Session 6 - Trust/Intimacy

Brief Couples Therapy: Group and Individual Couple Treatment for Addiction and Related Mental Health Concerns

For this session:

Session Guidelines
- Objectives
- Checklist
Session Resources
- Materials
- Summary
- Tips for Individual Couple Session
Client Handouts
- Listening and Speaking Skills
- Listening and Speaking Skills Practice Diary
Progress Note

Session Guidelines

Objectives

Couples will:

continue to work towards improving their communication within their relationship
continue to work on expressing their thoughts and feelings to their partners
practise expressing their thoughts and feelings to their partners and get feedback from the group.
begin to work on building trust and intimacy.

Checklist

Guidelines for the counsellor with tips on what to do with or say to the client.

Check-in

Ask about issues arising from the last session.

“Name a thought, word or feeling that describes how you are right now.”
Stating the Format and Purpose of This Session

“The purpose of the session is to review your homework and continue to work on improving your communication skills. We will also discuss the concepts of trust and intimacy.”
Reviewing Session Homework

Discuss progress on listening and speaking skills development over the last week.

Hand out Tips for Effective Communication to facilitate further practice.
Practising Role Plays

Participants are asked to continue to practise role plays. These can be based on participants’ homework.

Encourage the use of “I” language and feedback from other members as each couple takes a turn practising role-play discussions.
Homework (Trust/Intimacy)

Discuss the meaning of trust and intimacy before handing out the exercise: “Trust is important in a relationship. There may be areas where there is no trust. There are probably also areas where there is more or a lot of trust.”

“We express intimacy in various ways (e.g., interacting physically; sharing thoughts/feelings; taking care of each other; spending time together…). Trust and intimacy are often connected and people need to have trust in order to express intimacy.”

Therapist may have couples brainstorm a list about what trust and intimacy mean to them. Put this list on the board.

Hand out the Trust/Intimacy assignment for couples to work on before the next session.
Check-out

Ask each group member to state one positive word that he or she is thinking or a feeling that he or she is experiencing.

Session Resources

Materials

pens and copies of Trust/Intimacy exercise
copies of Tips for Effective Communication

Summary

Check-in
- Discuss thought/word/feeling and/or issues arising from the last session.
Stating the Format and Purpose of This Session
- Continue to improve communication skills.
Reviewing Session Homework and Practising Communication Skills
- Discuss progress on listening and speaking skills.
- Hand out Tips for Effective Communication.
Practising Role Plays
- Encourage the use of “I” language.
- Each couple takes a turn practising role play.
Handing Out Homework (Trust/Intimacy)
- Discuss meaning of trust and intimacy before handing out exercise.
Check-out

Tips for Individual Couple Session 6

Ask the couple for a specific situation that they could role-play using listening and speaking skills.
Encourage the use of “I” language.

Brief Couples Therapy

Acknowledgments

Introduction

References

Appendix A: The Background of the Integrative Model