Join the RLIAlumni Membership

Access the continuous education and connections you need to thrive as a RLT Certified Practitioner.
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Full Access to Real Life continuous education & business calls

Access all Real Life continuous education and business of therapy calls (6 calls p/m— including two with Terry). These live calls are a great opportunity to continue learning from Terry, the RLI faculty, grow your practice, and connect with fellow alumni and Certification students.

A listing on the RLI website directory

You will be listed on the RLT Therapist & Coach Directory (accessible via both relationallife.com and terryreal.com) to validate your status as an RLT certified practitioner and help increase your referrals. 

(All listed practitioners are required to view Terry’s new extended two-hour January Real Life call in January on “what’s new in RLT” to stay up-to-date with the latest developments.) 

30% off Couples Experientials & Selective Online Courses

You receive a 30% discount off all new special topic courses for professionals from RLI and Couples Experientials (including variations such as the Couples Experiential Journey and Intensive).

Exclusive Alumni Community

Enjoy a digital space exclusively for RLI graduates, where you can discuss your challenges, insights, and share your successes with like-minded professionals.

You’ll also have the opportunity to connect with RLT practitioners who live near you, to organize in-person get-togethers and peer groups.  

Welcome to a Community Shaped by You

As an RLT practitioner, you understand the power of connection—it’s at the heart of what we do. But just as we guide our clients toward meaningful connections, it’s essential that we also nurture this within our community of graduates.

It’s important to all of us at RLI that this membership truly serves you. And the benefits you see listed here
all came from discussions and input from our graduates. We hope it offers you the enriching connections, continuous learning, and professional resources to help you flourish in your practice.

Join the Alumni Community

Choose the membership plan that best suits your needs.

Annual Plan

$595 per year

Quarterly Plan 

$195 per quarter

Your Money-Back Guarantee

We’re confident you’ll love being an alumni member, but we offer a 100% money-back guarantee for your peace of mind. If you are not completely satisfied, please contact us at support@terryreal.com within 14 days of purchase and we’ll issue you a full refund, no questions asked.

“As RLT practitioners, our learning never stops. Through this alumni membership, my hope is that you’ll find the support, resources, and community you need to flourish in your work and guide more people into the authentic connection this world so desperately needs.”

– Terry Real

Only Looking to Keep Your Therapist Directory Listing?

We appreciate that now might not be the right time for you to join our alumni membership, so if your main priority is keeping our therapist directory listing, you can do so for a single payment of $295.

Please Note: All listed practitioners are required to view Terry’s new extended two-hour January Real Life call in January on “what’s new in RLT” to stay up-to-date with the latest developments.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s included in the alumni membership?

Your alumni membership includes the following exciting benefits:

  • Full access to Real Life continuous education calls
  • A listing on the RLT website directory
  • 30% off Couples Experientials & selective online courses

You can choose to renew your listing for 12 months for one payment of $295 here.

Yes—we will automatically renew your plan annually so you don’t need to worry about losing your benefits. We’ll email you ahead of your renewal date so that you know when it’s due.

Yes—we’re confident you’ll love being an alumni member, but we offer a 100% money-back guarantee for your peace of mind. If you are not completely satisfied, please contact us at support@terryreal.com within 14 days of purchase and we’ll issue you a full refund, no questions asked. 

Please contact us at support@terryreal.com with any questions. 

Copyright © 2024 Relational Life Institute

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CE REQUIREMENTS:

The Relational Life Institute is pleased to offer:

Working With Men

Relational Life Institute (RLI) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7495. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Relational Life Institute (RLI) is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

ACEP No. 7495

FORMAT: A LIVE Online Course facilitated by Terry Real, LICSW; and Julie Rudiger, LCSW

Continuing Education credits offered: 12  credit hours

Course Description:

Over eight live online classes, learn the skills to engage, motivate, and create breakthrough change with resistant male clients in this live, practice-focused training led by renowned couples therapist and male-psychology expert Terry Real, alongside RLT Faculty Member Julie Rudiger, LCSW. Grounded in Relational Life Therapy (RLT), the course unpacks how patriarchal conditioning and performance-based self-worth fuel disconnection, defensiveness, and shutdown, then shows you how to build trust with even the most challenging men through clear, compassionate confrontation that preserves the therapeutic alliance. You’ll learn to create effective leverage for transformation without triggering collapse, withdrawal, or escalated resistance; tailor interventions for the three common presentations—“boys, bullies, and avoiders”; and reframe masculinity so emotional expression is aligned with strength, honor, and integrity rather than weakness. Through demonstrations and actionable tools from both instructors, you’ll guide men in trauma healing and relational skill development that supports healthier partnerships and parenting. Leave with a concrete RLT roadmap you can use immediately to help clients move from resistance to responsibility and from disconnection to genuine intimacy.

Learning Objectives: At the completion of this course, participants can expect to be able to:

  • Summarize the cultural shaping of masculinity and its consequences.
  • Recognize shame and grandiosity as dual defenses tied to male self-worth.
  • Develop skills to help men shift from defensiveness to compassion.
  • Identify how shame and performance-based esteem show up in male clients.
  • Discuss culturally sensitive ways to challenge entitlement and grandiosity.
  • Identify and work with three major types of difficult men: boys, bullies, and avoiders.
  • Describe how to use leverage as a tool to create change.
  • Identify patterns of resistance in men and learn how to engage them effectively.
  • Utilize leverage to create internal or external motivation for change.
  • Illustrate empowerment to the partner or family system to create pressure that opens the door to transformation.
  • Compare and differentiate between their wounded child, adaptive child, and functional adult selves.
  • Develop an internal caregiving relationship with their inner children rather than expecting partners to repair old wounds.
  • Demonstrate full relational responsibility as an adult, especially in high-conflict, high-defensiveness relationships.

Target Audience: Social Workers, MFTs, Counselors, Substance Abuse Counselors, Nurses, and LMHCs, LMFT’s, Educators, Coaches, Chemical Dependency Counselors 

Course Content Level: The course content is appropriate for Beginner level clinicians.

Cost:   $497 or three payments of $197 each.

Course Date & Hours:   

1pm-2:30pm Eastern Time on:

September 10, 17, 24; October 1, 8, 2025 

TO REGISTER: https://relationallife.com/working-with-men

Cancellation Policy: You may cancel your registration up until September 16, 2025

Please contact support@terryreal.com if you wish to cancel.

If you need special accommodations or have questions, please contact us at support@terryreal.com 

Please contact our Support team if you have any questions support@terryreal.com 

Instructor’s Bio:

Terry Real, LICSW: Terry Real is the bestselling author of I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression, the straight-talking How Can I Get Through to You? Reconnecting Men and Women, The New Rules of Marriage: What You Need to Make Love Work and most recently Us: Getting Past You & Me to Build a More Loving Relationship just debuted in June 2022.  Terry founded the Relational Life Institute, offering workshops for couples, individuals, and parents as well as a professional training program for clinicians.   Terry’s work, with its rigorous commonsense approach, speaks to both men and women. A proponent of “full-throttle marriage,” Terry has been called “the most innovative voice in thinking about and treating men and their relationships in the world today.”

Julie Rudiger, LCSW has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for the last 30 years. In 2002, Julie opened her private practice, where she has helped hundreds of individuals and couples over the last two decades. Her professional journey took a transformative turn in 2008 when she began training with Terry Real, the founder of Relational Life Therapy (RLT). Julie has since used RLT to guide clients in discovering self-esteem, healing early wounds, and fostering deeper, more authentic relationships. A faculty member at the Relational Life Institute since 2022, Julie now trains other therapists and leads community workshops, including Men’s Groups and Relationship Skills Bootcamps. Additionally, she is trained in EMDR, ACT, DBT, Gestalt, and the Enneagram.

CONFLICT of Interest: There is no known conflict of interest or commercial support for this event.

Grievance Procedure:

If a student believes they have been discriminated against, they can submit a written complaint that includes their name, address, phone number, location, date, and a detailed description of the issue. If a student with a disability disagrees with the accommodation provided or has any other grievances, they can schedule a meeting to discuss and attempt to find a solution together. If the student is still not satisfied with the accommodation after further discussion, they can contact the Operations Director for

the Relational Life Institute (RLI), Lisa Sullivan, via phone, email, or mail. If the grievance cannot be resolved, the complainant will be advised to contact the appropriate Ethics Committee or Licensing Board. The Operations Director will keep all grievances and their resolutions confidential in locked files.

A copy of this Grievance Procedure is available upon request.

Contact information: ACEP Administrator & Operations Director for Relational Life Institute (RLI), Lisa Sullivan follows: 291 Nahanton Street, Newton, MA 02459; 617-861-3030 lisa@relationallife.com