SCEAPA Chapter Meetings

Chapter Meeting & Training
July 20, 2022


11am-1pm

We will meet via Zoom.


Training: Couples and Mental Health: Why Relationships Matter and How to Improve Them

Presenter: Dr. Brian Doss & Dr. Andrew Christensen

Decades of research have shown a strong link between the quality of a person’s romantic relationship and that person’s mental health, with the evidence showing a bilateral relationship between the two.  A supportive relationship is protective of the individual’s mental health, as well as the mental health of any children they have, but mental health problems in individuals can also impair their relationship.  Dr. Brian Doss and Dr. Andrew Christensen, along with the late Neil Jacobson, developed an approach to couple therapy called Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT). They conducted randomized clinical trials which demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach in improving relationship quality and of its positive impact on individual mental health.  Because of this body of research, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs adopted IBCT as its evidence-based approach for couples in 2010 and Christensen has been involved in training VA therapists in IBCT for the last 12 years. Doss and Christensen adapted IBCT for an online program, the OurRelationship program, starting in 2009.  For more than 10 years, Doss has received continuous grant support from the U.S. Administration for Children and Families to investigate the effectiveness this online program, which is often supplemented with phone or video calls with a trained coach. In a series of nationwide, randomized clinical trials, the OurRelationship program has been shown to improve relationship functioning, to improve parenting, to reduce mental health symptoms such as anxiety and depression, and to increase physical health measures for a representative sample of the U. S. population and for a large sample of low-income couples.  


Registration: We will be charging a fee for the July 20 Meeting
$15 for SCEAPA Members
$20 for Non-Members

You must pay via Paypal by July 19 at noon. 

Please follow link below via Paypal to pay.
Once you pay for the training, we will send you the link for Zoom registration.
Please choose the button "Paypal" - you can either log in to your Paypal account (if you have one) OR if you don't have an account, there is an option to pay via credit card or debit card. 
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