Certificate in Working with Couples and Relationships - Online

We will look at different types of loving and relating to understand better how we can function and flourish with a partner or partners in life.

Comparison of different formats of relationship will also help us understand more heteronormative functioning and how people negotiate to live authentic and fulfilling lives, enhanced through relationship.

We will think about different ways of expressing sexuality, identity and our uniqueness, facilitated by partnerships. We’ll differentiate between script-induced relating compared to an individuation and expansive process. This will include looking at healthy and unhealthy symbioses as well as Jung’s idea that the more we can learn and experience through difference in our loving, the more we individually grow and move towards autonomy.

Course outline

Days 1 and 2

The first two days will focus on theory, format, clinical framework and examples of working with people in relationship. As well as couples this covers individual work, polyamorous relationships, kink-aware relationships and other vehicles for loving and partnering, taking an intersectional viewpoint and learning from different communities including different gender identities. Theoretical schools looked at will include Transactional Analysis, Gestalt, Jungian, specific ‘couples’ models and Integrative theories.

Days 3 and 4

The third and fourth day will focus on practice as well as more clinical application of theory. Participants will work in small groups which involve observation and working with different constellations and theories. Actors will be used for roleplaying clients and students can experiment with different modes of working in a safe and supportive environment. It’s an opportunity to experiment with different modes of working in a safe and supportive environment.

Days 5 and 6

The fifth and sixth days will focus more on working with sex, psychosexual issues and one’s sexuality, as well as an individual’s sexual relationship with themselves.

Watch Jonathan as he describes the course in more detail - https://youtu.be/X1WKs_V0ttQ

Course Delivery: Live online on Zoom. (Sessions will not be recorded)

Dates: 10.00-17.00 each day

• Friday 26th September 2025
• Friday 3rd October 2025
• Friday 24th October 2025
• Friday 7th November 2025
• Friday 28th November 2025
• Friday 5th December 2025

Cost: £745 - Deposit of £60 (non-refundable) taken at booking with a balance of £685 due 1st September 2025. Extended payment plans are available.

Pre-Course Requirements: Participants should be qualified counsellors or psychotherapists or in training and seeing clients, not necessarily couples/relationships. (Students in training should talk through their planned attendance with their supervisor or course tutor).

There is no pre-course work required.

Recognition: A Link Centre Certificate in Working with Couples and Relationships will be presented.

Assessment: The certificate is gained through attendance. To earn your certificate, you will need to actively engage in breakout sessions and keep your camera on during the course.

Maximum number of participants: 30

Tutor: Jonathan Lake STA, PTSTA, CTA, TA Psych M.Sc, Psychology B.Sc

Visit Jonathan’s website to read more about his training and testimonials Jonathan Lake, Therapist

Jonathan has worked with polyamorous groups since 2005 and has been the clinical supervisor for London Friend and other LGBTQI+ groups.

He completed his original training in couples’ therapy in 2003 and has been providing relationship training to psychotherapists since 2016.

Jonathan has worked as a psychotherapist since 1999 and delivers clinical training at different psychotherapy institutes in London and Brighton. He also provides support as a Critical Incident Responder for events such as terrorist attacks, death in service and more recently supporting families in Israel and Palestine as well as running onsite groups in LA for people who have lost their homes in the recent fires.

Jonathan loves teaching and hopes to do so in an engaging and informed way, to bring out our own wisdom from within through experiential exercises as well as more formal delivery of theory and best clinical practices.

He particularly aims to offer courses and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in subjects that can be overlooked in M.Sc and core trainings in institutes, such as onsite work, trauma-focused therapy, critical incident response, food and therapy, neurodivergence, intersectionality and relationships including polyamory, kink and differing sexual and personal identities.