Acceptance versus Forgiveness: A Radical Approach for Healing Interpersonal Wounds

Presented by Janis Abrahms Spring, PhD, ABPP on 03-11-2016 at 9 a.m. Pacific (noon Eastern) to 11 a.m. Pacific (2 p.m. Eastern)

Forgiveness is often recommended as the path to recovery from interpersonal injuries. We are taught that forgiveness is good for us, and that good people forgive. In actual practice, injured parties sometimes find themselves unable or unwilling to forgive, particularly when the offender is unrepentant. 

In this presentation, Dr. Spring will discuss Genuine Forgiveness as a process that asks as much of those who have given offense as it does of the injured party. Attendees will learn how to help injured parties release their preoccupation with their hurt, accept responsibility for any part they may have played, and allow the offender to make amends. Attendees will also learn how to help offenders perform heartfelt acts of repair, such as bearing witness to pain they have caused, delivering a meaningful apology, and taking responsibility for their offense. 

This presentation offers methods for clinicians to help those they work with in therapy rise above the experience of injury, repair the rupture within, and explore the possibilities of experiencing Genuine Forgiveness. Dr. Spring will also present concrete steps for offenders to earn forgiveness from the ones they hurt and from themselves.

This introductory instructional level web conference is designed to help clinicians:

  1. Challenge popular assumptions about what it means to forgive;
  2. Provide hurt parties with an alternative to the traditional understanding of forgiveness, which may help them become physically and spiritually healthy;
  3. Compare four different responses to interpersonal injury and identify what makes two of them dysfunctional and two of them healthy;
  4. Implement specific, concrete guidelines for helping offenders earn forgiveness and hurt parties foster forgiveness.

If you have any questions or concerns about this web conference or would like more information, please contact us here.

Continuing Education (CE) Information

Two CE credits will be provided by GoodTherapy.org for attending this web conference in its entirety. GoodTherapy.org is also an Approved Education Provider by NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals (provider #135463). Of the eight counselor skill groups ascribed to by NAADAC, this course is classified within counseling services.

GoodTherapy.org is an NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEPTM) and may offer NBCC-approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements.

GoodTherapy.org is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. GoodTherapy.org maintains responsibility for this program and its content. 

GoodTherapy.org, SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0395.

To receive CE credit hours for an archived event, you will need to complete a survey as well as a 12 or 15-question exam, verifying that you listened to or watched the event in its entirety. Archived CE events generally are considered "homestudy" by licensing boards.

Registration Information

Premium and Pro Membership with GoodTherapy includes access to this web conference at no additional cost, as well as other member benefits such as a profile listing in GoodTherapy's Therapist Directory. Not yet a member? Sign up for a Premium or Pro Membership, here.

Just want CE credits? Sign up for a monthly or annual CE Subscription with GoodTherapy to get unlimited access to our CE Program, including this event, other live CE web conferences, and hundreds of hours of homestudy courses.

Mental health professionals who are not members can attend this live web conference for $30.95 or access the homestudy recording for $15.50. Sign up here to purchase this CE course and earn a CE certificate.

If the event is canceled by GoodTherapy, registrants who purchased the event will be notified and the charge for the event will be refunded

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Meet the Presenter

Janis Abrahms Spring, PhD, ABPP

Janis Abrahms Spring, PhD, ABPP

Janis Abrahms Spring, PhD, ABPP is nationally recognized as an expert on the topics of intimacy, trust, and forgiveness. Throughout her 40 years of private practice, Dr. Spring’s clinical experience have made her a distinguished presenter who has appeared as a guest expert in various media outlets such as NPR, Good Morning America, the New York Times, and the Huffington Post. She received the Connecticut Association of Marriage and Family Therapists Award for Distinguished Family Service and the Connecticut Psychological Association’s Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Practice of Psychology. Dr. Spring is board certified in Clinical Psychology and was a clinical supervisor in Yale University’s department of psychology.

She is the author of After the Affair: Healing the Pain and Rebuilding Trust When a Partner Has Been Unfaithful, which sold more than half a million copies. The second edition, recently updated, includes a chapter on the “new infidelity”—affairs in cyberspace. Dr. Spring’s book Life with Pop: Lessons on Caring for an Aging Parent, which explores the moments of grace and personal struggles associated with caregiving and growing old, was awarded the Living Well Award Silver Medal. How Can I Forgive You? The Courage to Forgive, The Freedom Not To was a finalist for Best Psychology Book from the Books for a Better Life Award.To learn more about Dr. Spring and her work, please visit her website at www.janisaspring.com.

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Continuing Education Provider Approvals

  • aceGoodTherapy.org is Approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. GoodTherapy.org maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
  • Logo GoodTherapy.org has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6380. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. GoodTherapy.org is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
  • Logo This course has been approved by GoodTherapy.org, as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #135463. GoodTherapy.org is responsible for all aspects of their programming.
  • GoodTherapy.org, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0395.
  • GoodTherapy.org, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0022 and for licensed mental health counselors #MHC-0031.

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