Certificate in Couples Counselling

Whether you are looking to add couples work to your professional portfolio or deepen and refine your existing practice, this course offers a rich and engaging learning experience.

Training Overview

This course explores the fundamental principles of couples' work through our interactive, experiential training. This training comprehensively addresses key principles in couples' work. Topics include the definition of a relationship, the nature of attraction, and the role of idealization. Participants will explore individual contributions to relationships, focusing on the internal couple and recurring patterns in relationship dynamics. The curriculum covers the functions and mechanisms of desire and sex, as well as attachment theory and patterns. Additionally, the program delves into the complexities of separation and divorce, working online and various other relevant topics. 

Participants can expect a thorough exploration of couples' work principles.

2026 – 2027 Couple Counselling Timetable

Weekend 1: 10/11 October 2026 (10am – 4pm)

Key principles of working with couples

• Why do we choose who we choose – and what is a relationship? Exploring the nature of attraction, phantasy and idealisation
• The relationship as the client: developing a couple focus and ‘couple state of mind’
• What does each partner bring into the couple? Relationship ‘blueprints’, intergenerational patterns and how the past influences the present
• Couple fit and how to work with conflict and repeated patterns of difficult relationship dynamics

• Weekend 2: 07/08 November 2026 (10am – 4pm) 

Functions and meanings of desire and sex

• What happens when the sexual relationship breaks down? Differences in expectations, levels of desire
• Development of sexual identity and the changing landscape of cultural and societal influences
• Fertility issues and loss; exploring physical, emotional and external challenges to sexual relating
• Common sexual dysfunctions and causes; predisposing, precipitating and maintaining factors;  identifying when to refer onwards

Working with betrayal and shame; the influence of pornography and compulsive sexual behaviour

Weekend 3 ONLINE: 5/06 December 2026 (10am – 4pm)

Attachment as a spatial theory: attachment patterns, couple systems and role of therapist

• Internal working models; influence on couple choice and impact on the couple relationship
• Couple systems and identifying and working with attachments patterns and defensive cycles
• The therapist as attachment figure; exploring the impact of breaks; addressing challenges to containment; reflecting on differences between online and in-person couple work
• Affairs: a ‘heart attack for the relationship?’ Working with protest and triangulation
• The potential for collusion and secrets in the consulting room and how to address

Weekend 4: 09/10 January 2027 (10am – 4pm)

Why have they come? Assessment and identifying the work ahead

• Contracting and early transference: the challenges of establishing and maintaining the therapeutic alliance between two clients simultaneously
• The overt and the covert presenting problem; ‘why now?’ for choosing couple therapy; relationship life stages and the influence of critical incidents
• ‘S/he’s the problem!’ Exploring the role of depression, mental health and the ‘allocated patient’
• Assessing and managing risk (potential abuse; child protection issues); helping couples understand, address and change damaging behaviours; sustaining positive change.

Weekend 5: 13/14 February 2027 (10am – 4pm)

Endings and beginnings

• Types and meanings of endings; discourses around ending
• A ‘good enough’ relationship and when to end therapy; supporting couples with relapse prevention strategies 
• Separation and the different types of divorce; the impact on children; working with disappointment, blame and loss in the consulting room
• New relationships: the potential for repeated patterns; the impact of blended families

Meet the Trainer

Heidi Renton 

Following a career in marketing and media education, Heidi retrained a decade ago for her Masters in Psychodynamic Couple and Individual Psychotherapy at the world-renowned Tavistock Relationships organisation in London. She then further specialised at the same organisation with a Diploma in Psychosexual and Relationship Therapy and has since worked at Tavistock Relationships in various capacities, including as a Senior Assessor and Clinician, lecturer and psychosexual tutor. Heidi also trains and supervises NHS Talking Therapies counsellors in the Couple Therapy for Depression time limited model created by Tavistock Relationships for NICE. For the last seven years, Heidi has been seeing couples and individuals online and in her private practice, and is a member of Revive, a UK-wide psychosexual collective of therapists. She is a registered member of the BACP and COSRT, as well as a Graduate Member of the Tavistock Relationships Association of Psychotherapists and Counsellors. Heidi greatly enjoys teaching and encouraging others in their career development, and for the last few years has been running various CPD courses for counsellors across a range of modalities. Heidi also teaches the Certificate in Counselling at Basingstoke Counselling Service.

Cancellation Policy
If you need to cancel your place, the following policy applies. All cancellations must be submitted in writing, and the effective date is the date written notice is received.

• 90 calendar days or more before the course start date: full refund, less a £30 administration fee
• Between 60 and 89 calendar days before the course start date: 50% refund, less a £30 administration fee
• Between 30 and 59 calendar days before the course start date: 25% refund, less a £30 administration fee
• Within 29 calendar days of the course start date: no refund

If a participant does not meet the entry requirements, withdrawal will be treated as a cancellation under this policy.