WHOLEHEARTED COMMUNICATION
A 6-Week Live Course for Couples
Who Are Tired of the Same Fight
Facilitated by Michele O'Mara, PhD, LCSW
author of The Couples Communication Cure
You love each other. You know that.
But somehow, every conversation about something that matters turns into the same argument you had last month. And the month before that. And probably the month before that too.
One of you pushes to talk about it. The other one shuts down. Or you both explode and then spend two days pretending everything's fine.
You've tried being calmer. You've tried "I statements." You've read the book. Maybe two books. You've told yourself, "Next time I won't react like that."
And then next time comes, and you react exactly like that.
Here's what nobody told you: the problem isn't that you don't love each other enough. The problem is that no one ever taught you how to talk to each other when it counts.
That's a skill gap, not a character flaw. And skill gaps close.
The sessions show us how this whole world of our nervous systems has influenced our lives in so many ways that were completely hidden to us, in spite of the fact that we've both been in counselling and studied things like non-violent communication for years! We just want to say how much we both appreciate the knowledge you brought together for this course and, more importantly, for the way you delivered it.
- B and N from Canada
WHAT THIS COURSE IS
Wholehearted Communication is a live, 6-week course on Zoom where you and your partner learn a completely different way to communicate, practice it together in real time, and walk away with tools you'll actually use. Not theory. Not worksheets you'll never open again. Tools.
This is not therapy. It's not a lecture. It's not a webinar where someone talks at you for an hour while you fold laundry on mute.
It's a small group of couples, learning together, with a clinician who has spent nearly 30 years figuring out exactly where couples get stuck and exactly how to get them unstuck.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
How to recognize when your nervous system is running the show (and what to do about it before things escalate)
Why one of you chases and the other one retreats, and how to interrupt that pattern before it hijacks the whole evening
How to say what you actually need without starting a war
How to listen in a way that makes your partner feel heard, not managed
How to repair after a fight so it doesn't just get added to the pile
How to stop the cycle where you both know something is wrong but nobody says anything until it blows up
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
Couples who love each other but keep hurting each other in the same ways.
Couples who are stuck in a pattern and can feel it but can't name it.
Couples who are one more ugly fight away from wondering if this is going to work.
Couples who are "fine" but know that fine isn't what they signed up for.
You can take this course with your partner or on your own. Both work.
👇 UPCOMING COURSE OPTIONS 👇
(6) TUESDAYS 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm EST
7 pm CT | 6 pm MT | 5 pm PT
AUG 4, 11, 18, SEP 1, 15, 22
$187
Limited to 35
Cost $187 per couple
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS COURSE
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Staying Regulated
Learn how to recognize when communication shifts into self-protection and how to stay present enough to keep conversations from escalating or shutting down.
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A Clear Communication Structure
Learn the principles of Wholehearted Communication and how to apply them to create more reliable patterns of interaction.
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Changing the Dance
Shift the focus from each other to the pattern, so you can interrupt ineffective cycles and practice new ways of relating.
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Disagreeing Without Fighting
Learn how to stay on the same team, even when you see things differently.
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Speaking With Honesty and Openness
Learn how to access and communicate thoughts, feelings, and needs with greater clarity and directness.
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★★★★★
It was outstanding. Very clearly taught with excellent handouts – specific, sharp looking. Flowed well from concept to concept. Really liked the teaching format. Exercises were very beneficial. I would highly recommend it.
– Tamara Weber, Saint Clare, MI
★★★★★
Michele is an excellent coach and facilitator. Not only is the material helpful but she "walks her talk" (demonstrated with her partner). I'd recommend this course to anyone. It's a user-friendly and practical course. Her style is also engaging: she has a great sense of humor, has sound applications, and provides a safe space.
- Susan L, North Carolina
★★★★★
It was amazing!
So insightful and especially validating to see that we're not the only ones who struggle the way we do with communication, don't change your personable and welcoming demeanor.
– K&M, Huntsville, AL
Cost
Registration is $187.
You may attend with or without a partner.
All sessions are recorded.
Course Format
Six weekly live Zoom classes
Audio recordings available for review
Weekly PDF handouts and exercises
Option to attend with or without a partner
Supportive community of current and past participants
About the Facilitator
Michele O'Mara, PhD, LCSW, has been working with couples for nearly 30 years. She's the author of Couples Communication Cure (endorsed by the creators of Imago Relationship Therapy, Harville Hendrix, PhD and Helen LaKelly Hunt, PhD), and has taught this course to hundreds of couples across 22+ cohorts.
Her approach blends the best of Imago, Gottman, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and polyvagal theory into a framework that's built for real couples in real fights, not textbook couples in a clinical example.
She doesn't talk at you. She teaches you. There's a difference.
Q & A's
Will I Have to Talk in Front of Others?
Will I Have to Talk about our issues in Front of Others?
No. This is an educational course. This is not therapy. You will not be expected to share anything about yourself or your relationship (if applicable) in front of your peers. All exercises are designed to be done privately, some on your own, and some with your partner or a friend. Any sharing you do during class is 100% voluntary. There may be opportunities to volunteer to role-play a skill in front of your peers. However, this is 100% voluntary.
You will have the opportunity to interact with other participants through comments in the online classroom. All sharing is 100% voluntary, not required.
What if I cannot do all 6 classes?
No worries. Not all schedules line up perfectly, so we flex life as we need to. Ideally, you will work to prioritize this course as an investment in your relationship. The course materials and assignments will be available on the private online communication course portal. Audio recordings of each class will also be uploaded to the classroom portal.
Will classes be recorded?
Yes, technology willing, each class will be recorded and audio files will be uploaded in the online classroom portal.
Can I access this course from a smartphone?
Yes. You can use zoom.us via a smartphone, ipad, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer. You will need access to the internet and you will also need to download the zoom app on the device you plan to use to access class. Go to: zoom.us/download and download this software on your device. At the time of the class, enter the course URL address (which you'll receive after registering) in your search bar. This will take you to the live digital classroom.
Can I attend without a partner/spouse?
Yes, single and partnered lesbians are welcome. If you are in a lesbian/non-binary relationship and you wish to join without your partner, please do. Don’t be surprised if she gets curious and decides to join you. 🙂
Can I attend if I am single?
Yes. The course material is about wholehearted communication - the ability to communicate effectively in intimate relationships. This is a life skill we all need whether you are currently in a relationship or not. The content and information provided in the course will offer you valuable information to significantly improve your communication skills regadless of your relationship status.
What do lesbians have to say about this class?
It was outstanding. Very clearly taught with excellent handouts – specific, sharp looking. Flowed well from concept to concept. Really liked the teaching format. Exercises were very beneficial. I would highly recommend it.
– Tamara Weber, Saint Clare, MI
. . .
It was amazing!
So insightful and especially validating to see that we’re not the only ones who struggle the way we do with communication. Don’t change your personable and welcoming demeanor.
– K&M, Huntsville, AL
. . .
It was amazing! Must do for anyone at any stage of relationship. Keep offering it and other communication classes! We will take them all! We want to grow and improve.
– Tay York, Bloomington, IN
. . .
It was very thought provoking and useful information that can be applied to not only your significant other, but all relationships. The format and information was easy to follow and I felt Michele did a great job facilitating, especially on such a frustrating platform like Zoom.
– Anonymous
. . .
Loved how you brought your authentic self and gave an example from your relationship. Content is excellent. Keep the exercises!
– Nancy, NJ
. . .
Do it!
– Lj. O, Seattle, WA
. . .
It is time well spent growing your relationship but to also learn about yourself..so many “oh that makes perfect sense” moments:)
– Chris Adkins, Westfield, IN
. . .
It was a really great experience and I’m glad my wife and I signed up. Michelle was great at making things “click”. I learned a lot about myself as well as why there is a breakdown in communication.
– Anonymous
. . .
Great information, helpful tools and a friendly and knowledgeable Facilitator.
– Carolee & Kristin, Arlington, VA
. . .
Great class with great direction on how to format a productive conversation voicing your feelings and needs. Don’t change your amazing insight and gift into the lesbian brain/relationship and your knowledge of how to build a better foundation for relationships and communication. Also, stay funny.
– H. B. Indianapolis, IN
. . .
You will leave with great tools for communication, especially in terms of less harmful ways to engage in conflict.
– M, St. Petersburg, FL
. . .
Learning to communicate is vital to connection. True connection is vital to fulfillment. This class is another huge step in your life to that fulfillment you so desire. Give yourself and the love of your life the precious gift of learning and becoming better together.
– D Fishers, Indiana
. . .
Michele is brilliant and has this amazing gift for communication and teaching you how to think about communication in a way you never have before.
– P. Pennsylvania
About the Facilitator, Michele O'Mara, PhD
My name is Michele.
I am a relationship coach and psychotherapist, a divorced and remarried lesbian, recovering alcoholic of 20 + years, with ADD, in a lesbian blended family with two sons, and in a 13-year age-gap marriage to my wife.
Yep, I’m definitely human. For the longest time, I thought I had to have life figured out and be free of mistakes and challenges of my own in order to be of help to others. I was wrong.
We all have challenges, make mistakes and the goal is to keep learning, to keep doing better.
My personal challenges, failures, and life experiences have opened my heart to understand our shared humanity. Neither you, nor I, are defined by our challenges, we are defined by how we respond to them.
I don’t have all of life’s mysteries figured out. Nor am I better or worse than anyone else. I am, however, obsessed with all things relationships. For the past 20 + years, I have been a practicing psychotherapist in Indiana as well as a relationship and intimacy coach for lesbian couples who live outside of Indiana.
In the early ’90s, I read a book called “Getting the Love You Want” by Harville and Helen Hendrix. I was so inspired by the Imago Theory of relationships that I quit my job and returned to school for an MSW with the goal of helping lesbian couples cultivate and maintain secure and satisfying relationships. Over the past three decades, my passion for helping lesbian couples has intensified.
My quest for learning is strong and continues to grow.
Here are some highlights of my professional and educational journey:
- 2005, Certified Imago Therapist
- 2005, Created Lesbian Couples Weekend - a two-day relationship workshop for lesbian couples
- 2007, Developed Designing My Life 12-Week Courses (have created 9 classes to date)
- 2012, PhD in Clinical Sexology, with a dissertation on the Correlation Between Sexual Frequency and Lesbian Relationship Satisfaction.
- 2012, published a book of questions available Amazon.com with a 4-star rating out of 72 reviews.
- 2014, completed all three levels of the Gottman Method relationship training program.
- 2015, trained with Sue Johnson to develop skills with Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples.
- 2016, certified as a Discernment Counselor to assist couples in clarifying whether to separate or do the work on their relationship.
- 2018, Created Lesbian Adventures in Love - a relationship building resource for lesbians that includes destination retreats for lesbian couples, as well as courses, community and other resources for relationship building
- 2019, created the Lesbian Love Codes Relationship Transformation Program
- 2019, created lesbian speed dating event
- 2020, created a communication strategy for lesbian couples called Wholehearted Communication.
- 2021, introduced communication classes for lesbian couples
- 2020, trained again with Sue Johnson, to develop stronger skills in EFT.
- 2022, Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) training - a cutting edge trauma intervention to assist couples impacted by trauma.
Is this considered therapy?
No. This is a class. In fact, you do not have to introduce yourself or share anything about yourself or your relationship you do not wish to. Each class will consist of lessons taught live by Michele O'Mara, PhD and there will be opportunities for Q&A each week.
©Lesbian Adventures in Love. All Rights Reseved.
