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Karnac Author series
This two-hour event will look at the ingredients that contribute to a contented couple. It will comprise a forty-five-minute talk, followed by a discussion and then a workshop using breakout rooms. We will think about the factors operating in partners at the selection stage as well as the behaviours which sustain or undermine the couple during the following years and decades.
Anne will be speaking from an attachment theory perspective. We will look at unconscious processes in partner choice as well as thinking about selection in different traditions – arranged marriage and forms of quasi-arrangement through agencies and other channels. The talk will draw on interviews with long term self-proclaimed contented couples drawn from Anne’s book research. These couples include gay and straight pairs as well as those from different faith groups.
After outlining the ingredients, we see in successful couples, Anne will look at what makes it hard for some people to form and sustain couple relationships and consider what therapists working with individuals can do to help. How does early attachment impact our readiness for relationship? How come some very insecure people can manage relationships? What can therapy do to prepare people for becoming part of a couple?
Anne will use a PowerPoint presentation to outline how attachment patterns may be impacting our selection of a mate and in building long-term bond. We will consider the unconscious pull of the fascinating and the familiar in partner choice. We will explore how successful couples manage conflict, what sex looks like in a long term contented couple and what couples themselves say made it work. The latter part of the talk will consider how as individual therapists we can work with the ‘couple in mind’. How can we best support single people to become relationship-ready? How do we work with a client who regularly brings their relationship to individual therapy?
Anne Power has qualifications from The Bowlby Centre, Relate, WPF and Tavistock Relations. Most recently she has trained in emotionally focused couple therapy (EFT). She has published over twenty papers and two books which all draw on attachment to explore loss, retirement, boarding school, supervision and couple relationships. After decades of working with clients in difficulty, she wanted to hear from contented couples and set about interviewing for her book. In 2023 she debuted on Instagram and has become passionate about this platform as a way to share attachment insights with followers. She does this by creating varied narratives for a diverse set of wooden doll couples. https://www.instagram.com/and_attachment/
Standard Registration: £70.00
Trainee, NHS staff and Third Sector: £59.50
Group Rates (for 4 or more): Contact marketing@trtogether.com for customised pricing.
Trainee discount: To qualify for this offer you need to be taking a course which provides core practitioner training in counselling or psychotherapy that is at least 1 year full time or two years part time and recognised by the BACP or UKCP. TR Together reserve the right to ask to see evidence of training being undertaken.
Alumni: If you are a TR Alumni (TRAPC member) please email anitabruz@tavistockrelationships.org for a discount code to add at checkout
Your CPD certificate will be available to download from your TR Together account 48 hours after the event.