An In-Person Training with Katherine Waddell, LMFT and Dr. Donna Gilman
Co-Founders and Directors of the Couples Center
Overview
Couples undo us. We see ourselves in them, and we see our best possibilities -as well as our own most intense flinch points. As it turns out, there is no better way to learn about ourselves and where we need to grow, as therapists, than to work with a really difficult couple.
Most of us were never taught in Grad School how to to do confrontations effectively in our work with individuals, let alone with couples. We have questions: How are we supposed to confront the individuals or the system in a way that promotes growth? What exactly is a confrontation? Is it different than an intervention? When to confront whom? Is there a playbook? Where is it hiding?
Donna and Katherine, master couples therapists who have both been seeing couples for close to 30 years, can’t wait to share the wealth with you in this very special limited-seating all-day workshop in person at the beautiful Saybrook Point Resort in Old Saybrook, CT on Friday October 24, 2025 from 9am-4 pm. The workshop will be limited to 25 participants and include a lot of supported small group practice.
About the Presenters
Katherine is Ellyn Bader’s right hand co-teacher and trainer in Dr. Bader’s Advanced Training Group for the Developmental Model of Couples Therapy. She has spent the last decade teaching alongside Dr. Bader and internalizing the art of confrontation in couples therapy; in addition she has created and taught curriculums on couples therapy for dozens of organizations internationally. Katherine has advanced training and experience in teaching complex couples therapy interventions for challenging cases involving Infidelity, Addictions and Trauma, and is an avid EMDR practitioner.
Dr. Donna Gilman specializes in couples therapy with concentrations in trauma-informed treatment, sex therapy, Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, neurodiverse partnerships, affair recovery, non-monogamy and LGBTQIA advocacy. Donna has taught advanced couples therapy, trained and supervised clinicians and clinical interns in private and community practice, graduate settings and through an appointment at Tufts University, since 1995. About Donna, Katherine says: “She is one of the most skillful and complex couples interventionists I have ever seen – as well as being a riveting teacher, educator and public speaker.”
“We are especially excited about this workshop because we are a phenomenal teaching team, especially for this topic!” - Katherine Waddell, LMFT
What Can I Expect to Learn?
Our goal in this workshop is to help you start to really understand yourself and your flinch points with couples work. That means three different things: your flinch point with yourself, and your flinch point with each of the other individual people you're working with. When you make confrontations in a couples work, it’s not just you against the two of them and their alignment to keep them from growing; you are also constantly going back-and-forth between pushing against yourself, pushing against each of them, and pushing against them as system.
Donna and Katherine will be providing you with many keys to the success of your confrontations with difficult clients, and the secrets to staying strong, steady and tuned in while you do it.
They will be breaking important and difficult moments down into equations, some about you and some about matching specific interventions to certain kinds of clients.
You will get to practice in facilitated small groups with personal attention and hands on experiential exercises that will be designed to help you work your edges.
Specific Content
Understanding the Role of Confrontation in Therapy
Why Confrontation Scares Us and What to Do About It
Setting the Foundation, and Preparing for Confrontations
Effective Confrontation Techniques and the Continuum of Confrontations
Handling Defensiveness and Resistance
Utilizing Confrontation for Deeper Understanding and Developmental Growth