The Dating Crucible: Navigating the Common Challenges

CPD

Handouts

Faculty

Alexandra Solomon, PhD Related seminars and products

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Alexandra H. Solomon, PhD, is staff clinical psychologist, member of the teaching faculty in the marriage and family therapy graduate program, and clinical assistant professor of psychology at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. In addition to her clinical work with couples and individuals, Solomon teaches graduate and undergraduate students. One of her courses is Northwestern University’s internationally renowned “Building Loving and Lasting Relationships: Marriage 101,” which combines traditional and experiential learning to educate students about key relational issues like intimacy, sex, conflict, acceptance, and forgiveness. Solomon’s work has been widely cited, and her articles on love and marriage have appeared in The Handbook of Clinical Psychology, The Handbook of Couple Therapy, Family Process, Psychotherapy Networker, and other top publications in psychology. Her work also appears in O Magazine and The Huffington Post, and she is a frequent interviewee and contributor for the Oprah Winfrey Network, Yahoo! Health, The Atlantic, CBS Early Show, NPR, Psychology Today, and WGN Morning News. She is a sought-after speaker for corporate, collegiate, and professional audiences on topics related to modern love. Solomon lives in Highland Park, IL, with her husband, Todd, and their two children, Brian and Courtney.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Alexandra Solomon maintains a private practice and has an employment relationship with Northwestern University. She receives royalties as a published author and is the podcast host of Reimaging Love. Dr. Solomon receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Alexandra Solomon is a thought leader for Heleo, a founding expert for the Mine'd app, and an ambassador for The Relationship School. She is an ad hoc for several peer review journals, for a complete list contact PESI, Inc. Dr. Solomon is a member of the American Psychological Association, and the American Association for Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists.

Objectives

1. Analyze the relationship between recent dating trends and clinical symptoms, like anxiety and depression, and how they inform treatment interventions. 
2. Determine how to help clients set boundaries and advocate for their relational needs with romantic partners. 
3. Evaluate with clients the importance of relational self-awareness in creating a successful romantic relationship. 

Outline

• Present research findings about increased rates of depression and anxiety in emerging adults and how dating can be affected by mental health challenges. 
• Provide clinicians with tools they can use to disrupt patterns of avoidance, disconnection, and self-abandonment. 

• Describe the low accountability / low vulnerability dating climate and explore how it reinforces that which is already challenging—asking for what you need.  
• Provide clinicians with tools that help clients build relational self-awareness so that boundary-setting becomes an expression of relational empowerment (versus control or self-protection).

• Define relational self-awareness and we will focus on how to help clients understand how their past can create constraints to openness/curiosity/vulnerability/trust which are essential for those who are dating. 
• Teach vulnerability cycle mapping (Sheinkman & Fishbane) as a tool to help clients move from the language of “red flags” to a relational approach to assessing goodness of fit. 

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Psychotherapists
• Therapists
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Addiction Counselors
• Case Managers
• Physicians
• Nurses
• Other Mental Health Professionals