[humanser] Question about Group and Couples Therapy

[Cheryl Wade]

Things I have done include:

Having each member of the couple listen to the partner for a given time, 
say, three minutes. Then the partner who was listening summarized what 
he/she had learned through that listening.


I also have used a James Dobson technique called -- forgive this -- 
Fighting Fair. This means members of a couple are to talk about their 
disagreements but in an orderly way that respects the other member of 
the couple. The counselor needs to work hard so that one member of the 
couple doesn't dominate. Let's say the man says some angry things about 
the woman. The counselor then asks the woman "how do those remarks make 
you feel?" and "What would you want to say back to your husband in a way 
that is honest but does not undermine him as a person?"


Keep in mind that I only have worked with a few couples, but I found 
these techniques, combined with what we all learn in counseling, were 
helpful.


Cheryl


On 2/2/2018 11:42 PM, Justin Williams via HumanSer wrote:
> One thing I heard in class was a counselor asked the couples to verbally
> tell her if they did osemthing which was visual.  I can't remember exactly
> how that went, but that was something I heard.
> Justin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HumanSer [mailto:humanser-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Sarah Meyer
> via HumanSer
> Sent: Friday, February 2, 2018 11:37 PM
> To: humanser at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Sarah Meyer <sarah.meyer55 at gmail.com>
> Subject: [humanser] Question about Group and Couples Therapy
>
> Hi all,
> I am currently in Level One training for the Gottman Method for
> Couples/Partner Therapy. I'm curious if anyone else has used this modality
> in treating couples, and if so, what modifications/adaptations you may have
> used/made?
> Even if not, I am curious about people's experiences doing couples and group
> work. As a counselor in training, I have only worked with individuals thus
> far and am still learning how to handle and interpret the nonverbal
> information from one person, so I'm a bit concerned or uncertain about
> possibly missing certain nonverbal cues between partners or even group
> members in a group. How do other clinicians navigate these types of
> challenges? I'm sure there are other auditory cues that could give away
> people's attitudes towards one another and so forth, but there may be other
> important details that would be important to catch and comment on in the
> moment. I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.
>
> All the best,
>
> Sarah
>
>
>
> --
> Sarah K. Meyer
> Graduate Student, Clinical Mental Health Counseling Ball State University
> sarah.meyer55 at gmail.com
> (317)402-6632
>
> The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
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