Rational Living Therapy Certification

Prerequisites: A graduate degree in a mental health discipline or current enrollment in a mental health graduate program.

What is Rational Living Therapy?

Rational Living Therapy is a very systematic approach to cognitive-behavioral therapy, which means that the Rational Living Therapist knows where he or she is at any given point in the process of therapy.

Rational Living Therapy emphasizes both therapist skills and client rational self-counseling skills.  Rational Living Therapy emphasizes Dr. Aldo Pucci’s belief that any approach to counseling or psychotherapy that emphasizes instruction becomes a “sales job.”  The clinician has something to sell the client (the philosophy and techniques of rational self-counseling) and is hoping that the client will “buy” it.  For that reason, Rational Living Therapy utilizes powerful persuasive techniques techniques to help decrease conscious resistance to the therapist’s suggestion of success in therapy.

Rational Living Therapy is highly motivational.  If you dislike giving up on clients, and wish that there were some way to encourage any client to make changes, Rational Living Therapy is ideal for you.  It is designed to tap into the client’s desires by utilizing Rational Motivational Interviewing techniques.

Rational Living Therapy is very instructive.  The instructive nature of RLT helps produce long-term results for the client.

Rational Living Therapy also focuses on underlying assumptions.  By doing so, therapy is much “deeper” thus making the results more long-term.

Rational Living Therapists are very concerned with irrational labeling.  For this reason, we disagree with the labeling that results from mental health professionals’ use of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders.  Many of these “diagnoses” actually are only labels for a set of behaviors.  However, these labels often create a perception that the client “has” or “suffers from” a “disorder.”  This perception can become very problematic for the client, leading to a great deal of hopelessness.  Rational Living Therapists help clients avoid irrational labeling and hopelessness.

Rational Living Therapy takes the best of Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, Rational Behavior Therapy, and Cognitive Therapy and integrates knowledge and research findings in the areas of cognitive developmentlearning theorygeneral semanticsbrain functioning, social psychology and perception, and linguistics.  Rational Living Therapy takes advantage of special brain states to facilitate learning and progress.

Rational Living Therapy also rejects the common concepts of self-esteem and self-confidence, and also departs from the traditional CBT emphasis of “self-acceptance.”  RTL’s replacement to these concepts (the “Four A’s”) is much more practical and useful.

The Certification Process

The entire certification process can be completed via home study.  You may order each level separately, or order this package and receive a significant discount.

The RLT certification process requires the completion of four training levels and a practicum.  The practicum can be completed via telephone consultation.

Included with each RLT home study program level is an examination.  You simply listen to the audio included with each level and complete the exam as you listen to the lecture.  The levels must be completed in numerical order (One – Four).

The practicum involves 6 months (24 sessions) of weekly 30-minute telephone or Zoom consultations.  The trainee presents cases in which RLT is being implemented, and Dr. Pucci provides feedback in terms of the trainee’s use of RLT.  The fee for each 30 minute supervision session is $25.

Once all levels and the practicum have been completed, the trainee receives the “Certified Rational Living Therapist” credential.  This designation also fulfills the training requirement for the “Diplomate in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy” credential provided by the National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists.

The Training Levels

1. RLT Level-One

Introduction to Rational Living Therapy
— Theoretical Basis of RLT, Including Evidence Supporting It
— Theory of Emotions and Behavior (Both “Healthy” and Maladaptive)
— Complete Presentation of the Entire Process of Therapy, from Assessment to Termination

Dealing with Resistance
— Complete Review of the Many Ways in Which Clients Can Have Difficulty
Benefiting from Therapy and how Resistance is Treated in RLT

Introduction to the Treatment of Specific Problem Areas, Such as Depression, Suicide, Anxiety,          Substance Abuse, Bipolar Disorder, and Schizophrenia.

Introduction to Group Therapy

2. RLT Level-Two

Treatment of “Personality Disorders”, from engagement to treatment and termination.

Advanced “Underlying Assumption / Core Belief” Therapy

Advanced Cognitive Modification Skills

Application to Mood / Anxiety Disorders

Group Therapy

3. RLT Level-Three

Very Comprehensive approach to Marital Therapy, from assessment to termination

Substance Abuse Treatment

Treatment of Children

4. RLT Level-Four

Comprehensive Review of the Rational Living Therapy Therapeutic Process

Dr. Pucci reviews, with great detail, the step-by-step RLT therapeutic process, as well as describing how to prevent potential problems and to correct already established problems / therapeutic resistance.

Teaching Important RLT Therapeutic Concepts

Dr. Pucci provides participants the opportunity to present how they would teach important concepts, like the ABCs of Emotions, Irrational Shoulds, and the Confusion of Needs and Wants.  Then listen as he provides feedback and helps the participants fine tune their approach.

Recognizing the Top 40 Shoulds that Disturb People

Listen as Dr. Pucci teaches participants how to recognize and correct the top 40 irrational shoulds and musts and create an entitlement mentality and create significant disturbance.

Develop New Rational Replacement Thoughts

Learn with great detail how to use the continuum of thought change and the Successive Approximations of Thought Acquisition techniques to help clients replace irrational thoughts with new, rational thoughts.

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