Policies - Dating Coach and Relationship Therapist Program

Mentor Research Institute (2026)

Program Policies and Participant Information

The Mentor Research Institute Certified Dating and Relationship Therapist program provides specialized education and certification for experienced licensed mental health professionals who work with dating, courtship, intimate relationships, partner selection, relationship safety, and couples’ concerns. Certification is required for clinicians who wish to be considered for authorized referrals from Bend Dating.

Certification is a private professional credential issued by Mentor Research Institute. It does not create a new professional license, expand a provider’s legal scope of practice, guarantee referrals, or guarantee any clinical, dating, or relationship outcome.

Continuing-Education Policies

Participants must complete 40 hours of required or Mentor Research Institute-approved continuing education. At least 16 hours must ordinarily be completed before the certification application is submitted, with the remaining 24 hours completed within one year unless MRI approves another schedule.

Participants must complete required readings, course activities, assessments, evaluations, and attendance requirements. Continuing-education credit is awarded only for work actually completed by the registered participant. Course accounts, answers, certificates, and restricted educational materials may not be shared.

Participants are responsible for determining whether a course satisfies the requirements of their licensing board, employer, payer, or credentialing organization. MRI maintains participation and completion records in accordance with applicable continuing-education requirements.

Certification Policies

Applicants must hold an active and unrestricted mental health professional license and must ordinarily have at least 10 years of relevant experience providing services to couples or individuals with dating, intimate-partner, marital, sexual, family, or relationship concerns.

Applicants must complete required education, provide accurate credentialing information, disclose relevant licensing or disciplinary matters, and agree to comply with MRI ethical and professional standards. Certification may be denied, conditioned, suspended, or revoked for false information, loss or restriction of licensure, failure to complete requirements, misuse of certification, unethical conduct, improper billing, serious boundary violations, or conduct that creates a material consumer-safety concern.

Certified providers must distinguish psychotherapy from coaching, education, consultation, and matchmaking. Certification does not authorize a provider to practice outside the scope of the provider’s license or competence.

Course Catalog

The course catalog includes required and elective education addressing contemporary dating, digital courtship, relationship formation, communication, conflict, attachment, intimacy, sexual and relational functioning, psychological safety, intimate partner violence, coercive control, trauma, screening, assessment, measurement-informed care, professional ethics, privacy, billing, technology, and the appropriate distinction between clinical and nonclinical services.

Each course identifies its intended audience, learning objectives, instructional level, credit hours, instructor, required activities, assessment procedures, and completion requirements. MRI may add, revise, postpone, or withdraw courses as the curriculum develops.

Refund and Cancellation Policy

Some certification courses may be provided without tuition cost. When a fee is charged, the applicable price, refund terms, and cancellation requirements will be disclosed before enrollment.

A participant who cancels before receiving or substantially accessing course materials may request a refund, subject to any disclosed administrative or nonrefundable charge. Refunds may be limited or unavailable after substantial course access, completion, or issuance of continuing-education credit.

If MRI cancels a paid course and does not provide a reasonable alternative, the participant will receive a refund of the affected course fee. Technical problems will be reviewed individually to determine whether restored access, an extension, transfer, or refund is appropriate.

Accessibility and Accommodation Policy

Mentor Research Institute seeks to provide reasonable access to its educational and certification programs. Participants who require an accommodation may contact MRI and describe the accommodation requested.

MRI may request information reasonably necessary to understand and implement the request but will not require unnecessary disclosure of confidential medical information. Reasonable accommodations will be considered when they provide meaningful access without fundamentally altering essential course, assessment, competence, or certification requirements.

Accommodation information will be handled as privately as reasonably possible and shared only with individuals who need the information to evaluate or implement the request.

Grievance and Complaint Procedure

Applicants, participants, certificants, consumers, and other affected persons may submit a written complaint concerning course administration, accessibility, instructor conduct, certification decisions, public representations, billing, professional conduct, conflicts of interest, privacy, or misuse of certification.

The complaint should identify the concern, relevant individuals, important dates, available supporting information, and the resolution being requested. MRI will review the matter, manage conflicts of interest, seek additional information when necessary, and provide a response or determination appropriate to the circumstances.

Possible actions may include clarification, education, corrective action, additional training, reconsideration of a decision, restriction of referral eligibility, suspension, or revocation. MRI’s procedure does not replace complaints to licensing boards, law enforcement, insurers, courts, or other governmental authorities.

Privacy Policy

MRI may collect information needed for registration, course participation, credential verification, assessment, certification, communication, payment processing, accommodation requests, complaints, and program administration.

Information will be used for legitimate educational, certification, quality-improvement, safety, and administrative purposes. MRI will take reasonable measures to protect personal information and will limit access to individuals who need the information for authorized purposes.

Participants should not submit psychotherapy notes, unnecessary medical records, or identifiable client information through certification or course systems. Information may be disclosed when authorized, required by law, necessary to protect against a serious safety threat, or needed to administer or defend the certification program.

Terms of Use

MRI websites, course platforms, assessments, educational materials, certification marks, and directories are provided for authorized educational and professional use.

Participants must provide accurate information, protect account credentials, and refrain from disrupting systems, circumventing access controls, copying assessments, impersonating another person, or using materials unlawfully. Course content may not be reproduced, sold, republished, publicly distributed, or used to create competing educational products without written permission, except as permitted by law.

MRI may suspend access for misuse, false information, abusive conduct, infringement, compromise of assessment integrity, or violation of program policies.

Instructor and Planning Committee Disclosures

Instructors, authors, reviewers, and planning committee members must disclose relevant financial and nonfinancial relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing educational content.

Disclosures may include ownership, employment, compensation, consulting, intellectual property, leadership roles, research interests, referral relationships, and affiliations with MRI, Bend Dating, or related organizations. Relevant relationships will be reviewed and managed before the educational activity is presented.

The existence of a disclosed relationship does not automatically disqualify an instructor or planner. Educational content must remain reasonably balanced, accurate, transparent, and consistent with the stated learning objectives.

Contact Information

Questions about certification, continuing education, enrollment, accommodations, complaints, privacy, course access, or authorized Bend Dating referral eligibility may be directed to:

Mentor Research Institute
Bend, Oregon
Website: www.mentorresearch.org
Contact: https://www.mentorresearch.org/contact-us
Telephone: 503-227-2027

Participants should include their name, the course or certification matter involved, and sufficient information for MRI to understand and respond to the request.

Enrollment and Course Access

Enrollment may be limited to invited applicants, qualified licensed professionals, certification candidates, certificants, or other individuals approved by MRI.

Participants must register using accurate identifying and professional information. Course access is limited to the enrolled participant and may depend on acceptance of applicable policies, completion of prerequisites, professional eligibility, and payment when required.

Access may be time-limited. Participants who experience technical problems should notify MRI promptly. MRI may provide restored access, an extension, or another reasonable remedy when course access was materially affected by a verified technical problem.

MRI may suspend or terminate access when a participant shares an account, distributes protected materials, compromises assessment integrity, submits false information, engages in abusive conduct, or otherwise violates program requirements.

Certification and Referral Notice

Completion of courses does not by itself guarantee certification. Certification does not guarantee inclusion in a provider directory or receipt of Bend Dating referrals.

Providers approved for authorized referrals remain independent professionals. They are responsible for their own clinical judgment, informed consent, documentation, confidentiality, billing, legal compliance, professional boundaries, and services.

Neither Mentor Research Institute nor Bend Dating guarantees the competence of a provider in every circumstance, the safety or compatibility of any dating partner, or the outcome of any clinical, coaching, dating, or relationship service.