Couple Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: A Workshop on the Sage Protocol

About the Course

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and emotion dysregulation can have a profound impact on intimate relationships, yet many existing treatments focus primarily on the individual rather than the couple. The Sage Protocol is an innovative, manualised treatment developed specifically for couples in which one or both partners experience BPD or significant emotion dysregulation.

Informed by Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Conjoint Therapy (CBCT), Sage is a structured 12-session intervention delivered conjointly to individuals and their partners. The approach aims to reduce BPD symptoms whilst simultaneously improving relationship functioning and partner wellbeing. Early clinical trials have demonstrated promising outcomes, and a large-scale randomised controlled trial is currently underway.

This two-day workshop, delivered by the primary developer of the Sage Protocol, Skye Fitzpatrick, provides an introduction to the model, its evidence base, and practical application. Participants will learn how to develop dyadic case formulations for couples affected by BPD and emotion dysregulation, establish safety within treatment, and implement interventions from each stage of the protocol.

The workshop will explore the three phases of Sage:

Phase 1: Orientation to treatment and establishing intrapersonal and interpersonal safety.
Phase 2: Communication skills and strategies to identify, experience, express, and respond to emotions in ways that promote effective dyadic emotion regulation.
Phase 3: Dyadic cognitive interventions targeting beliefs and patterns that contribute to emotional dysregulation and relationship difficulties.

Learning will be enhanced through clinical examples, video demonstrations, discussion, and role-play exercises to help participants build confidence in applying the Sage Protocol within their own clinical practice.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

* Describe the theoretical foundations of the Sage Protocol.
* Understand the role of intimate relationships in the maintenance of BPD and emotion dysregulation.
* Develop dyadic case formulations for couples affected by BPD.
* Establish intrapersonal and interpersonal safety within treatment.
* Apply communication and emotion regulation interventions from Sage.
* Teach couples skills that promote healthier emotional responding.
* Use cognitive interventions to address beliefs that contribute to emotional dysregulation and relationship conflict.
* Identify appropriate referrals and suitability considerations for Sage.
* Implement key strategies from each phase of the protocol.