CC25 Workshop 08 - The Three Stages of Affair Treatment – Using Integrative Relationship Therapy Treatment - Tammy Nelson, PhD

In this cutting edge training we will discuss the varieties of affairs and the many ways that relationships can heal from the betrayal that affects intimacy. We will review the stages of recovery that lead to long term healing. Issues around trust, forgiveness, new visions of monogamy, sexuality and connection for the future of the couple’s relationship will be addressed. We will review three phases of treatment and the steps of the recovery process. It is crucial to understand the triangulation that can occur when therapists do not explore their own bias and countertransference and we will look at how to avoid unintentional shaming and client retaliation. We will look at the power of the third in the relationship, including the therapeutic as well as the romantic. This workshop will delve into the meaning of each type of affair and
participants will learn interventions to help repair, restructure and redefine the future and help clients create a new monogamy for a stronger more insightful and connected partnership.
This workshop will move beyond a victim, perpetrator and rescuer model of therapy and will create sustainable monogamy agreements where transparency and authenticity promote resiliency.

1. Understand infidelity using the three-part definition and how partners are affected in a marriage or committed partnership. 
2. Learn the betrayal trauma effects on relationships and how collusion and bias play a part in the secondary gain of the role of the third in infidelity
3. Identify why the current therapy isn’t working and why some systems of recovery from affairs can retraumatize clients. 
4. Identify the three phases of treatment after an affair including the crisis, the insight and the vision phase and how they can improve treatment outcomes
5. Discover the difference between implicit and explicit monogamy and create new monogamy agreements
6. Create a revised formula for treatment plans after infidelity breaches, to include long term sustainable monogamy