Course Professional Diploma in Relationship, Couples & Family Therapy

The Professional Diploma in Relationship, Couples & Family Therapy is designed for practitioners who want to develop specialised skills in working with couples and families experiencing relational strain, conflict, transition, or crisis. The course offers a strong theoretical and practical grounding in systemic, attachment-based, and relational approaches, helping you understand how patterns of interaction, communication, and family history shape current difficulties.

You will explore key concepts such as family systems, attachment styles, boundaries, roles, triangles, power dynamics, and life-cycle transitions. Common presenting issues are examined in depth, including communication breakdown, infidelity, parenting disagreements, intimacy and sexual difficulties, blended families, separation and divorce, grief and loss, and the impact of mental health or addiction within the family system.

A central focus of the programme is on developing core therapeutic skills for working safely and effectively with more than one person in the room. You will learn techniques for facilitating difficult conversations, managing conflict and high emotion, maintaining neutrality, working with strong emotions such as anger and shame, and keeping a clear focus on safety, respect, and consent. Attention is also given to diversity, culture, gender, sexuality, and the broader social context of relationships.

Teaching methods typically include lectures, demonstrations, role plays, skills practice, and structured reflection. Case material is used throughout to connect theory with real-world practice and to build confidence in assessment, contracting, and intervention planning with couples and families.

This diploma is particularly suited to counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, and other helping professionals who wish to extend their practice into relational work or deepen their skills in this area. By the end of the course, you will have a more sophisticated understanding of relational dynamics, a richer toolkit of interventions, and greater confidence in supporting couples and families to navigate challenges, strengthen connection, and move towards healthier, more constructive patterns of relating.