

Helping Couples Heal Podcast
Marnie Breecker
Welcome to the Helping Couples Heal podcast. If you have lost hope around healing your relationship due to infidelity, relational or betrayal trauma you have come to the right place. Helping Couples Heal is an ongoing podcast designed to help couples recover and heal from the impact of betrayal trauma on their relationships. We cumulatively bring over two decades of experience and expertise in the field of betrayal. Throughout this podcast series, we will offer resources and support and teach you the tools and skills necessary to heal your relationship. You will also hear from recovered addicts, partners, and couples who will share their stories, as well as from experts in the field of betrayal. With compassion, love and fierce commitment, we will guide you and walk beside you as you navigate this journey of recovery, hope, and healing. Thank you for inviting us into your world; we are honored to support you.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 7, 2021 • 28min
29: When Feeling of Safety Don't Align: Sexual Recovery is Not Enough
In this episode of Helping Couples Heal, Marnie and Duane, explore why betrayed partners often still don't feel safe even after sexual recovery has been achieved.

Apr 14, 2021 • 26min
28: Couples Therapy: Too Soon or Not Soon Enough?
In this episode of the Helping Couples Heal podcast, Marnie and Duane respond to a listener's request for guidance about couple therapy, including when it is and isn't clinically recommended and the indicators that it is too soon or not soon enough. Betrayed partners commonly report that they have been pushed to do therapy as a couple early on in the process before they are ready and while they still feel unsafe. Join Marnie and Duane for this important conversation as they discern early couples work focused on crisis management and safety building from later couple therapy where bonding, connection, repair, and vulnerability are encouraged.You can find out more about Duane and Marnie at helpingcouplesheal.com/aboutLearn More About Our Helping Couples Online Workshop at helpingcouplesheal.com/workshop

Mar 5, 2021 • 1h 3min
27: PACT Therapy, Attachment and Betrayal Trauma with Stan Tatkin
In this episode of the Helping Couples Heal podcast, Marnie and Duane talk with Stan Tatkin - clinician, researcher, teacher, and developer of the psychobiological approach to couple therapy (PACT) neuroscience and the role of attachment theory in healing betrayal and relational trauma. Please listen carefully to every word of this interview if you are someone who has betrayed your partner and can't understand why she is as traumatized as she is by your betrayal.

Feb 2, 2021 • 26min
26 Finding Professional Support
In this episode, Marnie and Duane discuss the unique and often challenging process of finding the "right" help in the aftermath of betrayal. They stress the importance of a collaborative and systems-focused approach to relational helping and address the potential pitfalls of using a non-relational model, including further trauma.

Dec 14, 2020 • 20min
25: Grief & Loss During the Holidays
In this episode, Marnie and Duane address the topic of grieving during the holidays, when loss and grief are often felt more acutely. The holiday season, which extends from Thanksgiving to the beginning of the new year, is a very long stretch of time when there is an expectation of celebration and joy. This can feel very incongruent for those in recovery from betrayal and relational trauma because the mood of someone who is grieving is very contrary to most others' mood during these festive times. Marnie and Duane offer some practical suggestions for surviving the holiday season, starting with simply accepting that you are grieving and that it will be different this year. Permitting yourself to make the necessary compromises and adjustments is crucial in making the holidays a bit more tolerable for yourself and your family.

Nov 2, 2020 • 1h 8min
24: Betrayal Trauma & The Polygraph
In this episode, Marnie talks to Ryan Angulo, a Los Angeles based Polygrapher who she has been working with since 2008. With differing opinions amongst treatment professionals and clients alike about the efficacy of polygraphs in the context of sex addiction and betrayal trauma recovery, traumatized couples are often left confused, frustrated, and uncertain about whether or not to include the polygraph as a part of their disclosure and healing process. Marnie and Ryan answer the most commonly asked questions and explore the benefits and risks of using the polygraph as a tool to promote relational healing and rebuild trust post sexual betrayal. You can find out more about Duane and Marnie at helpingcouplesheal.com/aboutLearn More About Our Helping Couples Online Workshop at helpingcouplesheal.com/workshop

Oct 16, 2020 • 24min
23: The Shame of Staying
This episode of the HCH podcast focuses on the shame many betrayed partners' experiences related to their decision to stay in the relationship with the person who betrayed them. In this conversation, Marnie and Duane conceptualize the shame of staying as another burden partners must bear in the aftermath of the discovery of betrayal. You can find out more about Duane and Marnie at helpingcouplesheal.com/aboutLearn More About Our Helping Couples Online Workshop at helpingcouplesheal.com/workshop

Sep 7, 2020 • 56min
22: The Truth: A Conversation with Neil Strauss
In this episode, Marnie has an uncensored and candid discussion with New York Times bestselling writer and transformational journalist Neil Strauss. Neil talks openly about his sex addiction recovery journey as chronicled in his book "The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships" With humor, humility, and honesty, He shares many of the lessons he learned in treatment, including the moments in therapy that changed his life, healed his relationship, and, most important, brought him home to himself. You can find out more about Duane and Marnie at http://www.helpingcouplesheal.com/ Learn More About Our Helping Couples Online Workshop at http://www.helpingcouplesheal.com/workshop/

Aug 17, 2020 • 51min
21: A Conversation With Dr. Rob Weiss
In this episode of Helping Couples Heal, Marnie and Duane talk with Dr. Rob Weiss, a clinical sexologist and the Chief Clinical Officer at Seeking Integrity in Los Angeles. In his book "Out of the Doghouse; a Step by Step Relationship-Saving Guide for Men Caught Cheating," Rob offers concrete steps men can take to rebuild trust, restore intimacy, and heal relationships traumatized by betrayal. Sex addicts are intimacy-challenged and empathy-challenged. As such, they lack the skills needed to overcome the damage caused by their infidelity and associated patterns of manipulation, deceit, and emotional and psychological abuse. In this episode, we emphasize that identifying and learning about these crucial relational skills and eventually being coached in their practice is a necessary component of recovery for sex addicts to healing relationships traumatized by betrayal. You can find out more about Duane and Marnie at http://www.helpingcouplesheal.com/ Learn More About Our Helping Couples Online Workshop at http://www.helpingcouplesheal.com/workshop/

Jul 6, 2020 • 21min
20: Emotional Attunement & Shame
In this episode, Marnie and Duane share and address a listener's question about the role of empathy and emotional attunement in healing relationships traumatized by betrayal. More specifically, they conceptualize shame as a barrier to relational healing and explore the importance of shame reduction in treatment. You can find out more about Duane and Marnie at http://www.helpingcouplesheal.com/ Learn More About Our Helping Couples Online Workshop at http://www.helpingcouplesheal.com/workshop/