Weekend Workshops:

9:00am-12:30pm, 45 min lunch break, 1:15-5:45 = 8 hours total

Schedule TBD:

MCDT offers a comprehensive system for transformation.  Both clients and therapists work within a shared understanding of a path toward thriving in relationship. Together you will assess for and celebrate strengths and build a shared understanding and inspiration for growth and transformation. 

From our perspective, therapy alone is limited. We see the  need for returning to a greater capacity to connect and build interdependent relationships within the larger community context.  We were not meant as humans to do this alone!  This training holds central the importance of growing, learning, and transforming within a community. With personal growth and couples work as an entry point, we intend to support each other and our clients in moving  from the isolation that is so common to interdependence and connections.

• Counselors, psychotherapists, psychologists, and social workers who value empowering themselves and their clients with the awareness and skills to cultivate thriving relationships.

• Practitioners who value experiential learning and recognize that their own change process is essential to becoming an effective relationship counselor. And who are ready and excited about the idea of developing greater skill in challenging moments of connection. 

• Practitioners who value the wisdom that comes from being centered in an expansive perspective of love, care, & power-with.

• Practitioners would like to be a founding member of the MCD Therapy community!

While this training is designed for couple’s counselors, it is also supportive for individuals & couples, who have therapeutic goals oriented around relationships. 

MCDT is valued by clients who are seeking hope and clarity about a path towards thriving in relationships.  Clients who are interested in deepening their own internal capacity to access a more expansive state of love, care, and power-with in relationship will find the skills and practices to be supportive in living a life in alignment with these values. 

I, Ava, have found that clients who were not familiar with MCDT before arriving at their consultation are frequently inspired and leave with more hope about therapy.  The clarity of the MCD map and how they will be integrated into sessions offers a practical and concrete way forward.

You will be able to track and name the cycle of tragic strategies in which couples get caught and the core needs in that cycle that require more attention along with new ways to meet those needs.

You will have increased capacity in helping a couple stay focused and move through a complete dialogue in a session while staying connected to themselves and each other with increased regulation, security, and healthy differentiation.

You will have access to materials that support you and your clients in the assessment process and in developing practices for growth in and out of the therapeutic setting.

You will be prepared to teach couples essential relationship skills and to provide experiential therapeutic approaches to support the integration of this learning. 

You will have an increased integration of a consciousness of connection and thriving that will foster an embodied expression of this work from within the seat of the therapist.

You will become an MCD Trained Therapist and have the opportunity to continue developing through phase 2 & 3 of the MCDT Certification Process.

The MCDT Certification program is a gateway to cultivating your own skill and capacity to live in thriving relationships grounded in the consciousness of love, care, and power-with dynamics.  It will help you cultivate an approach to therapy that supports you in modeling MCD consciousness while guiding your clients on a clear path of developing an integrated sense of self and thriving relationships.

(Note: The certification process as outlined below is a living process.  This is the criteria for the 2026 cohort, we anticipate this process will continue to develop to meet students and clients needs in the years to come.)

Phase 1: Complete the MCDT Relationship Competencies Training

Upon completion of phase 1 you are eligible to join the registry of MCDT Trained Therapists and to advertise yourself and an MCDT Trained Therapist.

The emphasis in phase 1 of the MCDT training will be on the integration of the 12 relationship competencies, application of the 5 dimensions of a session, cultivation and embodiment of the life-serving Intention, and an introduction to the foundations.  

Phase 2: Enter Community of Practice

(Those not seeking certification may still enter Phase 2.)

Enter into a community of practice with fellow MCDT trained therapists for continuing practice and integration of the principles, techniques, & system of MCD in couples sessions.  This community of practice may include peer practice groups, practice groups with mentorship, individual mentorship, and advanced training sessions. The community of practice may develop creative strategies to meet needs that are not included in the list above.

The intention of phase 2 of certification is to:

• Deepen your confidence to anchor the consciousness and skills in challenging and varied sessions.

• Experience the map of MCD as an inner living guide for your life.

• Develop a fluency in how you share this work with your clients and refine the subtleties of how you provide supportive interventions.

Phase 3: Certification

Upon completion of phase 3 you will be a Certified MCDT Therapist.

Our intention in offering a full certification phase is to support practitioners in cultivating the consciousness and skills to provide a predictably high level of application of MCDT with clients. 

Phase 3 will be completed in a manner that meets both the needs of the trainers and of the student.  The trainer and student will engage in needs-based negotiation as they seek to live the consciousness and skills of MCD within their relationship.

Certification processes in educational institutions have often been overseen from a one directional power-over strategy that has resulted in deep pain and even trauma for students whose diverse needs, wisdom, and values were out of alignment with the certification process.  We hold an intention to enter a collaborative process to meet the needs of the trainer and the therapist seeking certification.  We look forward to hearing from you, learning about your needs in the certification process, and collaborating together to find a strategy that is mutually satisfying. 

Upon certification the MCDT certified therapist will demonstrate:

• The capacity to  access and manage sessions from a state of loving presence in alignment with the live-serving intention.  

• Competence in tracking and managing a session through the 5 dimensions of MCDT.

• Competence in providing psychoeducation about the MCD map and each of its components. 

• Capacity to guide clients through interventions that support their development of an integrated sense of self and the relationship competencies.

Our intention is to collaborate with you to design the final certification process. In the unforeseen event that the student and trainer are unable to determine a strategy that meets both of their needs in the certification process, the trainer acknowledges the power they hold along with the responsibility to ensure that certification is managed in a manner that protects the interest of potential future therapy clients. The trainer will provide a certification plan that includes strategies to to meet the students needs as much as they are able while also meeting the demonstration requirements as listed above.

Yes, we will record each session.  If you miss a class we expect that you will practice the experiential activities with a practice partner before the next class.

Please note:  To be eligible for certification we require that you attend five of the six in-person personal competencies integration sessions and five of the six in-person weekend trainings. 

Live attendance is required and means:

• Arriving on time to each session

• Attending and participating for the duration of the session.

• To be eligible for certification we require that you attend 5 of the in-person personal competencies integration sessions and 5 of the in-person weekend trainings.

• If you miss a class we expect that you will watch the class recording and practice the experiential activities with a practice partner before the next class.

You will have access upon registration up until the end of our last in-person training. After that time, you can purchase a membership to continue your access to the Wise Heart online learning platform.

We want to ensure a fit between what you want to learn and what we offer. Specifically, we want to know your goals for taking the program, how you will practice the skills outside of class, and that you are comfortable and aligned with our mindful experiential approach. 

Please Note: This training is suitable for someone who has experience in experiential transformation: You already value and have experience in utilizing the study of present moment experience through modalities such as Gestalt, Hakomi, IFS, Somatic Experiencing, EFT, etc… In the future, MCDT will offer a prerequisite course in experiential therapy for therapists who need this foundational practice.

Upon acceptance into the program you will provide your holding deposit or full payment. You will also review and sign a Learning Agreement with participation guidelines. Once we receive this signed agreement, we’ll send instructions to access the online learning platform. A student handbook will be provided the first day of live training.

We will be meeting in the large residential home office of Ava Frank.  The office is located near 112th and SE Stark in Portland Oregon.  The address and directions will be provided during registration.  

Amenities: On the ground level you will have access to the large meeting room, a breakout room for small groups, a restroom, and a small kitchen.  Should the group choose to meet outdoors during good weather, we have access to a fenced side yard.

A minimum of 8 and a maximum of 13

To meet needs for inclusion, security, and predictability, refunds are only given if requested 11 days before the start of the course, so please discern carefully. If you need to cancel your registration, please email ava@mcdtherapy.com

Ava Frank Counseling, LLC reserves the right to cancel this training 10 days prior to the first day of the scheduled training if it does not meet its minimum attendance requirement of 8 participants. A full refund will be provided should this occur.

Ava Frank Counseling, LLC also reserves the right to cancel and reschedule any training session up to 24 hours before the first day of a scheduled training if something occurs that is beyond our ability to control. This includes, but not limited to, severe weather, national disaster, pandemic, sudden illness, or death of a relation to the scheduled trainer.

If Ava Frank Counseling, LLC needs to cancel a scheduled training, participants will receive 100% of their registration fee in the form of a credit toward future training or will receive a full refund to their method of payment.