John Howard, LMFT
Mission
Twenty-first-century neuroscience has transformed the way we understand connection and partner relationships. New research has illuminated the fact that tending to and deepening intimate relationships does not rely on communication to facilitate connection.
We now know that we must first help our clients practice connecting with one another in order to allow for more effective communication. This contradicts previously held ideas in the couples therapy community that communication is king.
For example, partners in dysfunction are often signaling threat to one another in subconscious and non-verbal ways, making it harder to earn the goodwill, safety, and trust needed to inspire and maintain love. They don’t track one another’s nervous systems well enough and don’t supply the needed cues for their brains to relax and feel secure. When your clients’ nervous systems feel threatened, communication can’t overcome that feeling.
You’re invited to join us for an exclusive Touchpoints workshop with John Howard, LMFT, so that you can deepen your understanding of how to apply neuroscience in couples therapy and how to help your individual clients connect more deeply.
You will learn how to design experiential practice in sessions that allow partners to build real skill around more secure behaviors.
We will discuss:
- Why connection matters more than communication
- The language of the nervous system
- The use of experiential practice to reshape relationship skill
- Neuroscience tips that can deepen connection in both your personal and in your clients’ relationships
- How to adapt experiential work to those with trauma
- How to help clients reframe their work from issue-specific disagreements to developing greater safety, trust, and connection in how they relate
John distills his most effective principles and methods for helping couples grow in love, trust, and connection. Techniques covered include global nervous system assessment, a process rather than a content focus, comprehensive treatment plans, and the use of present-moment relational awareness. You will learn experiential interventions that deepen connection skills quickly and effectively and be able to ask questions relating to these concepts, as well as John’s new book, More than Words.
John’s work promotes inclusivity of diverse individuals and couples in relationship work and science-based definitions of relationship health. These methods are also valuable and applicable to individual therapy and useful for discussing the relationship lives of individual clients.
Meet your presenter
John Howard, LMFT
John Howard is an internationally-recognized therapist, wellness expert, and educator who uses the latest science to help couples have stronger relationships. He is the author of More than Words: The Science of Deepening Love and Connection in any Relationship (Simon & Schuster, 2022). John has presented on the neuroscience of couples therapy at psychological conferences and developed a relationship wellness program for Google. His work seeks to promote diversity and inclusion in the relationship space. As a Cuban-American, John draws on his studies of shamanic, Indigenous and multicultural traditions to imbue his work with spiritual depth and meaning. He is the host of The John Howard Show, a wellness podcast, and the creator of the Ready Set Love® series of online programs for couples. John is on the faculty at the Dell Medical School in Austin where he designed an innovative couples and family therapy curriculum. He is also the CEO of PRESENCE, a wellness center in Austin, TX dedicated to helping people achieve optimal mental, physical, and relationship health. In 2019, he developed Presence Therapy®, an integrative approach to couples therapy that incorporates mindfulness, psychobiology, and neuroscience to help partners connect more deeply.
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