Communication Toolbox
EFT, Imago and Gottman Method Interventions to Help Couples Talk, Listen, Love and Heal
- Speaker:
- Diane Foy, MEd, LP
- Duration:
- Approx 6 Hours
- Copyright:
-
Nov 11, 2026
- Product Code:
- POS151030
- Media Type:
- Digital Seminar - Also available: Live Webinar
Description
- Strategies to reduce criticism, defensiveness and stonewalling
- Evidence-based de-escalation and repair tools
- Simple techniques that support vulnerable expression
- Show partners how to express hurt without attacking
- Tools to validate emotional reality even when they disagree on details
The research is clear – communication is the bedrock of relational health.
But here’s the reality in couples work …
One partner talks fast, listing grievances like evidence in a trial. The other leans back, arms crossed, already gone.
Just getting them to hear each other is a clinical feat – let alone helping them untangle years of resentment, shutdown, and unmet needs in the fifty minutes you have on the clock.
That’s why we created this must-have training with licensed psychologist Diane Foy to equip you with the very best communication-focused strategies from EFT, Gottman Method and Imago Therapy.
Grounded in decades of research – these tools are proven to transform reactive exchanges into meaningful dialogue and rebuild emotional connection.
With step-by-step instruction and case studies that make real-world application feel simple, you’ll learn to:
- Strengthen emotional attunement so partners can hear each other without reactivity
- Replace destructive communication habits with constructive, regulated dialogue
- Help couples build intimacy, friendship, and shared meaning through better conversations
- Guide partners in communicating about betrayal and rebuilding trust after relational injuries
This program will help turn you into a versatile couples therapist ready to give your clients a communication roadmap to end the fighting and start really communicating.
Purchase now and start giving your couples the breakthroughs they’ve been waiting for.
Credit
Speaker
Diane Foy, MEd, LP Related seminars and products
Foy Psychological Therapies
Diane Foy, MEd, LP, is a licensed psychologist with over 20 years of experience working with families, couples, and individuals. Diane’s work with couples is grounded in evidence-based therapies, particularly the Gottman Method and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy. She has completed Level-3 Gottman training, as well as specialized training including the Gottman Method for Treating Trauma and Affairs, and “The 7 Principles for Making a Marriage Work” certification training. Her therapeutic style is warm, accepting, and strength-based, offering a caring environment with gentle directness to address relationship conflict, betrayal, and other emotional challenges.
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Diane Foy is the owner of Foy Psychological Therapies, LLC. and has an employment relationship with Couples Therapy, Inc. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Diane Foy has no relevant non-financial relationships.
Additional Info
Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)Access never expires for this product.
For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepesi@pesi.com.
Questions?
Visit our FAQ page at www.pesi.com/faq or contact us at www.pesi.com/info
Objectives
- Examine the evidence base and empirical foundations of the Gottman Method and its effectiveness in reducing couple distress and improving relationship satisfaction.
- Define the core principles of Imago Therapy and how they relate to communication dynamics and love styles in couples.
- Use EFT cycle-tracking to help couples recognize and name their real-time communication patterns during sessions.
- Integrate strategies to rebuild trust and intimacy, promote emotional connection, and facilitate shared meaning.
- Apply communication interventions that strengthen positive verbal and nonverbal exchanges between partners.
- Use interventions to reduce negativity, prevent conflict escalation, and start constructive conversation in couples.
Outline
Understanding the Communication System in Couples
- Attachment styles and communication patterns
- Pursuer-withdrawer dynamics
- How stress and threat distort communication
- Influence of family-of-origin
Mapping a Couple’s Communication Style and Cycle
- Conducting a communication-focused intake
- Identifying triggers, emotional themes and patterns
- Recognizing escalation, shutdown, and looping cycles
- Questions to reveal underlying emotional needs
Emotional Safety as the Foundation
- What emotional safety looks like in couples
- Therapist language that reduces reactivity
- Co-regulation strategies in session
- Setting communication agreements and ground rules
Tools to Help Communicate Needs and Speak from Vulnerability
- Drop into primary emotion using EFT-style slowing and tracking
- Gottman method soft starts to reduce defensiveness
- Coaching couples to name core attachment needs
- Differentiate needs from demands to prevent power struggles
- Imago dialogue to support vulnerable expression
- Non-violent communication principles to enhance emotional expression without blame
- Research, risks and limitations
Teach Clients How to Listen Without Defending
- EFT listening skills to track emotion instead of content
- Pause defensive impulses and stay with the speaker’s experience
- Gottman-style reflective statements to reduce conflict
- Coach partners to validate emotional reality even when they disagree on details
- Empathy, reassurance, and problem-solving – and when each is appropriate
- Non-violent communication style of listening between the words to diffuse conflict
Fast and Simple Strategies to De-Escalate, Re-Route and Re-Engage During Hot Moments
- EFT-style empathy prompts to soothe reactive states
- Imago containment strategies when partners feel overwhelmed
- Coach couples to own their triggers without blaming
- Interventions to interrupt criticism, defensiveness, and stonewalling
- Brief repair statements that stabilize the moment
- Guide partners back to curiosity and connection when emotions harden
Rupture Repair Toolkit: Help Partners Make Repairs that Stick
- Guide clients in sharing emotional impact using EFT’s vulnerability-first approach
- Coach the injured partner to express hurt without attacking
- Validate each other’s pain while staying regulated and present
- Repair scripts that work
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Registered Psychotherapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Case Managers
- Other Professionals Who Work within the Mental Health Fields
Reviews
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