About Imago

About Imago Therapy

Moving from conflict to connection

Who is Imago For?

Couples who:

Want to enhance their relationship and have more fun & passion.
Are deepening their commitment with marriage, common-law, buying a house, having children etc.
Are beginning a new relationship and would like to ensure the connection is maintained.
Would like to preserve the relationship they have.
Are experiencing conflicts and want to learn a new way to communicate.
Are considering a separation/divorce and would like to change that course.

Singles who:

Want to learn how to create a fulfilling relationship in the future.
Understand why past relationships didn’t work and transform them into a source of positive growth.

A man and a woman are looking at each other in the woods.

Who are Imago Therapists?

Only licensed and credentialed professionals, who have been through an extensive yearlong training (over 96 hours) with supervision in Imago Relationship Therapy(IRT) through the Imago International Institute, are qualified to call themselves Certified Imago Relationship Therapists.

There are over 2000 Imago Therapists currently practicing in over 30 countries, which are supported by Imago Relationships Worldwide (IRW). Co-founded by Harville Hendrix Ph.D. and Helen LaKelly Hunt, Ph.D. this international non-profit organization offers training and promotion of the work. Dr. Harville Hendrix, PhD, is the author of Getting the Love You Want, Keeping the Love You Find, Giving the Love that Heals, and most recently co-author of Receiving Love.

In addition, 160 Certified Imago Presenters offer workshops for couples and individuals that help thousands of persons world-wide every year. Its mission is to transform the world one relationship at a time and create a new model for relationships.

To find out more information about therapists, workshops, training, related products and/or additional resources, visit IRNA’s website.

Visit Website

A woman in a blue jacket is standing in front of a couples singles banner

Imago & Social Transformation

Imago is also about social transformation. Couples who have an understanding about one another and help each other to heal, continue to use the Imago dialogue to assist them in taking care of the space in the relationship. Their children are reared with the same kind of care and love and maintain their relaxed joyfulness and aliveness they were born with. Thus, family members and co-workers gain the benefit of these kinds of relationships with lasting effects.

The impact of couples treating one another with kindness and creating safety eventually spills into the rest of our hearts, transforming the world into wholeness and love!

A family is sitting in the woods looking at the trees.

Imago therapy is for Couples who:

Want to enhance their relationship and have more fun & passion.
Are deepening their commitment with marriage, common-law, buying a house, having children etc.
Are beginning a new relationship and would like to ensure the connection is maintained.
Would like to preserve the relationship they have.
Are experiencing conflicts and want to learn a new way to communicate.
Are considering a separation/divorce and would like to change that course.

Imago therapy is for Singles who:

Want to learn how to create a fulfilling relationship in the future.
Understand why past relationships didn’t work and transform them into a source of positive growth.

Only licensed and credentialed professionals, who have been through an extensive year long training (over 96 hours) with supervision in Imago Relationship Therapy(IRT) through the Imago International Institute, are qualified to call themselves Certified Imago Relationship Therapists.

To find out more information about therapists, workshops, training, related products and/or additional resources, visit IRNA’s website.

Visit Website

Imago Therapy is also about social transformation. Couples who have an understanding about one another and help each other to heal, continue to use the Imago dialogue to assist them in taking care of the space in the relationship. Their children are reared with the same kind of care and love and maintain their relaxed joyfulness and aliveness they were born with. Thus, family members and co-workers gain the benefit of these kinds of relationships with lasting effects.

The impact of couples treating one another with kindness and creating safety eventually spills into the rest of our hearts, transforming the world into wholeness and love!

Imago Relationship Therapy

Imago Therapy is an integrated theory and process for working with couples, individuals , and parents who seek to enhance the relationships they share. Based on the ground-breaking work of Harville Hendrix Ph.D. and Helen LaKelly Hunt, Ph.D. co-authors of Getting the Love you Want, Keeping the Love you Find, Receiving Love and Giving the Love that Heals, Imago suggests that you attract an intimate partner that most resembles your caregivers. The unresolved childhood pain such as abandonment, rejection, smothering, shame and helplessness resurfaces in committed partnership, similar to the way we felt in childhood. This creates conflict.

Couples and individuals learn that “conflict is a signal that growth is trying to happen”. It is not that we have fallen out of love or chosen the wrong partner. The partner you have chosen is your Imago match, and is often the best person to help you heal because we look for someone with the same deficits of care and attention that hurt us in the first place. In Imago, relationship therapy, couples discover that partners have unmet childhood needs and make a commitment to use their relationship to finish the unfinished business. With conscious intention and new skills, couples will easily transition from the blissful romantic stage through the inevitable power struggle to real love. Imago therapy is also relevant for single individuals as we are all in many relational contexts.

A safe context is created in Imago Relationship Therapy for couples to explore their unresolved childhood pain, offering insight into the unconscious agenda we bring to relationships. Along with this information and application of the Imago processes, such as dialogue, couples restructure their frustrations and re-establish a connection, that promotes healing and growth. Through the mutual commitment of meeting the needs of one another, the relationship can reach its highest potential – a conscious, safe and passionate partnership.

Alanis Morissette on Oprah talking about Imago Therapy

Listen To Oprah with Harville Hendrix (1993)

The Oprah Winfrey Show: How to Make Love Las‪t‬

Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

From January 8, 1993: Oprah interviews self-help author and Oprah Show regular guest Harville Hendrix, who teaches us how to make our relationships not only last longer, but become happier. He talks about overcoming trust issues, childhood wounds appearing in adulthood and how marriage is a structure for healing. He also works with several couples on making their love last and discusses his books Getting The Love You Want and Keeping The Love You Find. Oprah explains how Getting the Love You Want helped improve her relationship with Stedman Graham. Of Harville’s work, Oprah says, “I saw relationships not solely as the kind of romantic pursuit our society celebrates, but as a spiritual partnership that's meant to change how you see yourself and the world.” Harville is a New York Times best-selling author, international speaker and couples therapist with more than 40 years of experience as an educator, clinical trainer and lecturer who has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show 17 times.

Attend An Introductory Session to Imago Therapy

This session is designed to help you regardless of where you are at in your love life. Singles searching for the right answers, couples struggling to communicate or looking to further deepen their connection.