Additional Information

• • Target audience

    • This course is intended for psychologists, counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and other mental health and related professionals. 

  • Instruction level - Intermediate

    • It is expected that participants will have basic knowledge of the topic. Less than 25% of the presentation will review knowledge provided in an introductory workshop in this topic area. The remaining time will focus on advanced topics such as new research, specialty topics not typically covered in graduate education, or specific clinical applications. 

  • Recommended Prior Courses 

    • Creating Relational Safety: Evidence-Based Relationship Therapy I

      • This is Sander's previous course, focused on emotional downregulation as a prerequisite for relationship communication and development.  While not required for this course, this content will only be briefly reviewed and is useful for setting the stage for this work.  

    • Consent as Foundation - Understanding Sexual, Gender & Relationship Diversity

      • This course serves as a foundation for all the courses in this series on GSRD.  If you have taken previous knowledge about the diversity of relationships, you may have most of the basics already.  

  • Full description

Healthy relationships are built through mutual vulnerability, emotional regulation, and collaborative communication. However, therapists frequently encounter situations in which only one partner is currently ready, willing, or able to engage in these healthier patterns. This three-hour intermediate-level clinical workshop examines how therapists can help clients maintain emotional safety, personal integrity, and relational openness when collaboration is inconsistent, limited, or absent.

Building on contemporary research in attachment theory, emotion regulation, interpersonal neurobiology, relationship therapy, ethics, and communication science, participants will learn an integrative clinical framework for helping clients distinguish between relationship problems that can be addressed collaboratively and those that require strengthening personal boundaries, agency, and self-protection.

Rather than encouraging clients to either tolerate harmful relationship dynamics or prematurely end relationships, this workshop teaches therapists how to help clients remain emotionally available while maintaining clear personal boundaries, modeling healthy communication, and repeatedly inviting collaborative engagement.

Participants will learn interventions that help clients communicate without judgment, establish ethical boundaries, clarify individual rights and relational responsibilities, and recognize the difference between influence and control. The workshop introduces a structured decision-making process that helps clients evaluate whether a partner is demonstrating increasing capacity for vulnerability, accountability, and collaborative problem solving, while also recognizing situations in which continued exposure to harmful relational patterns threatens psychological well-being.

Special consideration is given to applying these interventions across monogamous, consensually nonmonogamous (CNM), and consensual power exchange/BDSM relationships. Participants will examine how attachment needs, emotional safety, consent, negotiated agreements, and relational ethics function across diverse relationship structures, while avoiding assumptions based on relationship style. The workshop emphasizes culturally responsive, affirming clinical practice and demonstrates how evidence based therapeutic principles can be adapted to support clients navigating complex relationship systems.

Consistent with Category D1.1, this workshop focuses on the application of evidence-based psychological intervention methods supported by contemporary peer-reviewed scientific literature. Participants will leave with practical clinical tools for helping clients foster relational safety when possible, strengthen personal safety when necessary, and make thoughtful, values-consistent decisions about the future of their relationships.

• • Presenter 

    • Sander T. Jones, MSW, LCSW (they/them) is a licensed clinical social worker, relationship therapist, clinical supervisor, author, educator, and speaker based in Atlanta, Georgia. They specialize in trauma, attachment, anxiety, relationship therapy, and working with LGBTQIA+, consensually non-monogamous (CNM), and BDSM/kink communities using an affirming, evidence-informed approach. Sander is the founder of Cultivating Joy and Happiness, LLC and has over 15 years of clinical experience integrating attachment theory, emotion regulation, interpersonal neurobiology, and trauma-informed care into practical interventions that clients can immediately apply in their daily lives. Their clinical work draws from Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Clinical Hypnosis, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Polyvagal-informed interventions. 

They are the author of Cultivating Connection: A Practical Guide for Personal and Relationship Growth in Ethical Non-Monogamy, which translates contemporary relationship science into accessible, practical skills for building healthier relationships. Their current work focuses on developing an integrative model of relationship therapy that emphasizes emotional regulation, relational safety, collaborative communication, and earned secure attachment. Sander is a frequent presenter for professional organizations and community conferences, providing continuing education on relationship diversity, ethics, trauma-informed practice, communication, attachment, and working effectively with clients from historically marginalized relationship and identity communities.

• • • Co-Presenter - Dr. Rachel Anne Kieran (she/her/dr) is a licensed psychologist and Co-Founder and Program Director of StorieTree Professional Education, where she leads the development of affirming, culturally-responsive continuing education for psychologists and other mental health professionals. She is also the founder of  StorieBrook Therapy & Consulting, LLC. Her clinical work focuses on sexual, gender, and relational diversity (including kink and consensual non-monogamy), neurodiversity, fat and disability justice, and clients from non-majority spiritual and pagan paths.  Across her roles as therapist, educator, and author, Dr. Kieran is committed to the belief that affirming care is a right, not a privilege.
      
      

  • Learning objectives

    • After completing this workshop, participants will be able to:

      • Differentiate between relational conflict that can be repaired through collaboration and patterns that reflect chronic disengagement, coercion, or imbalance of responsibility for change.

      • Apply clinical strategies that support clients in maintaining emotional safety and personal integrity while remaining open to relational connection, including boundary-setting frameworks that emphasize clarity, consent, and self-respect.

      • Utilize evidence-informed approaches to help clients evaluate relational investment and discern between influence and control, supporting ethical decision-making about continuation, modification, or disengagement from relationships.
        
        

  • Agenda / structure

    • • Part 1 (60 mins)

        • Welcome, Orientation & Learning Objectives — 10 min

        •  Literature Review: What Does the Evidence Tell Us About Relational Safety? — 30 min

        • What happens when one partner is able and willing to engage while the other is not? — 15 min

        • Clinical Reflection — 5 min

      • Part 2 (60 mins)  - Clinical Intervention Framework

        • Emotional Regulation Before Relational Engagement — 15 min

        • Boundaries, Agency & Self-Protection — 15 min

        • Evidence-Based Communication & the Invitation to Collaborate — 15 min

        • The Invitation–Response Framework — 15 min

      • Part 3 (20 mins)   When Collaboration Is Limited or Absent

        • Assessing Capacity for Collaborative Relationship — 15 min

        • Ethics & Clinical Responsibility — 15 min

        • Diversity Application: CNM & Consensual Power Exchange — 10 min

        • Case Application — 15 min

        • Integration & Closing — 5 min
          
          

  • CE information

    • • Full attendance is required to receive a certificate of completion. Certificates of completion will be issued following verified attendance.

      • For a full list of license types that can receive CE credit for our programs, please see our Continuing Education Credits Info page.  
        
        

  • Pricing & accessibility notes

    • Standard Price - $90

    • For more information on equity pricing for accessibility, please read the StorieTree Pricing & Equity Policy

    • For more information on StorieTree's ongoing accessibility efforts, please visit our Accessibility page.  

  • Cancellation/refunds - please see the StorieTree Attendance, Participation & Refunds Policy

  • Disclosures - please read the StorieTree Disclosure Policies for more information