CHOOSE HIM WISELY: Research-Based Guidelines to Help Women Stay Clear of Dangerous Relationships
Advances in Family-Based Therapy with Adolescents
August 22, 2025
GIVE MIAMI DAY 2025
November 14, 2025
When:
Friday, October 31st, 2025
10:00am-12:00pm Eastern
Where:
Zoom
Registration:
For Continuing Education: $35
Free general registration
Register Here:
Following registration, you will be sent the zoom link.
Continuing Education Registration:
For payment for CEs:
About:
“Choose Him Wisely”, written by Ph.D. clinical psychologists with a combined nine decades of clinical and research experience working with victims of intimate partner abuse and male abusers, addresses these issues in a systematic and engaging fashion. Fueled by Dr. Meichenbaum’s passion for protecting the women closest to him, he and Dr. Wexler created a way to help women make smart and safe decisions about their partners: a practical, user-friendly, and compact book that can help women make these critical decisions.
Relationship choices can have profound and lasting impacts on women's mental health, safety, and well-being. This book highlights why it is critical for women to make smart and safe decisions in making the crucial life decision of choosing a partner, and identifies the warning signs of abusive and controlling men: love-bombing, jealousy, blaming the partner, ”too much, too soon”, etc.
Dr. Donald Meichenbaum and Dr. David B.Wexler have developed a concise, accessible, and evidence-informed guide to help women make safer and smarter decisions in choosing romantic partners. This course is grounded in the content of Choose Him Wisely, which offers a practical framework for identifying early warning signs of abusive, controlling, and manipulative behaviors, such as love-bombing, excessive jealousy, gaslighting, and rushing intimacy ("too much, too soon"). These behavioral patterns are discussed in the context of psychological theory, clinical practice, and real-world application, making the material engaging and relevant for a wide range of mental health professionals. The course emphasizes early intervention, empowerment, and prevention. Participants will learn strategies for helping clients recognize red flags in potential partners and will be introduced to psychoeducational tools that can be shared with clients, students, or community members. The course also discusses the broader systemic and familial implications of Intimate Partner Violence, including the importance of support systems for daughters, granddaughters, clients, and colleagues navigating new or existing relationships. This course will be especially relevant for those supporting women who are entering or considering entering romantic relationships. The structured guidance provided in this course is designed to empower clients to make safe, informed, and autonomous choices which are critical for reducing risk and promoting long-term well-being.
Learning Objectives:
- Recognize early warning signs of abusive/controlling behavior (e.g. love‑bombing, jealousy, blaming) in a prospective partner.
- Integrate the assessment of relationship safety into your clinical work with clients (e.g., in intake interviews, case formulations, or psychoeducation).
- Learn ways to help clients/family/friends/colleagues/yourself make informed, safe decisions about entering or remaining in a romantic relationship.
David B. Wexler, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and the executive director of the non-profit Relationship Training Institute in San Diego. He is the author of seven books on relationships in conflict, including "When Good Men Behave Badly," "Is He Depressed or What," "Men in Therapy," and "#MeToo-informed Therapy: Counseling Approaches for Men, Women, and Couples." Dr. Wexler has authored an internationally recognized domestic violence treatment manual: the newly revised and updated "The STOP Program―Fourth Edition," released by W.W. Norton in 2020, and "The STOP Program: For Women Who Abuse-Second Edition" in 2024. He has trained thousands of community professionals, military personnel, and law enforcement officials through extensive training seminars on the STOP Program model throughout the world. More than 60,000 domestic violence offenders have now been treated by the STOP Program.
Dr. Wexler has been featured on the Dr. Phil show and the TODAY show, in the Wall St. Journal, Washington Post, "O" Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Men's Health, and on hundreds of radio and TV programs throughout North America to help educate the public about relationships in conflict and how to resolve them.
DONALD MEICHENBAUM, Ph. D. is Distinguished Professor Emeritus from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. He took early retirement 28 years ago to become Research Director of the Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention in Miami, Florida (http://www.melissainstitute.org). He is one of the founders of Cognitive Behavior Therapy and as a result he has received many awards. He was voted "one of the ten most influential psychotherapists of the 20th century" by clinicians, as reported in the American Psychologist Journal. He has published extensively, including the Classic Cognitive Behavior Modification, Pain and Behavior Medicine, Stress Inoculation Training, Treatment of PTSD, Treatment of Individuals With Anger Control Problems and Aggressive Behaviors, Treatment of Individuals With Substance Abuse Disorders. Most recently, he has made his book Roadmap to Resilience available for free on the Internet. It has been downloaded by 50,000 individuals in 138 countries.
Dr. Meichenbaum has presented workshops in all 50 U.S. states and internationally. He is presently training psychotherapists via zoom in China.
Important Links:
- https://www.donaldmeichenbaum.com/
- https://www.rtiprojects.org/
- https://melissainstitute.org/
- New Book - Choose Him Wisely: How to Identify a Safe Partner
References:
Mikton, C. & Tanaka, M. (2017). Global research priorities for international violence prevention: A modified Delphi study. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 95, 36–48.
Miles, J. (2017). Violent risk assessment: A brief review of current issues and future directions. Canadian Psychology, 58, 40–49.
Rezey, M. L. (2020). Separated women’s risk for intimate partner violence: A multiyear analysis using the national crime victimization survey. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(5–6), 1055–1080. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517692334
CE BROKER COURSE 20-1331744
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All CEs require additional steps during registration including a pre-training survey, a $35 fee, and an evaluation form returned to us following the training.
Continuing Education (CE) information:
- 2 CE for Psychologists through APA.
- 2 CE for School Psychologists through NASP.
*Florida License Only - 2 Credit Hours provided for LCSW, LMHC & LMFT in the State of Florida only.
*Upon request, The Melissa Institute will provide a certificate of completion that can be self-reported to other state boards. We cannot guarantee that it will be accepted by other boards for approval.
The Melissa Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists and maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Important Disclosure:
None of the planners or presenters of this educational activity have any relevant financial relationships to disclose with ineligible companies, defined as those whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
For the purposes of this disclosure, financial relationships are considered relevant when the content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of such ineligible companies.
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