High Conflict Families and Troubled Marriages

Eric Scalise, Ph.D.

Linda Mintle, Ph.D.

Training Modules

• Session 1: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Characteristics and Patterns in Relational and Conflict Dynamics
• Session 2: We Clash: Mismatches in Attachment, Conflict and Learning Styles
• Session 3: What Makes You Tick: Personality Traits that Affect Communication, Accommodation and Resolution Behaviors
• Session 4: Next Steps: Strategies for Building Positive Interactions and Reducing Conflict
• Session 5: Making Room for God: A Biblically-based Model of Self-control and Grace
• Session 6: Peacekeepers and Peacemakers: Techniques that Incorporate Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Accommodation

Summary

Working with high conflict couples and families can present unique challenges to even the most experienced clinicians and counselors. When tempers flare and words fly, effective strategies are needed to identify roadblocks, reduce tension and mediate the conflict. This Intensive will provide therapeutic tools and experiential exercises that increase positive interactional patterns and deepen intimacy, while minimizing reactivity and moving towards accommodation, reconciliation and/or resolution. Specific attention will be given to personality-based disorders, as well as various attachment, learning, conflict and communication styles. The biblical principles of forgiveness, grace and self-control will be discussed as essential components for the healing and restoration process. Ethical considerations and multicultural factors will be woven throughout the training.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:

1. Identify characteristics and patterns of healthy vs. unhealthy relational and conflict dynamics in couples and families
2. Assess clashing attachment, conflict and learning styles in order to formulate effective intervention strategies for positive outcomes
3. Identify DSM personality disorders and articulate their impact on conflict, communication, accommodation and resolution behaviors among couples and families
4. Develop strategies to help build positive interactions and reduce conflict
5. Apply a biblically-based model for understanding and incorporating self-control and grace as they relate high conflict families and troubled marriages
6. Learn and practice techniques used to facilitate forgiveness, reconciliation and accommodation

Intensive Trainers

Eric Scalise, Ph.D., LPC, LMFT, is the Vice President for Professional Development with the American Association of Christian Counselors. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, the former Chair of Counseling Programs at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA, and has over 33 years of clinical and professional experience in the mental health field. Other responsibilities include his role as the Executive Director of the International Board of Christian Care (IBCC) and Senior Editor for AACC Publications. Specialty areas include professional/pastoral stress and burnout, marriage and family issues, leadership development, addictions, and lay counselor training. He is an author, a national and international conference speaker, and frequently consults with organizations, clinicians, ministry leaders, and churches on a variety of issues.

Linda Mintle, Ph.D., is Chair, Division of Behavioral Health, Department of Primary Care, College of Osteopathic Medicine at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Dr. Mintle is an Approved Supervisor with the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapist (AAMFT) and completed a four-year post graduate externship in Marriage and Family with Eastern Virginia Medical School and the Family Therapy Practice Center in Georgetown. She has authored 15 books and has contributed numerous chapters and articles to various text books on the treatment of eating disorders. Dr. Mintle is also a national news contributor, speaker and hosts her own radio program. Married to Norm, the Dean of the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Liberty University, they have two children who bring much joy to their lives.