Trauma Training

Polyvagal Theory, EFT, and Gottman-Informed Approaches for Therapists

Trainer: Grace Chen, PhD, LMFT                       

On-Demand: Available with lifetime access for asynchronous learning. | This course was recorded on December 11th, 2025.

Couples therapy is most effective when it is grounded in trauma-informed care, attachment science, and a clear understanding of how the nervous system drives relational behavior.

When partners are stuck in cycles of reactivity, pursuit, withdrawal, or shutdown, they are often not failing at communication. They are surviving. This training with Dr. Grace Chen, PhD, LMFT and EMDRIA-Approved Consultant, gives you a polyvagal-informed framework for understanding what is actually happening in the room and a concrete set of interventions drawn from EFT, Gottman Method, and attachment theory to respond to it effectively.

You will learn how to recognize neuroception cues of safety and threat in each partner, how to apply the Autonomic Blueprint to track state shifts over time, and how to reframe destructive relational patterns as protective autonomic responses rather than character flaws or communication failures. Whether you are working with high-conflict couples, relational trauma, or partners whose individual trauma histories are showing up in the relationship, this course gives you tools you can apply in your next session.

In this trauma-informed couples therapy training, you'll learn how to:

• Map neuroception cues of safety and threat in each partner to identify relational triggers and understand the autonomic state driving each partner's behavior in the room
• Apply the EFT pursuer-withdrawer cycle through a polyvagal lens, linking pursuit and withdrawal to sympathetic activation and dorsal vagal collapse rather than character or intention
• Use Gottman Method interventions within a polyvagal framework, including reframing criticism as sympathetic activation, reducing defensiveness through repair statements, addressing contempt as dorsal vagal collapse, and breaking stonewalling through co-regulation and grounding
• Implement Autonomic Blueprint tracking with couples to help partners monitor and document their state shifts over time and build shared language around their nervous system responses
• Reframe maladaptive relational patterns as protective autonomic survival responses, reducing blame and shame and increasing each partner's capacity for compassion toward themselves and each other

Dr. Grace Chen is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, EMDR-certified clinician, and EMDRIA-Approved Consultant with extensive expertise in trauma recovery, couples therapy, and clinician development. She specializes in working with trauma survivors, particularly those with histories of childhood family trauma, and is passionate about supporting both individuals and couples in their healing journeys.

Dr. Chen currently maintains a thriving private practice in Andover, Massachusetts. She provides trauma-informed individual and couples therapy, integrating Attachment Theory, Polyvagal Theory, and EMDR therapy. She also offers both individual and group consultation for clinicians pursuing EMDR certification and clinicians who seek to integrate Polyvagal Theory in couples therapy. She is dedicated to training and mentoring new therapists, helping them build the confidence and competence needed for trauma treatment and systemic therapy.