Presented by Maya Kollman, PhD

What does it mean to create safety in couples therapy, and how can the therapist become an agent of growth?

Therapists do more than observe. Through our expectations, attention, language, presence, emotional regulation, and clinical choices, we help shape the therapeutic experience. What we expect can influence what we notice, invite, reinforce, or overlook.

This experiential presentation explores the self of the therapist as an instrument of relational change. Participants will examine their influence and its limits while considering how empathy, boundaries, and self-regulation contribute to an intentional therapeutic presence.

Because therapy is co-created, participants will explore how to invite feedback, encourage couples to take responsibility for their growth, and honor the wisdom they bring to the process. Through reflection, discussion, and video examples, participants will consider how feedback, self-observation, and session review can deepen awareness, strengthen clinical practice, and create the conditions for safety, ownership, true partnership, and transformation.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:

Identify at least three ways the therapist’s expectations, self-regulation, verbal communication, and nonverbal presence may influence relational safety and the therapeutic process.
Differentiate relational safety from comfort, conflict avoidance, therapist control, or the absence of emotional intensity.
Apply a structured process of self-observation, client feedback, or session review to identify therapist strengths, assumptions, reactivity, and opportunities for growth.
Demonstrate at least two ways to invite couples into a collaborative, co-created therapeutic process that encourages ownership, draws upon their relational wisdom, and respects their autonomy.

What We’ll Explore

What creating relational safety truly means
The therapist’s influence—and the limits of that influence
How expectations shape what therapists notice and invite
Seeing potential beyond a couple’s present conflict
The impact of words, tone, facial expression, and body language
Therapist self-regulation during emotionally charged moments
Balancing empathy, boundaries, and clinical leadership
Inviting ongoing feedback from couples
Trusting couples’ wisdom and encouraging ownership
Reviewing recorded sessions as a practice of self-observation
Using video examples to deepen clinical learning

Who Should Attend

This presentation is designed for psychotherapists, counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, psychologists, interns, and other helping professionals who work with couples or relational dynamics.

Clinicians from all theoretical orientations and levels of experience are welcome.

About Maya Kollman

Maya Kollman, PhD, MA, is a Master Trainer, Clinical Instructor, Workshop Presenter, and Certified Imago Relationship Therapist. For more than three decades, she has helped shape and teach the theory and practice of Imago Relationship Therapy in collaboration with its co-founder, Harville Hendrix, PhD. She has trained therapists, workshop presenters, and clinical instructors in both foundational and advanced Imago work and has led more than 300 weekend workshops for couples.

Maya brings extensive experience as a couples therapist, educator, trainer, and curriculum developer. Earlier in her career, she taught psychology, human sexuality, and women’s studies at Trenton State University and Rutgers University. She holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology and earned her PhD in Imago Relationship Therapy in 2023. Known for her warmth, insight, and ability to recognize untapped potential, Maya invites therapists and couples into deeper connection, greater ownership, and lasting relational growth.

Join Imago International Faculty member Michelle Bohls as she shares at the Imago Center DC’s monthly speaker series!