Short description:

This one-of-a-kind theoretical and practical workbook provides couples with tools to work towards healing their relationships and experiences of trauma.This is an valuable resource for mental health professionals working with trauma survivors and those are using Developmental Couple Therapy for Complex Trauma with the couples they work with.

Long description:

This one-of-a-kind theoretical and practical workbook provides couples with tools to work towards healing their relationships and experiences of trauma. It will be an invaluable resource for mental health professionals working with trauma survivors and those who are using Developmental Couple Therapy for Complex Trauma (DCTCT) with the couples they work with.

Serving as a self-help guide for couples as well as a companion to Developmental Couple Therapy for Complex Trauma: A Manual for Therapists, this workbook provides couples with accessible exercises they can work with on their own and for clinicians to share with their clients to support their therapy work. Chapters cover psychoeducation, skills building, attachment focused dyadic processing, and consolidation so couples can bring these new skills and insights into daily life. Featuring downloadable handouts and journal reflections, as well as questions and discussion prompts throughout, the author holds in mind the varied backgrounds that patients come from, such as their cultural, ethnic, community, sexual and gender identities, and socio-economic group, and integrates these diverse needs into the exercises, thus providing inclusivity within the treatment process.

The book is essential reading for trauma survivor couples and individuals looking to build stronger and healthier relationships, as well as couple and family therapists, counsellors, and other mental health professionals who help clients navigate experiences of trauma.

?There are very few resources to help childhood trauma survivors effectively navigate the minefield of adult love relationships. Dr. Heather MacIntosh has been a trauma therapist, researcher, and teacher for decades, but in Healing Broken Bonds, she also feels like a friend. A survivor herself, she joins her readers on their treacherous path towards earned security with their partners. Her voice is a healing balm for the ravages of early life abuse?an antidote to the overwhelming shame, triggers, and resulting relational patterns that lead survivors to feel isolated and despairing. The workbook makes sense of the impacts of past hurts on present relationships. It is full of helpful explanations, reflection questions, essential tools, and a map to follow towards more safety and connection in adult love."

Alison Carpenter, Couple Counsellor and Psychotherapist

In her latest contribution, Dr. MacIntosh has accomplished something extraordinary in the treatment of couples who are healing from complex trauma. Sharing her deep knowledge and understanding of how human relationships are central to our health, this workbook gives couples a bright, clear light on the path to forging strong, enduring, loving connections. Based on her groundbreaking DCTCT model, this is a workbook that is fully accessible and eminently practical. Recognizing the particular complexities that trauma survivors face in intimate relationships, MacIntosh neither oversimplifies nor overcomplicates the challenges. This workbook, a remarkable integration of all that Dr. MacIntosh has learned from her studies, and most importantly, from her many years of work with couples, will serve as a powerful tool for the many, many couples who are committed to healing and growing together.?
Daniel Shaw, Author, Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation and Traumatic Narcissism and Recovery: Leaving the Prison of Shame and Fear

?This trauma-informed Workbook fills a key gap in the resources available both for trauma survivors as individuals and moreover for couples whose members have been affected by complex trauma. The Workbook provides couples with a highly accessible and exceptionally thorough and well grounded guide for deeply reflecting on and understanding how trauma may be impacting their relationship, and a very practical and engaging introduction to skills for emotion regulation, mentalization, earned security, conjoint memory processing ('telling the story'), and conflict resolution that couples from all walks of life and backgrounds will find exceptionally helpful.?
Julian D. Ford, Ph.D., A.B.P.P., Professor of Psychiatry and Law, University of Connecticut Health Center MC1410

"In collaboration with her students and colleagues, Heather MacIntosh has created a wonderful workbook for adult survivors of complex trauma and their partners. Based on her treatment model, Development Couple Therapy for Complex Trauma, this volume provides a detailed set of exercises, ideas, and psychoeducational resources that allow trauma-impacted couples to address their difficulties and challenges at a level not commonly found in books written for survivors. I can?t recommend this workbook enough, not only for its compassionate, intelligent stance, but also for its deep and accurate appreciation of the real, everyday experiences of hurt people and those they love. By the way, the illustrations are perfect!"

John Briere, Ph.D. Author of Principles of Trauma Therapy: A Guide to Symptoms, Evaluation, and Treatment

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Table of Contents:

Introduction; Stage One: Psychoeducation; Stage Two: Building Capacity; Stage Three: Attachment-Focused Dyadic Processing; Stage Four: Consolidation