Programs, Workshops, Couples Intensives
Attend a Workshop, Book Me to Speak
"The luminous woman weekend changed my life."
~ P.G., North Carolina
Programs, Events & Workshops
LABYRINTH OF LOVE™ WORKSHOPS
Join me for a deep dive into the mysteries and wonders of the human heart. Discover why we struggle so much with relationships and how to turn the struggle into fulfillment. Whether you are single and searching, or in a committed relationship, this experience will shift the way you look at love and deepen the Love Capacities that are the foundation of meaningful, enduring relationships. If you are stuck in cycles of unresolved conflict, lost in the midlife marriage malaise, or wanting to make a good relationship great, this workshop will illuminate the path to an extraordinary relationship.
THE LUMINOUS WOMAN® WEEKEND
When I launched the Luminous Woman® Weekend in 2009, I had no idea how much of an impact it would have on women’s lives. This is a workshop experience that will open up your access into deep resources already within you, and inspire you to cross thresholds of limitation, so that you can bring your outer life into alignment with your soul’s longing.
Exhausted? Discouraged? Overwhelmed and under-inspired? Feeling lost and adrift? Come to the Luminous Woman ® Weekend and rekindle your inner flame! Learn what it means to become a “fully enfranchised” woman, living a luminous life.
I’ll be offering entry weekends soon. Get on the notification list for the next weekend and read The Luminous Woman Essay for inspiration in the meantime.
READ MY BOOKS
"Dr. Wakefield worked with us from the early days of our relationship, helping us form an enduring bond. Many years later and well into family life we are still benefiting from her guidance."
~ C. & R., Nashville, Tenn.
COUPLES THERAPY
Couples Therapy
Yes, this is my specialty. Over the past twenty years, I’ve helped hundreds of couples untangle the distressing mystery of “what happened to us?” How did we descend into such sadness from the hopeful, early lovers we once were? I have also helped couples enrich their emotional and sexual connection. I am an Associate Professor and the founding director of the UAMS Couples Center, where I teach couples therapy to clinicians who want to engage in this important work. If you are a therapist who wants to specialize in this area, contact me and I’ll keep you posted
on educational offerings and certification programs.
Almost every couple who comes to see me tells me they are having difficulty communicating. They are also struggling with not feeling loved or understood; stuck in circle arguing and unresolved conflicts; feeling empty and disconnected; in an acute crisis from a recent infidelity or other breach of trust; many are stuck in ongoing power struggles. Tell me… how much help did you get growing up about how to find a great life partner, create a life together, and most importantly, how to sustain the love and connection you found? Most people have had little help with this and don’t understand the attachment dynamics that only activate after two people become emotionally important to each other and start to build a life together. You may already be reading books and listening to podcasts about how to fix this, but you can’t seem to get your partner to go along with the helpful ideas you are reading about. When you get frustrated or upset with them, you “lose it” or fall into despair. If you are struggling with chronic conflict, feeling anxious in your own home, have long standing unresolved hurts, are disillusioned about the whole relationship, and find yourself drifting along feeling empty and
disconnected, your relationship is in deep trouble. If you are reeling from the discovery of an affair, call me before you call the divorce attorney, or talk to all your friends about it.
I’ve helped lots of couples in all these situations – repairing trust and attachment injuries, learning to talk in ways that your partner can hear and to listen beyond the words (and tone) into what your partner is trying to get across. I can help you understand how the love got lost and what is blocking you from feeling loved and help you re-learn how to enjoy each other. I can help you move beyond the wounds of the past co-create a relationship truly worth having.
To learn more about extended sessions or intensives, contact my administrative assistant, Morgan, at admin@chelseawakefield.com
"I carry your words of wisdom in my heart always."
~ J.R., Asheville, NC
SEX THERAPY
If you are struggling with sexual dysfunction, problems of desire, or changes as you age, I am an AASECT certified sex therapist, and the author of In Search of Aphrodite (link). If you feel that you are in a low-sex or sexless relationship/marriage. If you can’t trust your partner, or your partner doesn’t seem to care about your sexual fulfillment come work with me. Sex therapy is a clothing-on talk therapy, I can help you understand how your early formation, low quality sex education, and disappointed expectations have shaped your sexual interest and responsiveness. People have a lot of difficult talking about sex and revealing what is pleasurable to each other. Sometimes they don’t know what they want, even when asked. One of the main things I do with couples is to help to shift them out of a performance mindset into a pleasure mindset. I also do a lot of sex education because I find that many people don’t understand how their bodies work, and both men and women lack an understanding of how a woman’s sexual response cycle works or how it is sustained. When a couple develops sexual impasses and difficulties, this begins to overshadow every area of their relationship, negatively impacting interactions in the living room as well as the bedroom. I work with all kinds of couples at every age and stage of relationship.
To learn more about extended sessions or intensives, contact me at admin@chelseawakefield.com
"I am so taken with the clarity of the model you have developed and the beauty and gentleness of how you presented it."
~ M.B., Virginia
SOUL WORK
Depth Psychology in the Jungian Tradition
Come work with me if you want to do some “soul work” – the work of aligning your outer life with your inner truth. Many people struggle with a sense of meaning and purpose, especially in midlife and beyond. I’ve been a student of Carl Jung for many years and have been a long-time
faculty member at the Jungian-oriented Haden Institute where I teach in both the Dream Work and Spiritual Direction programs. Carl Jung was an influential analyst in the early twentieth century who was originally trained by Freud, and then broke off to develop a more positive theory of the human psyche. Jung worked with unconscious “complexes,” (automatic “operating systems” and areas of reactivity that are outside of thinking awareness and create a projective “lens” and “narrative” about who we are and how life works).
Our maladaptive schemas and defenses create a lot of dysfunction, but Jung also recognized that we each have a guiding compass inside, which he called it the guiding Self. We house a goldmine of inner resources and wisdom, often buried beneath the adopted stories we believe about life and ourselves. Individuation work helps you connect with those resources. The psyche is continually reaching for wholeness and the fulfillment of who we were born to be. Jung was also interested in helping people understand how they were shaped by an overlay of teachings from the religion of their youth. Some of these early internalized negative messages continue to operate in the substrates of a person’s psyche. This interferes with that person’s journey into wholeness. In Jungian work we help people surface and sort out all sorts of unconscious “operating programs” and discover who they were born to be and align their outer lives with meaning, purpose, and a spirituality that supports the true journey of their soul.
~ M.B., Virginia
OUT OF STATE OR OUT OF THE COUNTRY
Do I work with people out of state or out of the country?
Yes, but only in a couples coaching, individuation or dream work capacity. If I determine that you need mental health services, I will help you find someone locally to work with. I am licensed to practice mental health therapy in Arkansas and North Carolina, and I cannot provide mental health services outside of these states or in another country where I could not monitor your ongoing well-being.
If you are a couple who lives out of state and you want to do some couples work with me, consider a Couples Intensive (see above for more information).
Morgan is my administrative assistant, and she manages my schedule. She can be reached at admin@chelseawakefield.com
"Following retirement, we found ourselves struggling to communicate without frustration and anger. Dr. Chelsea Wakefield helped us understand what was happening, identified behaviors that triggered negative feelings, and showed us new ways to communicate and understand not only one another, but ourselves. Our love has been rekindled."
~ T. & M., Dallas, Texas
COUPLES INTENSIVES
All About Couples Intensives
If you want to work with me and reside outside of Arkansas, consider flying/driving in for a couples intensive – designed just for the two of you. (one couples at a time)…. These are “deep dives” into a process of discovery, healing and the reworking of negative patterns in a couple’s life. Intensives can produce profound shifts in a couple’s capacity to communicate, connect, understand, and re-commit to each other. My intensives usually begin on a Friday evening and end on Sunday afternoon, but this can be tailored to meet your needs. During our time together, you gain clarity about how and why you got stuck in your development as a loving couple. I work with couples who feel profoundly disconnected, couples unable to exit repetitive cycles of conflict, couples where there has been a lingering hurt that has never been healed, and couples where there has been a significant betrayal.
You will learn how to talk to each other in a way that will invite actually being heard and understood, you will experience moving out of defensive power struggling into co-operation, and begin to see how your differences are strengths. That anxious feeling in your stomach will relax, and as you learn new ways to resolve resentments, clear up misunderstanding, and heal deep hurts, you will experience a revitalized connection and see each other with new eyes. At the end of our time together, I will send you home with a notebook of important learnings from our work together, along with practices that will help you continue to grow as a couple.
Many couples say that these transformational weekends saved their marriages. An intensive can accomplishes as much as 6-9 months of weekly couples therapy. Whether you are struggling with conflict, sexual disconnection, betrayal, family issues, life stage adjustments, or just drifting in the doldrums of a devitalized marriage, an intensive can heal, rekindle, and send you home with the tools to build the relationship of your dreams.
By the way, I don’t just work with couples in trouble. I also work with couples who are interested in enriching an already good connection!
To learn more about extended sessions or intensives, contact me at admin@chelseawakefield.com
THE UAMS COUPLES CENTER
Train with Me at UAMS
Over the years I have trained hundreds of clinicians in my unique way of working. At present, I do most of my week-day work as an Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences where I am the founding director of the UAMS Couples Center.
In addition to providing couples therapy, I train clinicians in my unique approach to couples work – Interdynamic Couples Therapy™. As an AASECT certified sex therapist, I also teach clinicians how to work with sexual issues, and supervise clinicians who are working towards AASECT certification.
Upcoming Events
Past Events
International Schema Therapy Conference
June 24-26, 2021
The Healthy Adult in Love
Luminous Woman® Weekend - Private Group - Minneapolis, MN
June, 2021
Luminous Woman® Weekend
The Haden Institute Dreamwork Training Program
Feb 11-12, 2021
Negotiating the Inner Peace Treaty
Haden Institute Spiritual Direction Training
September 11, 2020
Relationship as a Spiritual Path; Sexuality and Spirituality in a Spiritual Direction
Luminous Living
4-month online program for women, based on the Luminous Woman® Weekend
Summer Dream & Spirituality Conference
May 24-28, 2020
Keynote Speech - "Intuition and Projection in Love Relationships"
Friends of Jung, Miami Valley
February 15, 2020
Individuation in Connection
The Authentic Self
March 9, 2020
Dreamwork for Women - Esse Pure Museum
https://www.theauthenticself.net/workshops/https/wwwfacebookcom/events/627067254526156
The Luminous Woman® Weekend
September 13-15, 2019
Dubose Conference Center, Monteagle, TN
Spring Event with Dr Chelsea Wakefield - Nashville Jung Circle
April 5-6, 2019
Friday evening lecture:
"Individuation in the Context of Relationships"
Saturday workshop, 9:00 am -1:00 pm:
"Negotiating the Inner Peace Treaty"
Book Discussion on Negotiating the Inner Peace Treaty
March 10, 2019
Book discussion on Negotiating the Inner Peace Treaty by Chelsea Wakefield.
Green Hills Library
Chelsea Wakefield: "Soulful Relationships: Individuation in Connection"
March 6, 2019
Dr. Wakefield explores sexuality and relationship as a path of individuation in this recording of her plenary talk at Haden Institute's 2018 Summer Dream Conference. She is a Jungian-oriented psychotherapist, an international teacher on conscious relationships and sexuality, and author of In Search of Aphrodite and Negotiating the Inner Peace Treaty. Moderated discussion afterwards. Come early and purchase food and drink!
Coffee Underground, 1 E. Coffee Street, Greenville, SC 20601
$5 donation is appreciated.
Book Discussion on Aphrodite by Dr. Chelsea Wakefield
March 10, 2019
Book discussion on Negotiating the Inner Peace Treaty by Chelsea Wakefield.
Green Hills Library
Relationship Enrichment Series
September 18, 2018 - October 9, 2018
The series is designed for couples who are at any age or stage in their relationship and are motivated to make their bond stronger, happier and healthier.
The 2018 Lowcountry Mental Health Conference
Inner Work and the Realm of the Unconscious
https:// www.lowcountrymhconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/conf_flyer_2018_july_apa.pdf
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New and Upcoming Events
JOIN THE WAITING LIST
New and Upcoming Events
