Integrated Couples Therapy: PORT Level 2 Applied Practice

We advise learners to participate in a combined PORT level 1 and 2 experience. Read more at relate.online/intensive.

Move beyond understanding the models. Develop the skills to work with couples confidently, effectively and authentically.

20 Hours | Live Online Training | 8 Interactive Sessions | Facilitated Practice & Feedback | Certificate of Completion

Understanding couples therapy models is one thing. Applying them in the middle of an emotionally charged session is another.

When couples become defensive, withdraw from each other, revisit painful experiences or struggle to feel understood, therapists need more than theoretical knowledge. They need practical skills, sound clinical judgement and the ability to respond to what is happening in the room.

How do you translate what you know about couples therapy into what you actually do with couples?

PORT Level 2 is designed to help you make that transition.

Building on the foundations of Presence-Oriented Relationship Therapy (PORT), this 20-hour live online intensive focuses on developing the practical skills needed to facilitate connection, manage conflict, deepen emotional understanding and guide couples toward meaningful change.

Through demonstrations, structured exercises, small-group practice and facilitator feedback, you'll learn to apply an integrated approach to couples therapy while developing your own authentic therapeutic style.

From Understanding the Framework to Applying It in Practice

PORT integrates key concepts from Gottman Method Couples Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Imago Relationship Therapy, PACT and the Developmental Model, alongside principles from attachment theory, relational neuroscience and experiential therapeutic approaches.

PORT Level 1 introduces the conceptual foundations of this integrated framework.

PORT Level 2 focuses on putting that knowledge into practice.

Rather than teaching interventions in isolation, Level 2 helps you understand when and how to use different therapeutic approaches in response to the couple in front of you.

You'll practise recognising relational patterns as they emerge, choosing interventions appropriate to the moment, facilitating emotional connection and guiding conversations that might otherwise become stuck in conflict or withdrawal.

The training emphasises three interconnected clinical capacities:

Presence: Remaining grounded, observant and emotionally available, particularly when interactions become challenging.

Process: Understanding where couples are in their therapeutic journey and recognising which interventions may help them move forward.

Practice: Developing the ability to facilitate therapeutic interactions through direct experience, repetition, observation and feedback.

The aim is not to replace your existing therapeutic knowledge. It is to help you integrate and apply that knowledge with greater flexibility, clarity and confidence.

What You'll Learn in PORT Level 2

The training develops practical skills across eight areas of couples therapy.

1. Managing Conflict and Interrupting Escalation

Learn to recognise the interactional patterns that maintain conflict and practise interventions that help couples move toward more constructive communication.

You'll work with the four relationship killers identified in Gottman-based approaches: criticism, contempt, defensiveness and stonewalling.

Through structured exercises, you'll practise interrupting escalating arguments, using Down-the-Middle interventions and coaching partners toward alternatives that support understanding and connection.

2. Working with Pursuer-Avoider Dynamics

Explore how attachment fears influence the ways partners respond to disconnection.

Practise interventions that help withdrawing partners remain emotionally available, while supporting pursuing partners to express underlying needs more constructively.

You'll also learn to use cross-talk and attachment windows to help couples develop more predictable experiences of connection.

3. Facilitating the Presence Bridge

Develop your ability to help partners move beyond defending their own perspective and begin genuinely understanding each other's experiences.

Through guided practice, you'll develop skills in mirroring, clarifying, empathy and validation.

You'll learn to recognise when a listener is connecting with their partner's experience and how to coach the interaction when that connection is lost.

4. Working with Relational Neurochronology

Explore the relationship between present emotional responses, bodily experience and earlier relational learning.

Using PORT's Relational Brain Model, you'll practise helping clients identify emotional states, explore relevant earlier experiences and respond to unmet attachment needs with greater awareness and compassion.

The emphasis is on connecting these insights back to the couple's present relationship.

5. Identifying Therapeutic Signals and Facilitating Repair

Learn to recognise subtle indicators of emotional connection, disconnection and therapeutic progress.

Practise precise mirroring, identifying underlying needs and helping partners translate vague complaints into achievable requests.

You'll also explore PORT's Three-Level Magic Intervention, which connects unresolved experiences from the past with present relational needs and future opportunities for repair.

6. Conducting Meaningful Couples Assessments

Develop practical skills for gathering relationship histories, exploring family-of-origin experiences and clarifying therapeutic goals.

You'll practise helping couples reconnect with their early relationship experiences, identifying attachment patterns and gathering frustrations without allowing the assessment to become another argument.

7. Providing Betrayal First Aid

Learn practical approaches to managing the immediate emotional challenges that can arise when betrayal is disclosed or discussed during couples therapy.

You'll practise interventions designed to support emotional stabilisation, accountability, validation and the restoration of relational safety.

This module focuses on initial clinical responses and stabilisation rather than comprehensive specialist betrayal recovery treatment.

8. Bringing It Together Through Case Formulation

Learn to integrate assessment information, attachment histories, relational patterns and existing strengths into a coherent clinical formulation.

You'll practise presenting formulations directly to couples using clear, compassionate and non-blaming language.

The emphasis is on helping both partners recognise their relational pattern, understand one another more deeply and participate collaboratively in the therapeutic process.

Who Is PORT Level 2 For?

PORT Level 2 is designed for counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists and other mental health professionals who have completed, or are undertaking, the foundational PORT Level 1 training.

It is particularly relevant for:

• Therapists beginning their work with couples who want opportunities to practise clinical interventions in a structured and supportive learning environment.

• Experienced couples therapists seeking to integrate concepts and interventions from approaches beyond their primary training.

• Gottman, EFT, Imago and other modality-trained practitioners who want to expand their therapeutic flexibility while maintaining their established clinical orientation.

• Therapists seeking greater confidence during challenging sessions, particularly those involving escalation, withdrawal, attachment injuries or competing emotional needs.

• Clinicians interested in experiential learning who value live practice, observation, collaborative discussion and facilitator feedback.

You don't need to abandon your existing therapeutic model to benefit from PORT.

The training is intended to broaden your clinical repertoire and help you use different approaches in ways that remain consistent with your own therapeutic identity.

The PORT Level 2 Curriculum

Eight live modules provide a progressive learning experience, beginning with the management of conflict and moving toward increasingly complex relational interventions.

Module	Clinical Focus
1. Enhancing Connection by Stopping Fights	Interrupting conflict, recognising relationship killers, Down-the-Middle interventions and constructive redirection
2. Working with the Pursuer-Avoider Dynamic	Attachment responses, avoider coaching, cross-talk and attachment windows
3. The Presence Bridge	Mirroring, empathic understanding, emotional validation and facilitating dialogue
4. Relational Neurochronology: Going to Depth	Relational brain states, bodily awareness, earlier experiences and Adult Self interventions
5. The Architecture of Therapeutic Signals	Emotional resonance, underlying needs, actionable requests and time-bending repair interventions
6. Assessment Practice	Relationship love stories, family-of-origin experiences, therapeutic goals and structured exploration of frustrations
7. Betrayal First Aid	Acute betrayal stabilisation, the Total Apology Intervention, accountability and daily safety check-ins
8. PORT Formulation in Practice	Strengths-based formulation, attachment histories, protective patterns, collaborative feedback and treatment direction

Each module combines focused teaching with practical learning activities that allow participants to observe, experience and practise the interventions being introduced.

How the Live Training Works

PORT Level 2 is an interactive skills-development program, not a series of recorded lectures.

The training takes place over eight weeks, with one live 2.5-hour online session each week.

Rather than spending most of the time listening to presentations, you'll be actively involved in learning and practising the clinical skills.

Demonstrations and Clinical Examples

Steven Dromgool introduces interventions and demonstrate how they can be applied to specific relational patterns and clinical challenges.

You'll have opportunities to observe therapist positioning, intervention timing, communication techniques and the ways different approaches can be integrated during a session.

Structured Skills Practice

Participants work in pairs or small groups to practise specific interventions.

Depending on the module, exercises may involve role-playing therapist and partner positions, practising structured dialogue, exploring emotional experiences or developing and presenting a formulation.

The exercises are designed to provide repeated opportunities to experience the interventions from different perspectives.

Facilitator Coaching and Feedback

Facilitators provide guidance during the practical exercises, helping participants develop their therapeutic language, timing and ability to respond to what is emerging in the interaction.

You'll have opportunities to clarify concepts, receive feedback and refine your approach.

Reflection and Integration

Following exercises, participants reflect on their experiences, identify what was effective and consider how the interventions could be adapted for their own clinical practice.

The emphasis throughout is on building practical competence through experience rather than memorising scripts.

Learning takes place through doing, observing, reflecting and practising again.

Why Live Practice Matters

Couples therapy requires therapists to attend to two individuals, their relationship and their own responses simultaneously.

Even when therapists understand the theory behind an intervention, applying it during a difficult interaction can require considerable practice.

For example, recognising defensiveness is different from knowing how to interrupt it without creating additional shame.

Understanding attachment theory is different from helping a withdrawn partner respond to an emotionally distressed partner in real time.

Knowing the importance of empathy is different from coaching two people who are struggling to listen to each other.

PORT Level 2 provides an opportunity to practise these moments in a structured learning environment before integrating the skills into clinical practice.

The goal is not to develop a rigid sequence of interventions.

It is to strengthen your ability to recognise what is happening, make thoughtful clinical decisions and respond in ways that support greater relational safety, understanding and connection.

What You'll Gain from PORT Level 2

Following the training, you will have practised skills that support your ability to:

• Recognise and interrupt escalating relational conflict.
• Identify attachment-related patterns and coach more constructive responses.
• Facilitate empathy, mirroring and emotional validation between partners.
• Explore the connection between earlier relational experiences and present difficulties.
• Recognise underlying emotional needs and translate complaints into specific requests.
• Conduct structured couples assessments and clarify shared therapeutic goals.
• Respond to acute betrayal-related distress using initial stabilisation and accountability interventions.
• Develop and communicate integrated, strengths-based relationship formulations.
• Draw more flexibly on established therapeutic approaches while maintaining your own authentic clinical voice.

These skills can be developed further through ongoing clinical practice, reflection, consultation and supervision.

Course Format and Participation

Duration: 20 hours of live training

Delivery: Online via live, interactive video sessions

Schedule: Eight weekly sessions of approximately 2.5 hours each

Learning methods: Facilitator demonstrations, structured exercises, small-group practice, discussion, feedback and clinical reflection

Preparation: PORT Level 1 provides the theoretical and conceptual foundation for the live training.

Resources: Practical frameworks, intervention guides and supporting learning materials

Because practical participation is central to the training, we encourage participants to attend the sessions live and take part in the exercises.

Training sessions are recorded for internal training purposes, but recordings are not made available for participant distribution. Breakout rooms and clinical demonstrations are treated as confidential learning spaces.

Assessment and Certificate of Completion

PORT Level 2 emphasises the practical application and integration of the PORT framework.

Participants engage in structured practice exercises, reflection and feedback throughout the eight modules.

The program concludes with a final integration assessment designed to consolidate the learning across the intensive.

A PORT Level 2 Certificate of Completion (20 hours) is issued upon successful completion of the applicable course requirements.

Completion of PORT Levels 1 and 2 also provides the foundation for continued professional development through the PORT Level 3 Advanced Certification Pathway, subject to the relevant pathway requirements.

The Complete PORT Training Pathway

PORT 1 gives you the map. PORT 2 helps you learn to navigate with it.

PORT is designed as a progressive professional learning pathway, combining conceptual understanding with experiential learning and clinical integration.

PORT Level 1: Foundations

20 Hours of Self-Paced Online Learning

Learn the theoretical foundations of Presence-Oriented Relationship Therapy, including the Relational Brain Model, Presence Bridge Model and Five-Step Therapy Progress Model.

Explore attachment theory, relational neuroscience, major approaches to couples therapy, couples assessment, case formulation and foundational betrayal recovery concepts.

PORT 1 provides the knowledge base that supports participation in the live Level 2 training.

PORT Level 2: Applied Practice

20 Hours of Live, Facilitated Training

Develop the practical skills needed to apply the PORT framework during real-time relational interactions.

Through demonstration, facilitated practice, clinical exercises and feedback, you'll deepen your understanding of how different therapeutic approaches can be integrated into your work with couples.

PORT Level 3: Advanced Development

Continue toward advanced PORT certification through further clinical development, mentoring, supervision and integration of the model into ongoing practice.

New to PORT? Consider the Complete PORT 1 & 2 Intensive

For therapists who have not previously completed PORT Level 1, we recommend enrolling in the Complete PORT 1 & 2 Intensive.

The combined program includes:

• 20 hours of self-paced foundational learning through PORT Level 1.
• 20 hours of live, facilitated skills training through PORT Level 2.
• Immediate access to PORT Level 1 materials upon registration.
• A structured progression from theoretical understanding to practical clinical application.
• Certificates of completion for each level, subject to completion requirements.

Enrolling in the combined program allows you to begin studying the foundational materials before your live training starts.

We recommend allowing sufficient time to become familiar with the PORT concepts so that you can focus on practising and integrating the interventions during Level 2.

The complete program also offers combined enrolment pricing.

Explore the Complete PORT 1 & 2 Intensive

Upcoming Live Training

PORT Level 2 is offered through scheduled live online cohorts, with training planned twice annually, generally in March and September.

The next scheduled cohort begins 9 March 2027, with eight weekly sessions concluding on 27 April 2027.

Sessions for this cohort are scheduled for:

• New Zealand: Tuesdays, 11:00 am to 1:30 pm
• Sydney: Tuesdays, 9:00 am to 11:30 am
• New York:  Mondays 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm (note: starting April 5, sessions will start at 7:00 pm due to dayligh savings change in New Zealand).

For current registration options, fees and future cohort dates, please visit the complete PORT training page.

Continue Developing Your Work with Couples

Working effectively with couples involves more than selecting the right intervention.

It requires the ability to recognise relational patterns, remain present during emotionally challenging moments and help partners move toward understanding and connection.

PORT Level 2 provides a structured opportunity to develop these capacities through live practice, facilitator guidance and reflection.

Whether you're building on your foundational couples counselling knowledge or bringing additional approaches into an established practice, PORT Level 2 is designed to support the continued development of your clinical skills.

Deepen your understanding. Practise the interventions. Develop your authentic approach to couples therapy.

View Upcoming PORT Level 1 & 2 Training and Registration Options