Imago Relationship Therapy (IRT) is a comprehensive yet remarkably coherent theory and application, developed by Harville Hendrix, Ph.D., and Helen LaKelly Hunt. IRT powerfully synthesizes major aspects of depth psychology, object relations, systems theory, and humanistic-existential theory into a comprehensive approach to working with relationships.

Through the Imago Clinical Training program (ICT), you’ll have an opportunity to learn Imago theory and methodology that helps you love working with couples. The clinical training program is broken up into 3 modules of online instruction delivered through lecture, demonstration, and experiential learning.

With this training, you’ll gain the tools and support necessary to integrate this unique and effective approach to working with couples into your professional practice, therefore, being able to teach couples how to use necessary skills to grow through power struggles inevitable in many committed partnerships.

You’ll find yourself becoming increasingly more conscious of healing that occurs when a difficult relationship begins to move into the empathic connection as opposed to the defensiveness so characteristic of couples experiencing pain.

You’ll also begin to realize the possibilities and opportunities for all couples when “individual diagnosis” is replaced with a relational lens. “The paradigm of relationship” allows us to see the wonderful potential for growth and healing via the interpersonal as opposed to the pathological labeling associated with a focus on the intra-psychic.

The Imago model…

• turns working with couples into an inspiring experience
• integrates proven clinical methodologies into a powerful and effective system of interventions
• provides a new path for both personal and professional growth. 

Consistent with the approach itself, Imago believes that learning comes as much through experience as through understanding. Therefore, we compliment all of our theoretical teachings with direct practice, as well as personal exploration.

Our goal is to help therapists develop the skills that will allow a sense of confidence and competence in working with couples and relationships, thus skillfully guiding clients into “healing through relationship.”

This highly gratifying work will...

• Take your professional career to the next level.
• Provide relationship insight with Imago Relationship Therapy’s unique approach to resolving relationship issues and identifying opportunities for healing and growth.
• Help couples quickly reconnect using Imago Relationship Therapy tools.
• Teach transformative, and research-based methods to bring safety and restoration to relationships where conflict and rupture impact connection.
• Allow for individual growth in your own personal and professional relationships, your way of working with clients, and of being in the world.

After this training, participants will be able to:

• Name the four stages of a relationhip
• Be effective at facilitating the dialogue steps of mirroring, validation and empathy
• Demonstrate the skills and processes to work with reactivity
• Discuss that relational impact of developmental stages, unmet needs and character adaptations
• Explain the role of neurobiology in conflict and connection
• Disucss how lost, denied and shadowed parts of the self impact attraction, partner selection and conflict
• Discuss the role of the "Imago match" in attraction, partner selection, and conflict
• Use tools to manage our own reactivity and challenging feelings that arise when working with couples
• Apply Imago theory and the concepts above to your personal journey in relationships

Level 1 (Training) - 96 hours of training, typically divided into 3 modules. Training format may vary by instructor, especially for online courses. 

Level 2 (Supervision, Self-Study) - based around a six-month program of supervision which prepares for submission of a final clinical video for evaluation as well as written reports.

• Consultation
• Video Review
• Assist a Getting the Love You Want Workshop

Continuing Education - $40/module

This training is co-sponsored by R. Cassidy Seminars, P.O. Box 14473, Santa Rosa, CA 95402.

Individual Board Rules are subject to change. Each local and National professional board has its own specific Rules and Regulations for Continuing Education Credit Approval and Acceptance. The approval and acceptance information we provide is believed to be accurate at the time of printing. Check with your State Regulatory board if you have questions or concerns not clarified by the information provided below. Ultimately, you are responsible for the acceptance or denial of your license renewal credit hours.

Costs are approximate and may vary slightly by presenter and format.

3 Modules of Training - $ 3,000 ($1000/module)
Early Bird and Bundle Discounts may be available

Getting The Love You Want or Keeping the Love You Find Workshop - $500 - $800
Price of the workshop may vary depending on the location and format

Supervision - $100 per month
6 months minimum

Final video submission and Certification - $195
If a subsequent video is needed, the fee will be $150 for each further video presented for certification.

Scholarships and payment plans are available
If there is any barrier to your joining or participating, we will do our best to help. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request a payment plan.

Click the link below for more information about our scholarship opportunities.

• Participation in a Getting the Love You Want or Keeping the Love You Find Workshop led by a Certified Couples Workshop Presenter® prior to certification. This should be completed some time during Level 1. 
• Proof of advanced degree (masters or doctorate degree) in the mental health field (the common degrees are M.A. or M.S. in counseling or psychology, M.S.W. in social work, M.Div. in pastoral counseling, Ph.D. in clinical psychology, M.D. in psychiatry) or enrollment in an advanced degree program.
• Proof of membership in a recognized professional association. All Imago Therapists must keep their memberships in their professional organization current at all times.
• License to practice psychotherapy if required by your state or province.
• Proof of malpractice insurance.

Each applicant will be considered on his or her own merits. If you do not have all of the above credentials, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. explaining your situation. Please note that admission to this program does not guarantee certification.

• Complete Level 1 to the satisfaction of your clinical instructor
• Complete 6 months of supervision to the satisfaction of your clinical instructor or consultant
• Submit 3 and 6 month reports to your clinical instructor (see below)
• Assist at a Getting The Love You Want weekend workshop (no cost to participant).
• Provide a video of your work for evaluation
• Complete a signed copy of the certification agreement

Reports
At three months, the participants should write a one or two-page typed report of their experiences both in their personal lives and in their clinical practice and submit it to their Clinical Instructor. This report can be written before the evaluative video is passed. It is important that this report is not a glowing report of how wonderful everything is. It is to be a report of your growing edge and what you are personally and professionally working on to become a better clinician.

At six months, the participant should write a second one or two-page typed report of their development both in their personal lives and in their clinical practice and submit it to their Clinical Instructor.

These two reports should be about the trainee’s growth edge both personally and professionally to encourage the theory and practice of Imago Therapy to become more integrated in the trainee’s life and practice.

Assisting at a workshop
After completion of the 12 Days of training the participant should serve as a support therapist in a Getting the Love You Want Couples Workshop conducted by a Certified Workshop Presenter®. The trainee must meet with the presenter after the workshop for feedback and receive a positive evaluation from the presenter, which must then be submitted directly to the Professional Training Coordinator with a copy sent to the course instructor.

*After completing the requirements of the 12 Days of training and the 6-month supervision consultation to the satisfaction of your clinical instructor for 6 months you may apply for Certification.

Video Evaluation

• Record a video of a clinical session involving the Imago Dialogue and self-evaluate it using the current scoring sheet. Be sure that this video achieves a pass mark of 70%.
• Ask your Clinical Instructor, or whoever is providing your 6 months of supervision consultation to review this video as part of their consultation service to you, and to provide a note indicating that they agree that the video is at a 70% or above level.
• Send the video, your evaluation and the note from consultant to the trainer together with the fee of $195.
• Your trainer will either provide clear, detailed written feedback to you, or may contact you for a telephone consultation of your video. This consultation will focus on reviewing and providing feedback of your self-assessment.
• Provided that the trainer agrees that you pass at 70% or above, he/she/they will notify the Imago International Training Institute to issue a Certificate, as long as all other training requirements have been met.
• If the video is not passed, we recommend that you review the feedback from the evaluator with your consultant/supervisor. Once integrating the feedback, your Clinical Instructor or consultant will support you to submit a second video. If desired, you may request a different evaluator for the second video.
• Please do not be disheartened if your first submitted video does not pass. We have a culture of learning whereby it is fine to be asked for another video. We want you to receive the best training possible from us, and requiring a certain degree of proficiency in the model takes considerable time to achieve.

Review Process
In the event that the video is not considered by the Assessor to be a passing video, the Assessor will contact the trainee’s Clinical Instructor.

The CI will watch the video. If they agree that it is not a passing video, the Assessor will let the trainee know, and will proceed to give feedback to them. They will email the CI to let them know when this is done.

If the Clinical Instructor thinks it is a passing video, then the trainee will have the option to send it to another faculty member. This will be done anonymously. The Central office will send the DVD to another faculty member. That view will be binding.

Graduates of this track are eligible to:

• Represent themselves as a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist®
• Advertise the practice of Imago Relationship Therapy
• Present at conferences and various meetings up to four hours in length and may demonstrate the Intentional Dialogue and the Flooding of Admiration in public