Happily Never After: Between the Sheets

Detecting the underlying tension most therapists avoid confronting.

These guided conversations create space for therapists who are just becoming aware, still learning, actively seeking, or already taking action to address Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). The focus is on sharing and learning from each other in this session for Therapists Only! 

It is important to dissect why we don’t want to talk about IPV or confront it in our sessions.

• Is it because we are not properly trained and don’t want to make it worse?
• Is it we ourselves have experienced IPV trauma that has not been resolved?
• Is it we are in denial?
• Is it we don’t want to lose the client / revenue?

The cost of our silence may cause more harm than actually confront it.

• A study replicating Harway and Hansen’s research found that 40% of therapists failed to identify IPV in couples presenting for therapy, and virtually none intervened to reduce lethality risk.
• Of those therapists who did identify the conflict, 55% said they would not intervene. Another 14% concluded they would work on the couple’s communication style.

Research has found that women with a history of domestic violence are more than three times as likely as non-abused women to have a mental health condition(s). Additionally, a woman in individual therapy for depression, anxiety, or trauma — conditions directly caused by IPV in a significant percentage of cases — has roughly a 1 in 10 chance of being screened for it (Natan, M.B. et al. PubMed Central, 2012).

The mindset of mutual accountability IS the crux of the problem. IPV is not a “relationship” problem. It is a control problem. And, as we know, there is no standard protocol requiring therapists to examine their own relationship to intimate partner violence before treating others where it may be present.

Let’s gather as therapists with one goal to share tips and overcome fears to find solutions you can immediately apply to your practice simply thru conversation with like-minded individuals.

Monday, July 13th @ 4PM (PT) – $75 fee

Join the conversation expertly led by…Randi Roggeman (Master of Counseling, Licensed Professional Counselor, National Certified Counselor, Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor™.