The power of rituals in couple therapy: a systemic intervention method
Sessions
11 juin 2026
The power of rituals in couple therapy: a systemic intervention method
A clinical, systemic and symbolic training to help professionals use rituals as genuine levers of intervention when working with couples.
In a context where the individualisation of life paths often weakens the conjugal bond, rituals are not mere relational decoration. They can structure life as a couple, give meaning to the shared story, support delicate transitions and make a more embodied transformation of the bond possible.
This training explores couple rituals in their systemic, clinical and anthropological dimensions. It provides landmarks for understanding what they organise, what they sometimes repair, what they make possible, and how to mobilise them meaningfully within a therapeutic frame.
Participants will work on the ordinary rituals of everyday life, the constitutive rituals that sustain the couple's myth, and the performative rituals capable of marking a transition, a reconnection, a symbolic separation or a new beginning.
The 100% online format via Zoom lets you attend the day live, interact during the training and use the replay to revisit the content, tools and clinical situations afterwards.
Online training via Zoom • Replay available • Teaching materials, case studies and practical exercises
Because some relational changes are consolidated not only through words, but also through symbolic acts that reorganise the bond
When a couple goes through wear and tear, a break in continuity or a phase of disorganisation, rituals can offer a frame, a rhythm, a shared memory and a support to revive the bond.
Some conjugal issues do not shift through understanding alone. Rituals engage the body, objects, places, gestures, thresholds and sequences of transformation.
The training helps professionals design symbolic interventions attuned to the couple's myth, its history and the therapeutic function being sought.
What you will develop
- Identify the three main categories of rituals: ordinary, constitutive and performative.
- Understand the symbolic, structuring and reparative functions of couple rituals.
- Know how to co-construct, prescribe and accompany therapeutic rituals with couples.
- Explore the couple's founding myths as a basis for ritual design.
- Use rituals to create transitions, closures, reconnections or reconfigurations in the couple's dynamics.
- Identify the rituals already present — or absent — in the lives of the couples you work with.
- Propose ritual prescriptions attuned to the conjugal myth.
- Create therapeutic spaces that foster the performativity of relational change.
Live session, experimentation and replay
This day is not designed as a simple top-down transmission. It combines theoretical input, clinical sequences, exercises and hands-on work.
- The live session via Zoom allows interaction, exchanges, case studies and small-group work.
- The available replay lets you review the content, revisit the theoretical distinctions and consolidate the therapeutic tools.
- The teaching materials extend the day: PDFs, explanatory videos and interactive presentations.
Exploring couple rituals, then learning to create and prescribe therapeutic rituals
Introduction and clinical framing of rituals
- General presentation of the day
- The place of rituals in conjugal life
- Systemic, clinical and anthropological approach
- Landmarks for thinking of rituals as an intervention method
Ordinary rituals and couple routines
- Functions of simple rituals in the daily relational economy
- Identifying routines of cohabitation, care and reunion
- Regulation of everyday life and relational stability
- Clinical effects of ritual collapse: chaos, overload, conflict, disengagement
Constitutive rituals and the conjugal myth
- The link between symbolic acts and the couple's identity narrative
- Continuity, anchoring and coherence of the bond
- Identifying founding moments and putting them into narrative
- Clinical vignettes and role-playing
Practice around everyday rituals
- Analysis of clinical cases
- Symbolic self-assessment of the couple
- Work around the metaphorical-object ritual
- Co-constructing rituals of reunion and emotional safety
Performative rituals and rites of passage
- Rituals of forgiveness, separation, transition and commitment
- Systemic and narrative framing of rites of passage
- Three phases of construction: preliminal, liminal, postliminal
- Creating a symbolic sequence that genuinely transforms the bond
Therapeutic techniques, scripting and action plan
- Ritual prescriptions at home, outside or in session
- Narrative grafts and the performativity of symbolic statements
- Collective construction of a couple ritual from a fictional case
- Drawing up a therapeutic intervention plan and closing the day
Teaching methods
- PDF materials, explanatory videos and interactive presentations
- Clinical case studies
- Practical exercises
- Small-group work and hands-on application
Organisation and practicalities
- Schedule: communicated upon registration
- Online training via Zoom
- An access link is sent before the training
Assessment
- Before: positioning questionnaire
- During: practical exercises and formative assessments
- After: assessment of learning, satisfaction and self-evaluation
- Progress supported by clinical experimentation throughout the day
For which professionals
This training is aimed at professionals who work with couples and wish to enrich their practice with symbolic, systemic tools that can be used directly in session.
Prerequisites, facilitation and accessibility
- Prerequisites: experience working with couples or training in family and couple therapy.
- Trainer: Julien Besse, director of Complexe Systémique, psychologist and psychotherapist specialised in the systemic approach.
- Language: the training is delivered in French.
- Accessibility: wherever possible, the training can be adapted to specific needs communicated in advance.
- Reference: CS-COUP-RIT-2506-03.
Using rituals as a therapeutic lever when working with couples
This training is designed for professionals who want to intervene differently in conjugal situations, mobilising the structuring, symbolic and transformative power of rituals within a systemic perspective.
