Meet the developer of Transformative Couples Therapy®

David Mars Ph.D., MFT

As a young therapist, Dr. David Mars went into couples therapy looking for help.

Instead, he found that the models offered seemed to make matters worse by unnecessarily drawing out and evoking the vicious cycle of distress. He found that instead of offering help and support, most couples therapy sessions focused on what is wrong in a relationship instead of what is right.

This set into motion four decades of dedicating himself to developing a couples treatment model that works in a kind, effective, pleasurable and time-efficient way.

David Mars, Ph.D. has developed a method for therapists to help couple members relate to each other from their self-at-best often beginning in the first session. This method cultivates healthy patterns of love and respect-based awareness to create positive changes in daily living. With Dr. Mars’ unique process, therapists guide couples to identify areas they want to improve to help them experience more peace and stability in their lives.

In the 1980 and 1990’s he developed an innovative treatment process that utilized highly sensitive computerized biofeedback with couples to reveal their unconscious bodily responses. This created a high capacity to track moment-to-moment psychophysiology and a heightened awareness of how valuable this skills are to effectively treat couples. In addition, as an Authentic Movement group leader and practitioner for over 30 years, he has developed and teaches therapists and couples mindful alternatives to negative judgment. All of the above-named skills are central to Transformative Couples Therapy®.

David Mars, Ph.D., MFT has presented workshops, courses, webinars, and online supervision worldwide for over thirty years. He was a Faculty member of the AEDP Institute for eleven of those years and is the developer of AEDP for Couples (AEDPfC). All of his offerings of training, supervision, writing and innovation are now based at the Center for Transformative Therapy of which he is the director and founder.

Dr. David Mars’ Therapist Training Offerings

These courses equip therapists with the necessary tools they need to help their couples flourish.

• Multi-Channel Webinar Series

• Transformative Couples Therapy® Core Training

• Small Group Supervision/Consultation

• Seven Channels Process Groups for Couples and Individuals

• Hong Kong Transformative Couples Therapy® Training Series

“I just had a first session with a couple who have 20 years of experience in intense fighting. Thanks to this work I was inspired to confidently interrupt their familiar ways of talking to each other to very good effect and they were able to do something different for the first time.”