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Faculty

Terry Real

LICSW
Founder
Relational Life Institute

Terry Real is a nationally recognized family therapist, author, and teacher. He is particularly known for his groundbreaking work on men and male psychology, as well as his work on gender and couples; he has been in private practice for over thirty years. Terry has appeared often as the relationship expert for Good Morning America and ABC News. His work has been featured in numerous academic articles, as well as media venues such as Oprah, 20/20, The Today Show, CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, and many others.

In 1997, he published the national bestseller I Don’t Want to Talk About It, the first book ever written on the topic of male depression. That was followed by How Can I Get Through to You?, an exploration of the role of patriarchy in relationships, and most recently, The New Rules of Marriage: What You Need to Know to Make Love Work, a practical guide for couples and couples therapists. His latest book is Us: Getting Past You & Me to Build a More Loving Relationship.

Terry founded The Relational Life Institute, which offers a training program for therapists, as well as workshops for couples and individuals.

2024 Sessions

Couples Therapy

Discussion on different perspectives on Couples Therapy.

Presenter

Saturday, December 16 2:50–3:50 PM
Room Pacific - AB
Invited Panel
Faculty

Harville Hendrix

PhD
Co-Founder and Faculty
Imago International Training Institute

Harville Hendrix, Ph.D., and Helen LaKelly Hunt, Ph.D., are co-creators of Imago Relationship Therapy, a couples' therapy, and a social movement called Safe Conversations. Internationally respected as couples' therapists, educators, speakers, activists, and New York Times bestselling authors, their 10 books, including the timeless classic Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples, have sold more than 4 million copies. Harville appeared on the Oprah Winfrey television program 17 times! Helen was installed in the Women’s Hall of Fame and the Smithsonian Institution. They have six children and eight grandchildren.

Faculty

Terry Real

LICSW
Founder
Relational Life Institute

Terry Real is a nationally recognized family therapist, author, and teacher. He is particularly known for his groundbreaking work on men and male psychology, as well as his work on gender and couples; he has been in private practice for over thirty years. Terry has appeared often as the relationship expert for Good Morning America and ABC News. His work has been featured in numerous academic articles, as well as media venues such as Oprah, 20/20, The Today Show, CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, and many others.

In 1997, he published the national bestseller I Don’t Want to Talk About It, the first book ever written on the topic of male depression. That was followed by How Can I Get Through to You?, an exploration of the role of patriarchy in relationships, and most recently, The New Rules of Marriage: What You Need to Know to Make Love Work, a practical guide for couples and couples therapists. His latest book is Us: Getting Past You & Me to Build a More Loving Relationship.

Terry founded The Relational Life Institute, which offers a training program for therapists, as well as workshops for couples and individuals.

The Healing Power of Relationships: From Trauma to Reconnection

This workshop adds a live clinical demonstration.<br> In a very focused brief time, participants will see how to focus in on the couple’s core dynamic, their repetitive “vicious circle,” each partner’s role, their “relational stance.” We address this “couple’s choreography “ as “the more … the more.” (The more she pursues, the more he distances… and the more he distances…”. We move from stance (The Adaptive Child part of the client) to Trauma - what was that child adapting to? And we do deep trauma work in the presence of the partner. Relational Life Therapy occurs in three phases
<br >1. Loving confrontation
<br >2. Deep trauma work
<br >3. Education and skill building.
<br >It is the combination of all three that produce profound change quickly.

Presenter

Saturday, December 16 4:10–5:10 PM
Room Pacific - AB (Hilton)
Clinical Demo
Faculty

Terry Real

LICSW
Founder
Relational Life Institute

Terry Real is a nationally recognized family therapist, author, and teacher. He is particularly known for his groundbreaking work on men and male psychology, as well as his work on gender and couples; he has been in private practice for over thirty years. Terry has appeared often as the relationship expert for Good Morning America and ABC News. His work has been featured in numerous academic articles, as well as media venues such as Oprah, 20/20, The Today Show, CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, and many others.

In 1997, he published the national bestseller I Don’t Want to Talk About It, the first book ever written on the topic of male depression. That was followed by How Can I Get Through to You?, an exploration of the role of patriarchy in relationships, and most recently, The New Rules of Marriage: What You Need to Know to Make Love Work, a practical guide for couples and couples therapists. His latest book is Us: Getting Past You & Me to Build a More Loving Relationship.

Terry founded The Relational Life Institute, which offers a training program for therapists, as well as workshops for couples and individuals.

The Healing Power of US: Teaching Couples to Live Relationally

The toxic culture of individualism and patriarchy rests on the delusions that we stand apart from nature and in control of it. Whether the ‘nature’ we are trying to control is our partner, our kids, our bodies (I must lose 10 pounds) or our own minds (I must be less negative).<br><br>Our autonomic nervous system scans our bodies 4 times a second “am I safe?”, “am I safe?”, “am I safe?”, “am I safe?” If the answer is ‘yes, I feel safe’, we remain seated in the wise adult part of ourselves, our prefrontal cortex. We remember the whole, the relationship. But when the answer is ‘no, I feel in danger’, we shift into subcortical parts of the brain, knee jerk automatic responses in which we see the world as a zero sum, I win, you lose power struggle.<br>In heated moments we lose the wisdom of us. We need to equip our clients to cultivate the ongoing practice of ‘relational mindfulness.’ Shifting from you and me consciousness into the centered adult parts of ourselves. Remembering love—that the person we are speaking to is someone we care about and not the enemy. This is the critical first step, the first skill from which all other skills depend.<br><br>Once we equip our clients to think ecologically and relationally, all of the terms change. For example, the relational answer to the question of who is right and who is wrong, is who cares? The real question is how are you and I going to work on this as a team? Come learn how to help people deal with their own trauma effectively triggering and not inflict it on their families to deal with.

Presenter

Sunday, December 17 8:00–11:00 AM
Room California - D (Hilton)
Faculty

Terry Real

LICSW
Founder
Relational Life Institute

Terry Real is a nationally recognized family therapist, author, and teacher. He is particularly known for his groundbreaking work on men and male psychology, as well as his work on gender and couples; he has been in private practice for over thirty years. Terry has appeared often as the relationship expert for Good Morning America and ABC News. His work has been featured in numerous academic articles, as well as media venues such as Oprah, 20/20, The Today Show, CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, and many others.

In 1997, he published the national bestseller I Don’t Want to Talk About It, the first book ever written on the topic of male depression. That was followed by How Can I Get Through to You?, an exploration of the role of patriarchy in relationships, and most recently, The New Rules of Marriage: What You Need to Know to Make Love Work, a practical guide for couples and couples therapists. His latest book is Us: Getting Past You & Me to Build a More Loving Relationship.

Terry founded The Relational Life Institute, which offers a training program for therapists, as well as workshops for couples and individuals.
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