Course Description

This two-hour continuing education course focuses on an evidence-based framework for understanding, assessing, and responding to domestic and intimate partner violence (DV/IPV). Integrating key theoretical perspectives—including feminist, ecological, social learning, and attachment models—the course conceptualizes DV not as isolated incidents but as systemic patterns of coercion and control. The course explores the psychological mechanisms underlying abusive dynamics such as trauma bonding, pursuer–distancer cycles, and disorganized attachment, while also examining sociocultural, economic, and policy-level contributors. This course meets the Florida Board two-hour domestic violence continuing education requirement and is an NBCC and Florida Board approved course..

Please review the course materials prior to purchasing the course. Often, individuals will print a copy of the course worksheet to complete while they view the course material. Once you are ready to complete the course, please enroll in the course and complete the course requirements, including the course post-test and course survey. You will receive your certificate automatically for printing or downloading after achieving an 80% or higher on the post-test and completing the course survey. 

Domestic Violence in Clinical Practice Course Text.pdf

Domestic Violence in Clinical Practice Course Worksheet.pdf

Course Author:  Bryan Glazier, PhD, LMFT, LMHC,, FL Qualified MHC/MFT Supervisor 

Course Time/Location: 2 CE Hours, Location: www.directceu.com (web-based, asynchronous/home study) 

Course Text: Domestic Violence in Clinical Practice: Assessment, Dynamics, and Intervention

Course Board Approval Statement(s): NBCC, Florida Board Approved

Directceu, llc has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7411. directceu, llc maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

directceu, llc (BAP # 50-17578) is approved by the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling. directceu, llc maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

 Financial Disclosure Statement

directceu, llc is committed to providing our professional colleagues with unbiased information. directceu does not accept commercial support and our course authors have no significant financial interests or other conflicts of interest pertaining to the material.

Learning Objectives:

Through the completion of this course, participants will be able to:

  1. Describe and apply major theoretical frameworks explaining domestic violence, including coercive control and attachment models.
  2. Conduct trauma-informed, multi-level assessments addressing individual, relational, and systemic contributors to IPV.
  3. Develop intervention plans that integrate safety planning, typology-guided treatment, and ethical practice across diverse populations.

Course Syllabus:

Foundations and Prevalence

  • Definitions, prevalence, and global epidemiology of DV/IPV
  • Coercive control as a unifying framework

Theoretical Models

  • Power and Control Wheel and feminist theory origins
  • Social learning, ecological, and attachment perspectives

Psychological and Relational Dynamics

  • Pursuer–distancer and trauma bonding patterns
  • Disorganized attachment and trauma reenactment cycles

Assessment and Typologies

  • Risk screening, typology differentiation, and safety planning
  • Clinical documentation and mandated reporting

Ethical, Cultural, and Systemic Practice

           Intersectional barriers and cultural humility