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Building Therapeutic Rapport: Foundations of Trust and Engagement

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Building Therapeutic Rapport: Foundations of Trust and Engagement

Therapeutic Rapport

Dec. 11, 2026

10:00 AM - 1:15 PM (EST)

Virtual Event
3 CE Credits
What if your therapeutic rapport skills were as intentional as your clinical interventions? A strong therapeutic relationship is one of the most important predictors of successful treatment outcomes, yet many clinicians are never formally taught how to build rapport in a consistent, intentional way. This practical and engaging webinar will provide clinicians with concrete, evidence-based strategies to build trust, strengthen therapeutic connections, improve client engagement, and repair ruptures to support more effective and meaningful treatment.

The therapeutic rapport relationship is one of the most powerful predictors of treatment outcomes, yet many clinicians receive limited formal training in how to intentionally build, strengthen, and repair rapport. This webinar will provide a practical and clinically grounded framework for developing therapeutic trust and engagement from the very first session.

Participants will learn how to create psychological safety, strengthen connection through attunement and validation, navigate common barriers to rapport, and repair therapeutic ruptures when they occur. Drawing from evidence-based approaches including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and relational principles, this training will equip clinicians with concrete, actionable strategies to build stronger therapeutic alliances and improve client engagement and treatment outcomes.

Session Highlights
  • Strengthen your ability to build trust and therapeutic rapport from the first session, setting the foundation for effective clinical work.

  • Learn practical engagement strategies that increase client emotional safety, openness, and participation in treatment.

  • Recognize and navigate common rapport barriers such as resistance, guardedness, and interpersonal sensitivity.

  • Develop skills to repair therapeutic ruptures and sustain a strong alliance across the course of treatment.

  • Apply evidence-based relational techniques, including DBT-informed validation and attunement, to enhance treatment outcomes.

Key Takeaways for Clinicians

“Building therapeutic rapport is one of the strongest predictors of successful treatment outcomes. This workshop provides practical, evidence-based strategies to help clinicians establish trust, foster meaningful engagement, and create therapeutic relationships that support long-term client growth.

You’ll learn how therapeutic rapport develops through effective communication, empathy, active listening, and collaborative goal setting. Using real-world clinical examples, the training demonstrates how to strengthen the therapeutic alliance while responding to challenging client interactions with confidence and professionalism.

The workshop also explores how therapeutic rapport influences treatment adherence, client motivation, emotional safety, and overall clinical outcomes. Whether you’re working with children, adolescents, adults, couples, or families, you’ll gain practical techniques to strengthen therapeutic rapport across a variety of treatment settings and clinical presentations.

Continue expanding your clinical skills through our Clinical Blog and Upcoming Clinical Events, and deepen your understanding of relationship-centered care with guidance from the American Psychological Association (APA) and current research on therapeutic relationships”.

This live interactive webinar is designed for behavioral health professionals, including:

  • Counselors
  • Social Workers
  • Psychotherapists
  • Marriage & Family Therapists
  • Psychologists
  • Substance Use Disorders Counselors
  • Case Managers
  • Physicians
  • Other Mental Health Professionals
Lexi Mulee, LMHC, CASAC-T, C-DBTLexi Mulee, LMHC, CASAC-T, C-DBT

DBT, BPD & Personality Disorder Training Expert

Lexi Mulee, LMHC-D, C-DBT, is a licensed mental health counselor, DBT clinician, speaker, consultant, and founder of Wise Mind Counseling, a New York City–based practice centered on practical Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Her clinical and educational work focuses on emotional dysregulation, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders, substance-use concerns, self-harm, impulsive behavior, relationship difficulties, and recurring patterns that interfere with stability and well-being.

Lexi Mulee, is known for teaching DBT in direct, accessible language. Rather than presenting the model as an overwhelming collection of acronyms, worksheets, and rigid instructions, she helps clinicians understand why a skill is being used, which clinical problem it addresses, and how it can be integrated naturally into a client’s everyday life. Her instruction balances acceptance and change, encouraging clinicians to validate the reality of a client’s experience while helping that person develop safer and more effective behavioral responses.

Her approach is collaborative, individualized, and grounded in practical application. Across therapy, skills groups, consultation, and professional training, Lexi emphasizes that clients need more than intellectual knowledge of coping strategies: they need opportunities to practice those strategies during emotional activation, interpersonal conflict, urges, shame, avoidance, and other situations in which familiar patterns are most likely to return.

Professional Background

Lexi Mulee, earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Community Health from Hofstra University. Her official professional biography explains that her undergraduate experience also strengthened her interest in serving LGBTQIA+ communities. She later completed a master’s program in Mental Health Counseling at the University of Miami, where she began clinical work in an inpatient setting with women experiencing eating disorders and borderline personality disorder.

Her career has included inpatient and outpatient behavioral healthcare, individual psychotherapy, DBT skills groups, consultation, treatment-team collaboration, and between-session skills coaching. These experiences inform her ability to discuss DBT as both a comprehensive treatment model and a source of focused interventions that clinicians may integrate responsibly into other forms of care.

Lexi Mulee, founded Wise Mind Counseling to provide DBT-focused psychotherapy that is practical, flexible, and connected to clients’ real-world needs. The practice works with clients experiencing emotional overwhelm, unstable or painful relationship patterns, body-image concerns, harsh self-criticism, personality-related difficulties, eating disorders, substance use, trauma-related distress, anxiety, depression, and impulsive or self-defeating behaviors. Current services include individual care and virtual DBT skills groups.

Her current professional materials identify her as an LMHC with New York diagnostic privilege and as a Certified Dialectical Behavior Therapy professional. Wise Mind Counseling uses the credential line LMHC-D, C-DBT. Psychology Today also continues to list CASAC-T, but because her official practice profile no longer includes that designation, Clinical Events should confirm its current status before retaining it as a primary credential.

In addition to her clinical work, Lexi presents DBT education for mental health professionals. Her programs address DBT foundations, mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, validation, behavioral analysis, culturally responsive adaptation, personality disorders, and therapeutic engagement. PESI identifies her as a national DBT instructor and documents her experience in inpatient and outpatient care.

Lexi Mulee, is also the author of the forthcoming book DBT Made Doable: A Clinician’s Guide to Teaching Skills That Stick, scheduled for publication by PESI Publishing on October 6, 2026. The book organizes DBT interventions in a practical format and addresses the four core modules, common implementation difficulties, clinician language, adaptable examples, and client worksheets. Because the publication date is still in the future, the page should describe the title as forthcoming rather than already published.

Areas of Expertise

Dialectical Behavior Therapy. DBT is the central focus of Lexi’s practice and teaching. She emphasizes the dialectical balance between accepting present reality and working toward behavioral change. Her programs help clinicians understand mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness while also considering validation, behavioral targets, treatment commitment, and the therapeutic relationship. Clinical Events’ article on how DBT supports trauma and emotion-dysregulation treatment provides complementary context for clinicians using DBT skills to support stabilization.

Emotion Regulation and Distress Tolerance. Lexi Mulee, teaches clinicians to help clients identify emotions, understand their functions, reduce vulnerability to overwhelming reactions, and respond more intentionally. Her instruction includes practical applications of checking the facts, opposite action, radical acceptance, crisis-survival strategies, mindfulness, and physiological regulation. The goal is not to suppress difficult emotions but to help clients experience them without automatically turning to behaviors that create additional harm.

Borderline Personality Disorder and Personality Pathology. Lexi’s background includes work with borderline personality disorder and other persistent patterns involving emotional reactivity, identity instability, impulsivity, relationship conflict, sensitivity to rejection, and difficulty recovering from distress. Her approach discourages stigmatizing labels and asks clinicians to examine the purpose of behavior, the client’s developmental and relational history, existing strengths, risk factors, and skills deficits. Clinical Events’ discussion of how CBT, DBT, and schema therapy address personality-related patterns offers related treatment context.

Behavioral Chain Analysis. Lexi teaches clinicians to examine what happens before, during, and after a high-risk or ineffective behavior. A chain analysis may identify vulnerability factors, triggering events, thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, urges, actions, and immediate or delayed consequences. This process helps the clinician and client identify specific points where a new skill, environmental change, request for support, or alternative response could interrupt the sequence.

Eating Disorders and Body-Image Concerns. Lexi’s clinical background began in an inpatient setting serving women with eating disorders and BPD, and her current practice continues to address eating-related concerns, body image, shame, self-criticism, and comparison. DBT-informed work may support emotion regulation, urge management, mindfulness, interpersonal skills, and the identification of functions served by disordered behaviors. Treatment should remain coordinated with appropriate medical, nutritional, and specialized eating-disorder providers when indicated.

Substance Use and High-Risk Coping. Lexi works with clients whose substance use, self-harm, impulsivity, or other high-risk behaviors may function as immediate attempts to escape distress, regulate emotion, avoid painful memories, or manage interpersonal crises. A DBT-informed approach validates the problem the behavior is trying to solve without endorsing the behavior itself. SAMHSA identifies DBT as a researched approach that has been adapted for co-occurring borderline personality disorder and substance-use disorders.

Therapeutic Rapport and Validation. Lexi’s teaching places substantial emphasis on psychological safety, accurate empathy, active listening, collaboration, validation, and rupture repair. Validation does not mean approving every belief or behavior; it communicates that the clinician is trying to understand the client’s internal logic and circumstances. Clinicians can connect this work with Clinical Events’ material on therapy ethics, boundaries, confidentiality, and competence, particularly when warmth and accessibility must be balanced with clear professional limits.

DBT Skills Training and Clinical Consultation. Lexi trains professionals to introduce DBT skills in language that feels natural rather than scripted. Her education uses demonstration, case examples, humor, rehearsal, practical worksheets, and discussion of common implementation problems. She supports clinicians in understanding when a specific intervention fits, how to adapt examples without changing the skill’s purpose, and how to maintain a structured treatment direction while remaining responsive to the individual client.

Authored Publications
  • DBT Made Doable: A Clinician’s Guide to Teaching Skills That Stick

After this training, participants will be able to:

  • Identify the core components that contribute to building and maintaining strong therapeutic rapport.
  • Apply evidence-based strategies, including validation and attunement, to increase client trust and engagement.
  • Utilize effective techniques to identify and repair therapeutic ruptures to strengthen the therapeutic alliance.

10:00 -10:05 am – Introduction
10:05-10:30 am – Rapport Overview: What Rapport Is and Why It Is Essential for Treatment Outcomes
10:30-11:00 am – Rapport-Building Skills Part 1: Remembering the Details, Making Outside Connections, and Genuine Reactions
11:00-11:30 am – Rapport-Building Skills Part 2: Humor and Playfulness, Matching Client Energy, and Appropriate Informality
11:30-11:45 am – Break
11:45-12:15 pm – Rapport-Building Skills Part 3: Letting the Client Steer and Goal Wrangling to Strengthen Engagement
12:15-12:45 pm – Advanced Rapport Considerations: Cultural Awareness and Identity Factors in Rapport
12:45-1:05 pm – Rapport Busters and Rupture and Repair: Identifying and Addressing Breakdowns in the Therapeutic Relationship
1:05-1:15 pm – Q&A

All levels. This presentation will provide foundational strategies for newer clinicians and deeper relational and clinical insight for more experienced professionals.

Registration Cost

Registration $67 | Dec. 11 | Virtual Event | 3 CE Credits | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm ET

Registration Deadline:  Dec. 11, 2026

Cancellation Policy

All registrations are non-refundable. However, you may request a full credit toward a future training if:

  • You notify us at least 72 hours before the event starts.
  • Credit is valid for up to 6 months from the original event date.
  • No credit will be issued for no-shows or cancellations made on the same day.
  • When you register for an event, you agree to these terms

Please email [email protected] to request a credit or reschedule.

A total of 3 CE credits are available.

Additional Approvals Pending.


ASWB ACE

Clinical Events, LLC, (provider # 2201) is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 11/01/2025 – 11/01/2028.

NBCC

Clinical Events, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved   Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7643 Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Clinical Events, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

NAADAC

This course has been approved by Clinical Events, as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #320899, Clinical Events is responsible for all aspects of the programming.

NY State Board of Psychologists

Clinical Events, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0292.

NY State Board of Psychoanalysts

Clinical Events, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts #P-0073.

NY State Board of Social Workers

Clinical Events, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0828.

NY State Board of Mental Health Counselors

Clinical Events, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0329.

NY State Board of Marriage & Family Therapists

Clinical Events, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0140.

NJ State Board of Social Workers & Professional Counselors

The New Jersey Social Work Examiners Board accepts ASWB ACE Provider credits. The New Jersey Professional Counselors Board accepts NBCC-approved CE provider credits.

All Other States Social Workers & Professional Counselors

All other states accept ASWB ACE Provider credits and NBCC-approved CE provider credits. Licensees are responsible for determining whether courses meet the CE requirements in their jurisdictions. States and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for credit.

Florida Certification Board

Clinical Events is approved by the Florida Certification Board (FCB) to offer continuing education programs (Provider # 5527-A).

Canada Social Workers

BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, and QC accept ASWB ACE-approved provider programs to meet licensure renewal requirements.  Licensees are responsible for determining whether courses meet the CE requirements in their province. Provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for credit.

Canada Counsellors

Clinical Events is an NBCC-approved provider.  Licensees are responsible for determining whether courses meet the CE requirements in their province. Provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for credit.

Please contact us if you would like to inquire about applicable approvals for your continuing education (CE) needs.

Each professional is responsible for understanding and meeting the specific CE requirements set by their individual licensing board or regulatory agency. We encourage you to reach out to your licensing body directly to confirm how our programs apply toward your licensure renewal.

Questions:  [email protected]

In accordance with continuing education standards and requirements, the presenter discloses that they have no relevant financial relationships, affiliations, or conflicts of interest to report.