3/14/14 - Healing Distressed Relationships and Helping Love to Flourish

Feb 28, 2014 by Colleen Kelly

Colleen Kelly, MFT Title: “Healing Distressed Relationships and Helping Love to Flourish”
Date: March 14, 2014
Presenter: Colleen Kelly

Description: Marriage and family therapist Colleen Kelly utilizes recent research in adult attachment theory to provide clear answers as to what helps a relationship to flourish and grow. This presentation normalizes the difficulties we so often encounter in relationships. Colleen draws from the evidence-based approach of Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples (EFT), developed by Dr. Sue Johnson, to help attendees understand how to work through relationship challenges. Colleen uses cinematic images and humor to illustrate key principles and interventions from attachment theory and EFT. Discover what underpins these universal struggles with intimacy, and learn the practical steps we can take to heal relationships in distress.

Learning Objectives: Those who attend this lecture will be able to:

Identify central tenets of attachment theory.
Explain what adult attachment research teaches us about successful relationships and the core issues that underlie relational distress.
Conceptualize how different attachment styles can impact and inform conflict in intimate relationships.
Look at relationship distress through different lenses in order to broaden our understanding of stuck points.
List practical steps we can take to resolve repetitive struggles in our closest relationships.

Bio: Colleen Kelly is a licensed marriage and family therapist with private practices in Encino and Irvine, California. Colleen specializes in working therapeutically with individuals, couples and families utilizing Emotionally Focused Therapy. Colleen also works in the field of addiction and recovery, leading local Recovery for Everyone groups to help individuals heal and find a way back to themselves and a loving connection in their relationships.

Colleen is on staff at Healing Path Recovery, an intensive outpatient facility in Newport Beach. Underpinning Colleen’s work as a therapist is a longtime personal and professional interest in the mental health benefits of mindfulness practice, along with body-oriented methods of growth and healing. Related to these topics, Colleen is certified in focusing-oriented psychotherapy. Finally, Colleen serves as adjunct faculty teaching part-time in the School of Behavioral Sciences at CalSouthern.