Professional Training
UPCOMING LIVE TRAINING
Excerpt from previous training: On the importance of identifying ingrained cultural assumptions.
Understanding Attraction in Clinical Practice
A Three-Part Professional Training Series
Dates: Nov 2, Nov 9 & Nov 16, 2026
12—1:30pm, US | Eastern Time
This three-part training introduces participants to a clinical framework that helps therapists to better understand and work with confusing, compulsive or unwanted attraction patterns, often seen in clients who are navigating dating and relationships, both premarital and marital.
TRAINING SUMMARY
Three live 90-minute sessions (4.5 total hours)
Live on Zoom, Participant cameras can be on or off
60 minutes teaching, 30 minutes clinical application and discussion
Teaching portions recorded and available for 30 days after the final session
Designed primarily for clinicians; graduate students and other professionals working with dating and relationships are also welcome
CEUs are not available for this series
$195 regular registration
$149 early registration (through Oct 18)
$99 graduate student/international participant
DETAILED TRAINING DESCRIPTION
The training addresses questions like:
How do different types of attractions get activated or become muted?
Why do some clients become so intensely drawn to certain people, images or situations, whether romantically, sexually or as a kind of infatuation?
How can therapists quickly identify and work with some common attraction patterns that can lead to distress in clients?
By understanding how attraction works, participants will learn to work efficiently and effectively with these types of patterns without reducing them to chemistry, attachment style, or compatibility alone.
SESSION DATES AND TITLES
Session 1: Why Certain People Become So Compelling — Assessing Attraction Triggers and Patterns
Monday, October 26, 2026 | 12:00–1:30pm, US Eastern Time
This session introduces a psychological framework that helps clinicians identify the emotional roots of some common but confusing attraction patterns.
Session 2: Fantasy, Compatibility, and Connection — Understanding Attraction Trajectories
Monday, November 2, 2026 |12:00–1:30pm, US Eastern Time
This session examines how attraction can become intensified and muted, both when it begins with fantasy or when it begins with a real person connection.
Session 3: From Formulation to Intervention — Applying the Framework to Difficult Cases
Monday, November 9, 2026 |12:00–1:30pm, US Eastern Time
This session will apply this attraction framework to some common clinical areas including same-sex attraction, intense emotional dependency (or limerence) and complex intimate relationships organized around unstable, but powerful, attraction patterns.
Each live session includes approximately 60 minutes of teaching followed by 30 minutes for clinical application, questions and discussion. Case material will be discussed in a way that is appropriate for a multidisciplinary audience and protects client confidentiality.
WHAT PARTICIPANTS WILL LEARN:
Identify common attraction triggers and recurring patterns that contribute to confusion in dating and relationships.
Distinguish attraction organized around a particular quality, fantasy, or emotional promise from attraction that develops through real connection.
Formulate why a particular person or relationship becomes unusually compelling.
Apply the framework to common clinical presentations without dismissing or pathologizing them.
FEEDBACK FROM PRIOR TRAININGS
"I really enjoyed the presentation and learned a lot. I appreciate this framework, and already put it into use today! It opened new avenues of exploration for a client."
Shevy Jacobs, MS, LMFT
“Dr. Frances’ framework is extremely clear, descriptive, and clinically useful.”
Eliezer Evan Schwadron, LCSW-R
“Dr. Koby Frances is a very needed voice of reason shining bright light on dark corners. As a rabbi, I can attest that this approach is fully consistent with Torah values as expressed in both halacha and mussar. I highly commend his work.”
Rabbi Yitzchak Beitowitz, Rosh Yeshiva, Ohr Sameach
"I've watched all 3 of your lectures. They were ground-breaking, thought-provoking and so refreshing! I was so impressed with your perspective and how you're ready to challenge traditional therapy in these sensitive areas, in such a humble way!"
Miri Wajchman, Marriage and Intimacy Coach
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Koby Frances, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist with more than fifteen years of experience in private practice, academic teaching, clinical training, and supervision. His clinical work focuses on dating and relationships, recurring and unwanted attractions, compulsive sexual behavior, and questions of sexual identity. Much of his practice now focuses on supervising and training clinicians around the globe.
Dr. Frances is the creator of a developing clinical framework for understanding how attraction patterns form, persist and then influence dating, relationship and identity choices. He has taught and presented at numerous universities, college counseling centers, mental health clinics, doctoral programs, Orthodox community venues and group practices. His writing has appeared in Psychoanalytic Psychology, Hakira and Dialogue for Torah Issues & Ideas.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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The teaching portions will be recorded and available for 30 days. Questions, participant discussion, and case consultation will not be recorded in order to protect privacy. Recording availability after the series has not yet been determined. Those interested may contact Dr. Frances for information.
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The series is designed primarily for mental-health professionals. Graduate students, rabbis, educators, dating coaches, kallah teachers, and other professionals who regularly encounter these concerns are also welcome. The framework will be presented in an accessible and practical way, and no specific theoretical background or amount of clinical experience is required.
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Yes, participants are welcome to have their cameras on or off during the presentation and case discussion and you are welcome to change or remove your name from the Zoom meeting.
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Continuing-education credit is not available for this series. CE credit may be considered for future trainings.
PREVIOUS TRAININGS
Invited presentations for doctoral psychology programs, counseling centers, group private practices, and mental health organizations.
International trainings for therapists and rabbis
Conference presentations at the International Forum for Psychoanalytic Education
Presentations at Nefesh International Conference
Fifteen years of undergraduate and graduate psychology teaching including serving as Chair of Psychology at Touro College South and Director of Clinical Training at SUNY Old Westbury Counseling Center