Helping Couples Heal Workshop

A 2-Day Transformational Weekend Workshop for Couples Recovering From Betrayal Trauma

The Helping Couples Heal Couples Workshop is an empowering 2-day workshop for couples committed to healing their relationship after betrayal and is designed to provide coaching and  educate both partners about the traumatic impact of relational betrayal through psychoeducation, experiential practice and group peer support. This workshop is co-facilitated by Marnie Breecker and Duane Osterlind, co-founders of Helping Couples Heal. Marnie Breecker is also the founder of The Center For Relational Healing  in Los Angels and San Diego, and Duane Osterlind is the founder of Novus Family Counseling & Recovery Center in Long Beach, California

Recognizing trauma changes how we view and treat the betrayed partner, the betrayer and the couple. Using the  Partner Trauma Model as its foundation, the goal of this workshop is to provide a framework to help couples heal from relational and betrayal trauma. Because trust is the foundation for a healthy relationship, broken trust is the most critical injury for couples recovering from betrayal trauma. A primary goal of this workshop is to provide a framework from which trust and intimacy can be restored through the healing of relational and betrayal trauma. 

This workshop highlights those aspects of trauma that cause the primary attachment & relationship ruptures for couples and consists of three components: psychoeducation, group process and experiential learning (the third component is only available in-person). Our goal is to help couples heal by providing specific interventions and tools to increase empathy, compassion and patience, reduce shame, rebuild trust and intimacy and foster relational healing. 

Our Next Workshop Dates

 

NOVEMBER 10th-11th 2023 (ONLINE)

Friday 4:00-7:00pm Pacific Time
&
Saturday 9:00-5:00pm Pacific Time

MARCH 8th-9th 2024

(IN PERSON, NEW YORK)

Friday 12:00-7:00pm Pacific Time
&
Saturday 9:00-5:00pm Pacific Time

Contact Us

BENEFITS OF THE WORKSHOP

The Betrayer:

The Betrayed Partner:

The Couple:

 

  • Responsibility taking
  • Increased capacity for understanding partner’s experience and reactions
  • Increased clarity and hope
  • Increased capacity for empathy and motivation for behavioral change
  • Understanding their role in relational healing
  • Shame reduction
  • Understanding the concept of a “secret sexual basement” and its impact on the relationship.
  • Identifying attachment style
  • Increased ability to manage trauma reactions
  • Increased awareness of community resources and support

 

  • Overwhelming sense of validation and finally feeling understood
  • Permission to feel emotions, relief, and hope
  • Tools for individual healing
  • Trauma acknowledged as legitimate
  • Conceptualizing their experience as trauma and their emotions and behaviors as trauma and survival responses
  • Identifying attachment style 
  • Understanding of Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Tools to manage triggers 
  • Increased capacity for self-regulation
  • Increased awareness of community resources and support
    • Healthy communication
    • Crisis reduction & conflict resolution
    • Identification of missing components in couple’s recovery process
    • Development of roadmap/strategies for relational healing
    • Framework from which to rebuild trust and intimacy
    • Increased capacity for couple to conceptualize relational trauma as consequence of betrayal and infidelity
    • Understanding the role of attachment in relational healing.
    • Understanding of coregulation and its role in relational healing

    FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 

    HOW DO WE REGISTER? 

    If you are interested in registering for the workshop, please reach out to us and provide your and your partner’s full names and email addresses so we can send you a link to our client portal. To ensure the workshop is the right fit for you and your partner, please complete the intake forms found in the client portal after creating your account.  After the assessments are complete, it will be reviewed by our staff and we will then contact you regarding next steps. We will need separate intake forms completed by both you and your partner. Please note that registration and payment must be complete in order to hold your spot in the workshop, and both couples must join on the same computer in order to attend.  

    HOW MANY COUPLES ARE IN THE WORKSHOP?

    Each workshop is limited to no more than 18 couples.  While the educational process is done in a large group, we work in smaller groups for intimate group process and discussion.  

    WHAT IS THE COST? 

    ONLINE WORKSHOP

    If OVER 30 days before the ONLINE Workshop: $1,685 USD per couple

    If UNDER 30 days before the ONLINE Workshop: $1,895 USD per couple

    The workshop cost must be paid in full at the time of registration unless other arrangements have been made.  We do not accept deposits to reserve a space in the workshop.

    IN-PERSON WORKSHOP

    If OVER 30 days before the IN-PERSON Workshop: $2,997 USD per couple

    If UNDER 30 days before the IN-PERSON Workshop: $3,397 USD per couple

    WHAT IS THE CANCELLATION & REFUND POLICY? 

    Workshops are non-refundable and must be used within 6 months of the purchase date. You are welcome to transfer your registration to a future date if you are unable to attend. There is no fee to transfer registration if you let us know at least ten days prior to the start of the workshop.  With less than ten days notice, a $250 transfer fee will be incurred. If there has been a price change, you will be responsible for the balance.

    Helping Couples Heal has a website that is full of resources, including their game-changing workshop!  You can find ALL of Duane & Marnie’s excellent podcasts on the website. (Also available on other platforms) These podcasts and their workshop are incredibly partner-sensitive and trauma-informed,  something that came as a much-needed breath of fresh air for me after 18 months of treatment-induced trauma at the hands of a pair of codependent therapists. Duane & Marnie & the people at HCH are a real exception to what many of us have experienced at the hands of other therapists.

    Past Workshop Participant

    Betrayed Partner

    For the first time, I felt my feelings were validated. They make sense. I felt my husband finally understood what I had been going through. He was able to see the true impact of his choices on our relationship and my mental health. It was a hard workshop but worth it for both of us. I feel like we have a chance to move forward and heal. Thank you for creating this workshop.
    Past Workshop Participant

    Betrayed Partner

    Honestly, the workshop gave me so much to think about and work on that I am truly excited about recovery – more than I have been for the past year. I have felt at a standstill and frustrated. I now have more hope, more resources, and I have more understanding of my wife’s possible feelings and sexual symptoms as a result of both my behavior as an addict and possibly previous sexual trauma experienced in her life. I feel good to now be willing and feel able to have empathy for my wife and her feelings.
    Past Workshop Participant

    Addict In Recovery

    Duane Osterlind

    Co-host

    Marnie Breecker LMFT, CSAT

    Marnie Breecker

    Co-host