Trauma-Wise Couple Therapy
An 8-Session Training & Consultation Group
Margaret Martin, LCSW & Katie Barksdale, LPC
Margaret Martin, LCSW 
Katie Barksdale LPC
Working with couples with complex or unresolved trauma presents a particular set of challenges for therapists. In this trauma-informed group we’ll address issues facing couples’ therapists working with trauma including:
therapist self-regulation ● maintaining therapeutic frame ● working with defenses
case conceptualization ● conscious & unconscious therapeutic alliance
managing acting out ● countertransference & projective identification
balancing couple work & individual trauma ● pathways of anxiety discharge
integrating Siegel’s 9 levels of integration ● regulating & building capacity in the partners
In this hybrid training/consultation group we’ll split time between didactic presentation with brief group discussion and case consultation. The group is limited to eight participants. We’ll provide reading materials to support your learning. Reading should require no more than 30 minutes per week.
In each session we’ll seek to answer the questions
“Why this is harder for complex trauma?”
and
“Where do we need to thoughtful about interventions because of trauma?”
We approach this work through a lens informed by Stan Tatkin’s Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT), Terry Real’s Relational Life Therapy, Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy, somatic psychotherapy, Interpersonal Neurobiology, and attachment and polyvagal theories. To the best of our ability, we seek to create a trauma-informed group experience. This includes awareness of and sensitivity to racial and cultural trauma and inclusivity of marginalized voices.
Participants should have a minimum of one year or level one training in a couple therapy model, at least two years experience as a couples therapist, and a basic understanding of both attachment and polyvagal theories.
The Details
When 1:00 – 3:00 pm every other Monday, March 20 through June 26, 2022
Where Via Zoom (so you don’t have to be in Austin!)
Cost $120/session