Overview
Healing Trauma, Restoring Connection
A transformational couples workshop with Maureen McEvoy, MSW, RSW (Canada)
📍 Crow’s Nest Community Centre, Sydney
📅 Saturday & Sunday, 8–9 November 2025 | 🕘 9.00 am – 5.00 pm both days
🟡 Sponsored by the Australian Resource Therapy Institute (ARTI)
Event overview
When trauma enters the therapy room, the work with couples can quickly intensify. Ordinary disagreements may escalate into panic, withdrawal, or shutdown. For the therapist, this can feel overwhelming: instead of working with communication patterns alone, we are suddenly faced with the legacy of traumatic memory, attachment injury, and profound dysregulation between partners.
Traditional talk therapy, while valuable, often falls short in these moments. What is needed is a trauma-informed, multi-modal approach that gives couples a felt sense of safety, connection, and possibility.
This two-day professional development workshop with Canadian trauma specialist Maureen McEvoy, MSW, RSW offers exactly that. With more than three decades of experience as a clinician, supervisor, and international trainer, Maureen brings a wealth of practical skills for therapists who want to feel more confident and resourced when working with couples impacted by trauma.
Why this workshop matters now
Across Australia, psychologists and counsellors report rising demand for relationship therapy in which trauma is a central theme. Clients may present with:
- the resurfacing of past trauma during conflict or intimacy,
- trauma responses (fight, flight, freeze, collapse) misinterpreted as resistance or disengagement,
- cycles of blame and defensiveness that leave both partners feeling unsafe,
- and therapists themselves feeling stretched, burnt out, or unsure how to proceed.
This workshop addresses these challenges directly. Rather than adding more techniques “on top,” Maureen helps therapists re-anchor their presence and clinical decision-making, so that trauma is recognised, honoured, and worked with—not around.
What participants will learn
Over two days, Maureen will guide participants through a structured, experiential learning process. Key themes include:
- Trauma and attachment in the couple dynamic – how trauma shapes intimacy, trust, and safety between partners.
- The therapist’s role under pressure – maintaining presence, calm, and clarity when sessions escalate.
- Integrative methods in action – drawing from Imago, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Gottman Method, PACT, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and creative arts therapies to offer effective interventions.
- Somatic awareness and co-regulation – using body-based cues to help couples reconnect when words alone are not enough.
- Repair and resilience – fostering micro-moments of connection that strengthen the couple’s capacity to heal together.
- Sustaining the therapist – strategies for reducing burnout and increasing resilience when holding complex trauma in the room.
This is not a lecture-style workshop. Maureen’s teaching is interactive, collegial, and practice-based. Participants will have opportunities to observe live demonstrations, engage in guided practice, and reflect with colleagues.
About the presenter
Maureen McEvoy is a Canadian trauma and couples therapist, supervisor, and educator with more than 30 years’ experience. She has worked in hospitals, community agencies, and private practice, and was a longstanding faculty member at the Justice Institute of British Columbia, where she trained counsellors, health professionals, and first responders in trauma-informed practice.
Maureen is co-author of Group Trauma Treatment in Early Recovery and contributed to the influential volume Trauma and the Therapist as well as supervision resources for clinicians working with complex trauma. She has also developed curriculum and professional standards for working with survivors of abuse across Canada.
As an advanced clinical faculty member and Head of Workshop Presenters for Imago International, Maureen plays a key role in shaping global training standards in couples therapy. Her clinical training also spans EFT, the Gottman Method, PACT, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and expressive arts therapies.
Widely respected for her warmth and clarity, she has trained thousands of professionals across North America and internationally. This Sydney workshop marks her Australian teaching debut.
Learning outcomes
By attending this two-day workshop, participants will be able to:
- Identify how trauma impacts couples’ dynamics, attachment patterns, and relational safety.
- Apply trauma-informed interventions to support couples in moments of escalation or withdrawal.
- Integrate methods from Imago, EFT, Gottman, PACT, and creative arts therapies into clinical practice.
- Strengthen therapist presence and self-regulation when working with highly distressed couples.
- Develop strategies to reduce burnout and increase resilience when holding complex relational trauma.
- Enhance clinical confidence by practising experiential tools that restore connection and foster repair.
Who should attend
This workshop is designed for psychologists, counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers, and allied health professionals who work with couples or individuals affected by trauma. Both early-career and experienced clinicians will benefit from Maureen’s integrative, practical approach.
CPD eligibility
Attendance is eligible for 12 CPD hours with PACFA, ACA, ASCH, AASW, AAPI, and APS members.
Registration details
- Winter Rate – $975 (until 31 August)
- September Saver – $995 (1–25 Sept)
- Standard Rate – $1,100 (26 Sept – 31 Oct)
- Final Release – $1,250 (1–8 Nov – last chance, limited seats)
- Group Rate – $950pp (for 3+ attendees, available until 31 Oct)
📌 Venue: Crow’s Nest Community Centre, Sydney
📅 Dates: Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 November 2025
🕘 Time: 9.00 am – 5.00 pm both days
🌐 Book now: resourcetherapy.com.au/professional-training/master-classes
About the Australian Resource Therapy Institute (ARTI)
The Australian Resource Therapy Institute (ARTI) is co-founded by psychologist Philipa Thornton and consultant psychologist Chris Paulin. Together they bring decades of clinical and teaching experience, offering high-quality professional development and training opportunities for therapists across Australia and internationally. ARTI hosts masterclasses, advanced trainings, and international presenters, fostering collegial spaces for therapists to deepen skills, share knowledge, and grow together
📍 Sydney, November 2025 – don’t miss this opportunity to learn directly from one of the most experienced trauma-informed couples therapists in the world. Maximum 50 attendees.