Dr. Ka Tat Tsang started using social skills training procedures in couple counseling in the 1980s, before the creation of the SSLD model. An early case combining sex therapy with social skills training was documented in 1988. The procedure has undergone ongoing review and refinement, and is applicable to a diverse range of situations, including cross-cultural and same-sex couples.

Main components of SSLD couple counseling include:

• Needs assessment and assessment
• Negotiation of shared goals and compatibility
• Systematic learning of communication skills
  • Listening: Facts, feelings, and needs
  • Listening: Recognizing and resolving differences
  • Articulation, expression, and sharing of feelings
  • Empathy and caring
• Enhanced sharing and understanding
  • Exploring common experience
  • Childhood review
  • Hopes and fears
• Happy together: Designing pleasurable experience
  • Caring and valuing
  • Strategies of pleasure
  • Creativity and new experience
• Intimacy Skills
  • Nourishing emotional intimacy
  • Sexuality, intimacy and personal needs

1.Ma, J.L.C., & Tsang, A.K.T. (1988). Managing a marital case with sexual problems: A learning approach. Casebook of social work intervention 1988 (pp. 225-231). Hong Kong: Hong Kong Council of Social Service.