Master Discernment Counseling for Mixed Agenda Couples
(Stop dreading the on-the-brink cases.)
Use a research-based, time-limited protocol that fits their urgent relationship status.
Discernment Counseling offers:
No matter how much experience couples therapists have, we all feel the pit in our stomachs...
Let's be blunt. Our models and theories rely on a basic premise: that couples hire us to help figure out what's broken and make improvements.
This leaves out 20-30% of couples where one partner has two forms of ambivalence--whether to divorce or stay married, and whether to give couples therapy a try--and the other partner wants to preserve the marriage and start couples therapy. These couples often fail to engage when we start off with traditional couples therapy.
It bears repeating that traditional couples therapy is designed for two people motivated for the couples therapy AND to their marriage. This is one reason you'll see trainers and supervisors of all the models inside our training community.
Discernment Counseling training offers you a detailed road map so that you can become a confident expert on the kind of couple most therapists dread. Some of our trainees end up becoming specialists only in this kind of couple! You won't be asked to join some secret level or training. This is the whole thing for one flat price.
Don Gordon of Children in Between Online has court-mandated course in over 35 states. I filmed an alternatives to divorce module for his course. After watching this 12-minute video, almost a third of individuals switched their view of the inevitability of their divorce. We're exploding the myth that "once you file it's over.”
Bill Doherty, Ph.D.
Graduate school did not teach about divorce ambivalence because nobody thought to look more closely. We had assumptions now shown to be wrong. The divorce process, even after legally begun, needs "rest stops" and "exit ramps" for couples who want to pause and consider their options about trying serious couples therapy. If they do Discernment Counseling and go on to divorce, the lawyers and mediators we refer to report that these couples are now ready to divorce in a constructive way. For the couples that do choose couples therapy, our trainees report a much quicker, more productive start to couples therapy.
"As a clinician with a strong Internet presence, I can say that this is the best online training I've ever received, hands down!"
"The DRI team is tremendously supportive, amazingly responsive in a timely way, nonjudgmental, clear, highly skilled, often very funny, and quite generous in what they provide for the cost. They humanize the learning curve in countless ways. They regularly add useful training components and improvements to the already loaded program. I often wonder if they ever sleep!"
Susan lager, licsw, bcd
"I am so excited, enthusiastic and satisfied with the protocol, philosophy and purchase of this training."
"When I feel lost with a couple, I simply access the relevant module and Bill reminds or coaches me into the right frame of mind or the best approach to the work. I never feel alone or quite as bumbling as I implement a new skill set/approach to couples work. I can vouch for both the quality of the training itself as well as the value of the program."
SANDY WOLF, lcsw
What You'll Learn
Foundations of Discernment Counseling
Complex Cases
What You'll Get
Marketing & Community Support
45 Day Satisfaction Guarantee.
Join Your Colleagues Around the World
Gain Tremendous Professional Satisfaction
These couples are neglected in our culture and in our field - until now. Senior couples therapists report falling in love with their profession again.
Leverage New Skills
The power of focusing on each partner separately, with carefully structured sharing of personal learnings, will improve your work with all your clients, both individuals and couples.
Complete Support
Stuck logging in? Want a human on the other end of an email? We have earning reminders, Discernment Counseling Master Practitioners who are ready to support you through individual supervision, and the ability to participate in our directory and larger community.
Some of your current clients may actually need Discernment Counseling.
Yes, you can take existing couples and transition to DC (we teach how), and you may also think your intake is for regular couples therapy, but is actually a couple better suited to DC. You'll learn all this as well as our #1 suggestion going forward, exactly what to ask every couple who seeks to hire you... These details help you professionally and support these couples in a graceful process.
Couples therapy can become stuck when one spouse becomes ambivalent about staying married and about the couples therapy. You can learn to accept this ambivalence and transition the couples to Discernment Counseling to avoid pursuing the leaning-out spouse or continuing with what I call "half-hearted" couples therapy.
Bill Doherty, Ph.D.
Our research shows that couples coming for Discernment Counseling are a good deal more distressed than those coming to traditional couples therapy--and that many of them can successfully transition to couples therapy after a period of discernment about their options. Others go on to divorce having better understood what happened to their marriage and each of their contributions to the problems. The only failure in Discernment Counseling is if no one learns anything.
"I believe that Discernment Counseling is one of the major contributions to marital therapy in recent decades."
Douglas Sprenkle, ph.d.
Former Professor emeritus of marriage and family therapy at pudue university
"Becoming a Discernment Counselor has completely changed the way I work with couples when one or both partners are ambivalent about their relationship."
"The entire online training experience has been such a positive experience for me, as well as the interactions I had with Codi and Elizabeth."
Nancy St. John, miacp
Untold Numbers of Couples Aren't Being Served Well.
Demand is there. Are you interested in meeting it?
Think your model already covers mixed agenda couples?
Our therapists are certified in every model out there and can attest to the power of Discernment Counseling as its own specialized protocol.
Discernment Counseling's foundation is the individual who doesn't want couples therapy and isn't sure they want the marriage. Every aspect of the session is crafted for their state of being, and the state of their marriage. For couples who choose to pursue couples counseling, the transition is seamless and easy. Best yet, therapists report these discernment couples are ready the way many regular couples aren't, for the hard work of couples therapy.
Timing not quite right?
We know you have endless choices on trainings. We believe most of them are therapist-focused. Improving your craft.
This training is different: it's a brand new service and it's fitting a serious need couples near you face. The training itself brings in revenue because people specifically seek you out.
The half-hearted couples therapy we have all experienced with these couples can be a thing of the past. Starting now. We believe so firmly in the training, we offer a 45 day refund if you are unsatisfied.
"After working 20+ years with these types of couples, I can say that providing Discernment Counseling is superior to any intervention I was able to offer previously!"
Kari Hunter, lmft, lcpc
"Bill answers questions; the [material is] well done; an advantage is that you can listen to the online classes more than once."
"I believe if you take the training and use it with a mixed agenda couple you will begin to see the difference. Of utmost importance is to follow their process and outline. It works."
Sheila bost, lmfc
"I just want to share how awesome this training and work has been for me and how fun it has been to be able to effectively reach a group of individuals I really struggled with in the past."
"Although couples go down different paths, it certainly has been an effective process. Also, offering this service is the best marketing strategy! I reach a specific group of people in my area that no one else is reaching. It is the single best marketing decision I have made. I have couples call every day asking for this service. Lastly, it has made me giddy and inspired about working with couples again! I feel like I’m in grad school all over again!"
Heather Guttormson, ms, lmft
Summary of What You Get
Special Pricing Available for a Limited Time
Group (4+ therapists in same practice) discounts available.
Reply to any email for details.
45 Day Money-Back Guarantee.
You are fully protected by our 100% Satisfaction-Guarantee.
FAQ
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions:
The training is self-paced and sectioned out to allow you to go as fast or slow as you wish. It comes in at about 23 hours, plus if you wanted to watch our couples, that would be an additional number of hours.
Most material is "talking head" style with Bill Doherty directly engaging you on video. Some lessons are discussions with Bill and Elizabeth. The rest are clips of couples. You will get robust lesson descriptions on every lesson and key handouts.
- Completed all coursework modules
- Complete 7 Discernment Counseling cases by the time you apply
- Answer five questions to indicate your understanding of Discernment Counseling and your ability to explain it to clients in a simple form on the site
- Bill will review these and determine your eligibility for certification
- Pay the $60 fee upon approval
Think of it like a digital marketing agency at your disposal! You get a minicourse in marketing, with many professional images you can repurpose on your website or social media. We have a video of Bill that you can put on your main Discernment page, with his call to action being to contact YOU. (Or you make your own, with Bill's video as inspiration.) We also include website text you can literally copy and paste, postcards, rack cards, and more.
We have a 45 day satisfaction guarantee. The last thing we want is your money if we did not deliver for you.
No, we do not offer CEs for this course. Ginny Wright and othe rmaster practitioners are gaining CE eligibility for smaller workshops related to DC.
Questions? Reply to any email from Support@DohertyRelationshipInstitute.com