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Digital Seminar
Embracing Goodness in Relationships

Embracing Goodness in Relationships

Standard - $69.99 $37.09 Anniversary Sale 2026 - 47% off!

We often focus on helping couples navigate conflict, pain, and disconnection in relationships—but what about moments of tenderness, joy, and goodness? For many clients, intimacy, kindness, and vulnerability feel deeply threatening and unfamiliar—even more uncomfortable than “negative” feelings and experiences. This workshop explores the protective function behind many clients’ tendency to reject or sabotage goodness in relationships, whether they’re giving or receiving it. You’ll learn how to help clients build the capacity to receive and give goodness in romantic relationships (as well as other relationships). You’ll discover how to help clients:

  • Explore early attachment/origin stories that contribute to goodness feeling threatening
  • Shift the nervous system coding that perceives goodness as a threat
  • Identify their habitual protective strategies that sabotage or push away closeness
  • Expand their window of receptivity and tolerance for goodness through interventions that cocreate relational safety

Here's What You'll Learn


  • Why “goodness” (tenderness, kindness, joy) can feel threatening 
  • The paradox: why conflict may feel safer than intimacy 
  • Identifying client strategies that push away closeness (withdrawal, criticism, over-functioning, humor, shutdown) 
  • Understanding the protective function vs. pathology 
  • Case examples of “goodness avoidance” in session 
  • Using micro-moments of relational attunement to build tolerance 
  • “Cocreating safety” as a prerequisite for receptivity 
  • How to help couples reframe and interrupt cycles of sabotaging goodness 
  • Shifting from defensive reflexes to vulnerability and repair 
  • Risks and limitations 

Everything You're Getting


  • More than 1 hour of video content
  • Up to 1.75 CE credits
  • Certificate of completion
  • Handouts and resources

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Embracing Goodness in Relationships
Digital Seminar
$37.09
$69.99

Meet Your Experts


Vienna Pharaon, LMFT

Toggle speaker biography

Vienna Pharaon, LMFT, is one of New York City’s most sought-after relationship therapists. She’s practiced therapy for more than 15 years and is the founder and owner of the group practice Mindful Marriage and Family Therapy. She's been featured in The Economist, Vice, and Motherly, and has led workshops for Peloton and Netflix, among others. THE ORIGINS OF YOU is her first book published with Penguin Random House and has become a national bestseller.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Vienna Pharaon is the owner and founder of Mindful Marriage and Family Therapy. She receives royalties as a published author. Vienna Pharaon receives a speaking honorarium and book royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Vienna Pharaon is a member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

100% Demo Guarantee

Register for this intensive training course without risk. If you're not completely satisfied, give us a call at 800-844-8260. We're that confident you'll find this learning experience to be all that's promised and more than you expected.

PESI Mobile App


Access CE trainings on your phone or tablet through our free mobile app. Choose video or audio-only versions of online courses from the world's best instructors, and complete your CE requirements anywhere, anytime, at your own pace.


Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

Access never expires for this product.

For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepepesi.com

Questions?

Visit our FAQ page at www.pesi.com/faq or contact us at www.pesi.com/info


Media Type:
Digital Seminar
Product Code:
NOS096668
Duration:
1 hour, 54 minutes
Copyright:
Mar 20, 2026

ADA Needs


We would be happy to accommodate your ADA needs; please call our Customer Service Department for more information at 1-800-844-8260.

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