Introduction to Relational Therapy
- Topic Areas:
- Relational Therapy | Couples Therapy | Families
- Categories:
- Live Webinar
- Speakers:
- Anna Kim, LCSW | Paul Kindman, LMFT
- Course Levels:
- Intermediate
- Duration:
- 7 Hours 30 Minutes
- License:
- Never Expires.
Producer: VPA/Brattleboro Retreat
Description
This workshop provides clinicians with a practical, evidence-based framework for understanding and applying relational therapy in their clinical work. Participants will learn the core principles and interventions of relational therapy, explore how the therapeutic relationship, attachment, and interpersonal dynamics serve as central mechanisms of change, and gain tools to recognize and cultivate relational moments in the therapy room.
The training also addresses the therapist’s stance, including how to bring authenticity, vulnerability, and awareness of power and sociocultural dynamics into clinical practice, while maintaining boundaries and relational effectiveness. Through case examples, discussion, and demonstration, participants will gain practical strategies to enhance the effectiveness of the therapeutic relationship, support clients navigating a variety of presenting issues, and integrate relational principles into their clinical work.
Credits
Vermont
6 CE Credits
The Vermont Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists, and is also approved by the Vermont Board of Psychological Examiners to sponsor continuing education for psychologists licensed in Vermont. This course is intended to qualify for specialty mandated credit types as follows:
Ethics: 0
Cultural Competency: 0
Continuing education courses sponsored by the Vermont Psychological Association are pre-approved by the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation for continuing education credit for licensed independent clinical social workers in Vermont. This course is intended to qualify for the following specialty mandated credit types;
Ethics: 0
Cultural Competency: 0
Continuing education courses sponsored by the Vermont Psychological Association are pre-approved by the Vermont Board of Allied Mental Health for continuing education credit for licensed clinical mental health counselors and licensed marriage and family therapists in Vermont. This course is intended to qualify for the following specialty mandated credit types:
Ethics: 0
Cultural Competency: 0
Connecticut
6 CE Credits
The Vermont Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Connecticut accepts these credits for continuing education for psychologists in Connecticut pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 20-191c(b). This course is intended to qualify for specialty mandated credit types as follows:
Veterans' Mental Health: 0
The Vermont Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing educaiton for psychologists. Based on this approval, this course is pre-approved for credit for Connecticut licensed professional counselors under Conn. Agencies Regs § 20-195cc-3(a)(1). This course is intended to qualify for mandated credit types as follows:
Ethics: 0
Veterans' Mental Health: 0
Massachusetts
6 CE Credits for Psychologists & LMHCs
7.2 CE Credits for LCSWs
6CE Credits for LMHCs
The Massachusetts Board of Registration of Psychologists accepts credits earned from courses sponsored by APA-approved sponsors as indicated in 251 C.M.R. §§ 4.02, 4.03.
As a course sponsored by an APA-approved CE sponsor, this course qualifies for credit for clinical social workers and certified social workers in Massachusetts under 258 CMR sec 31.04(2)(d).
The Vermont Psychological Association (VPA) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7610. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. VPA is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
New Hampshire
6 CE Credits
The Vermont Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor live continuing education for psychologists. The New Hampshire Board of Psychologists accepts credits earned from courses sponsored by APA-approved sponsors as indicated in Psyc § 402.01(d)(11). This course is intended to qualify for specialty mandated credit types as follows:
Ethics: 0
The Vermont Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education to psychologists. As a course sponosred by an organization with such approval, these credits are also accepted by the New Hampshire Board of Mental Health Practice for clinical social workers licensed in New Hampshire, as provided in Mhp 402.02(b)(1). This course is intended to qualify for the following specialty mandated credits:
Ethics: 0
Suicide Prevention: 0
The Vermont Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education to psychologists. As a course sponosred by an organization with such approval, these credits are also accepted by the New Hampshire Board of Mental Health Practice for clinical mental health counselors licensed in New Hampshire, as provided in Mhp 402.02(b)(1). This course is intended to qualify for the following specialty mandated credits:
Ethics: 0
Suicide Prevention: 0
The Vermont Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. As a course sponosred by an organization with such approval, these credits are also accepted by the New Hampshire Board of Mental Health Practice for marriage and family therapists; pastoral psychotherapists; and school social workers licensed in New Hampshire, as provided in Mhp 402.02(b)(1). The course is intended to qualify for the following specialty mandated credit types:
Ethics: 0
Suicide Prevention: 0
New York
6 CE Contact Hours
The Vermont Psychological Association is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0210. This course is intended to qualify for specialty mandated continuing education topics as follows:
Ethics: 0
Professional Boundaries: 0
Other States Accepting Credits from APA-Approved Sponsors
6 CE Credits
The Vermont Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor live continuing education for psychologists. The Vermont Psychological Association maintains responsibility for its programs and their content. Psychologists and other professionals licensed in states whose respective licensing boards approve continuing education offered by APA-approved sponsors may earn continuing education credits for this course.
Other States Accepting Credits from NBCC-Approved Sponsors
6 CE Credits
The Vermont Psychological Association (VPA) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7610. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. VPA is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Speaker
Anna Kim, LCSW Related Seminars and Products
Kindman & Co.
Anna Kim, LCSW, is a clinical supervisor and associate clinical director at Kindman & Co., a Los Angeles–based group practice specializing in relational therapy for individuals, couples, and families. Her clinical work focuses on using relational approaches to support clients navigating grief and loss, identity development, and complex trauma, with particular attention to those for whom more structured or manualized treatments have felt inaccessible or ineffective.
Anna’s work is grounded in relational therapy and PACT (Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy), and she is deeply committed to helping clinicians expand their capacity to work with attachment, interpersonal dynamics, and the therapeutic relationship as central mechanisms of change. She has received extensive training and supervision in relational models and now provides supervision and consultation to clinicians seeking to deepen their relational practice. She has broad experience teaching and training audiences ranging from graduate students to licensed clinicians, and is known for making complex relational concepts practical, accessible, and clinically transformative, and brings a thoughtful, nuanced approach to exploring the many layers of human experience.
Paul Kindman, LMFT Related Seminars and Products
Kindman & Co.
Paul Kindman, LMFT, is the co-founder and clinical director of Kindman & Co., a Los Angeles–based group practice specializing in social-justice-informed relational psychotherapy for individuals and relationships. With more than 15 years of clinical experience, Paul works with couples and individuals through a deeply relational, complexity-oriented lens informed by his training in Relational Gestalt therapy and the PACT model.
Paul previously served on the Board of Directors of The Relational Center and has been deeply involved in advancing relational approaches to mental health practice. In addition to clinical work, he provides ongoing supervision and consultation in relational psychotherapy and PACT, and offers relational therapy training for clinicians in Los Angeles. Paul’s work is grounded in a passion for social justice, interconnected systems, and the political dimensions of mental health, with a commitment to understanding how relationships, community, and broader societal forces shape human well-being.
Course Objectives
Objective 1 Explain the role of the therapeutic relationship as a vehicle for change and growth for clients, including building trust, increasing complexity, and navigating rupture and repair.Objective 2 Describe the neurobiological basis of attachment and how it supports relational healing in therapy.
Objective 3 Articulate at least two ways that social context, power, and identity impact the therapeutic relationship and influence relational interventions.
Objective 4 Identify at least three core components of the therapeutic relationship in relational therapy, including enactments, use of self, collision vs. collusion, and mutual vulnerability.
Objective 5 Reflect on personal patterns of avoidance or over-functioning in the therapeutic relationship and their impact on the clinical process.
Objective 6 Define relational therapy and differentiate it from one-person and 1.5-person psychologies.