Discover The Clear, Grounded Roadmap for Working Confidently and Effectively with Couples
Download the brochure and discover how RLT will help you:
- Move beyond mediating surface-level issues toward meaningful change
- Work from a trusted framework instead of worrying where to go next
- Build a thriving practice through stronger outcomes and referrals
Developed by Terry Real, Creator of Relational Life Therapy & New York Times bestselling author
“When I need advice, I call Terry Real. His decades of clinical experience, research, and wisdom are invaluable to my patients, colleagues, and friends.”
Esther Perel
Psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author
Discover The Clear, Grounded Roadmap for Working Confidently and Effectively with Couples
Developed over 40 years of clinical experience, the RLT Certification supports therapists and coaches in guiding even the most distant or volatile couples back into lasting, loving connection.
Download the brochure and discover how RLT will help you:
- Move beyond mediating surface-level issues toward meaningful change
- Work from a trusted framework instead of worrying where to go next
- Build a thriving practice through stronger outcomes and referrals
What Practitioners Are Saying About RLT
"RLT pulled everything together into a clear, comprehensive framework that solidified my practice.
Dr. Gloria Lee, Psychologist, PsyD, RPsych
Burnaby, BC
If you want the roadmap to take on the most difficult couples, when nothing else worked, this is for you:
More couples than ever are struggling to hold their relationships together.
And you’ve likely seen just how complex and painful it can be:
- Couples who barely communicate, their intimacy eroded and every interaction colored by resentment and bitterness.
- Power imbalances where one partner deflects, minimizes, or refuses accountability – leaving the other in deeper pain.
- The trauma of infidelity, where trust is shattered and a couple's world feels broken beyond repair.
These are the moments that can leave even experienced therapists and coaches second-guessing themselves, or wondering if they’re making a difference at all.
What makes the difference isn’t more empathy or insight alone – it’s having a grounded framework to guide intervention when things get heated and complicated.
That’s what RLT provides: a direct, structured approach to couples work that moves beyond the long-held norms of conventional practice.
Find out how you can transform your work with couples with the RLT Certification today.
"I have a clear structure and confidence to help couples get to the heart of the issue."
Anisha Kaul
RLT Certified Relational Coach
A Clearer, Steadier Way To Work With Couples with Relational Life Therapy (RLT)
Grounded in family systems, trauma work, feminist gender studies, neurobiology, and spirituality, RLT is built on Terry Real’s 4 decades of clinical experience. Over that time, he has identified the tools, strategies, and interventions that make a meaningful difference in couples work – even in highly volatile relationships, and often more quickly than expected.
RLT goes deeper than many traditional approaches to couples therapy and intentionally breaks from convention. At its core, the model unfolds in 3 distinct phases, offering both you and your clients a practical roadmap for profound, lasting change.
The RLT Roadmap at a Glance
1
Phase 1
Identify Patterns Early
Assess the repetitive “dance” between partners with precision, often within the first few sessions.
2
Phase 2
Address Underlying Trauma
Work with the early relational wounds that drive these patterns, while both partners are present.
3
Phase 3
Teach Relational Skills
Equip clients with structured tools for communication, repair, and maintaining connection in daily life.
Where is RLT most effective?
When you train in RLT, you’ll learn to use the model with your clients to support their relational healing.
This may be helping them improve their relationship with themselves, their partner, or other areas where relationships are experiencing difficulty, such as with family, friends, or coworkers.
Areas where RLT is especially powerful include
Ready To Learn More?
Who Is Terry Real?
Terry Real, LICSW, is an internationally recognized family therapist, New York Times bestselling author, and sought-after speaker.
A former senior faculty member of the Family Institute of Cambridge in Massachusetts and a retired Clinical Fellow of the Meadows Institute in Arizona, Terry is renowned for his ability to save couples on the brink of divorce using the progressive approach he created, Relational Life Therapy. RLT equips people with the powerful relational skills they need to cultivate meaningful connections—to themselves, each other, and the planet as a whole.
Via his esteemed training school, the Relational Life Institute, Terry has trained thousands of relationship professionals in his RLT method to date. His original insights on couples therapy, relationships, and men’s issues have been featured in outlets from Psychotherapy Networker and Forbes to The Today Show and The New York Times.
Esther Perel
Richard C. Schwartz,
