Webinar Based Exam
2 CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITs
BASE is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. BASE maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
DESCRIPTION
This presentation will provide an introduction of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT). This will include a brief history, identifying the steps and stages of the therapeutic process and the three main interactional cycles couples get stuck in (Johnson, 2004). These are the same negative cycles that families and individuals can experience as well (Johnson, 2019). These negative cycles contribute to various levels of disconnection that lead to increased conflict and the deconstruction of the relationship (McKinnon & Greenberg, 2017). A key component of understanding these negative cycles is understanding yourself as a therapist and the attachment position you find yourself in within your relationship and those with the client(s) (Knestal & Sanberg,2011). The deeper the understanding of attachment needs and styles the more comfortable a therapist can become with the use of EFT as a model. This understanding helps facilitate the interactional changes needed within session to help couples, families, and individuals gain a better sense of what the attachment needs are in the relationships and how each individual is striving to get those needs met. This is where the negative cycle is slowed down and restructured through the therapeutic process. The training will conclude with practical steps to slow down and reframe interactions to make conflict and communication more effective and create sustainable emotional connection.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Based on the content of this workshop, you will be able to:
· Utilize the steps and stages of the EFT approach to move couples to connection and healing.
· Identify the positional stance that each partner in a couple is in and reframe this stance in language that is validating and useful for clients.
· Apply techniques provided to soften couples and restructure their interactional cycle.
· Demonstrate how the EFT process is applied to family therapy and individual therapy.
· Demonstrate when EFT is not the appropriate theoretical framework to approach therapy with and ways to navigate this conflict.
· Assess therapist level of self-awareness of their own emotional process as it may be triggered in session with a couple.
AUDIENCE
This program is appropriate for licensed psychologists and other mental health practitioners who utilize or are interested in integrating emotion focused therapy into their clinical practice. Training is at an introductory level.
RESOURCES
Adams, C.R., & Gibbons, M.M. (2019). Counseling adolescents diagnosed with conduct disorder: application of emotion-focused therapy for individuals. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 41(4), 283-296. http://doi.org/10.17744/mehc.41.4.01
Burgess, M.M., Johnson. S.M., Dalgleish, T.L., Wiebe, S.A., & Tasca, G.A. (2018). The impact of blamer-softening on romantic attachment in emotionally focused couples therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 44(4), 640-654. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12284
Johnson, S.M., Burgess, M.M., Beckes, L., Smith, A., Dalgleish, T., Halchuk, R., … Coan, J.A. (2013). Smoothing the threatened brain: leveraging contact comfort with emotionally focused therapy. Plos One, 8(11), 79314. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0079314
Johnson, Sue. (2004). The practice of emotionally focused couple therapy, 2nd ed. New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.
Johnson, Sue. (2008). Hold me tight. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
Johnson, S.M. (2019). Attachment theory in practice: Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) with individuals, couples, and families. New York, NY: Guildford Press.
Knestal, A., & Sanberg, J.G. (2011). The experience of learning emotionally focused couples therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 37(4), 393-410. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-0606.2011.00254.x
Lee, N.A., Furrow, J.L., & Bradley, B.A. (2017). Emotionally focused couple therapy for parents raising a child with an autism spectrum disorder: a pilot study. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 43(4), 662-673. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12225
McKinnon, J.M., & Greenberg, L.S. (2017). Vulnerable emotional expression in emotion focused couples therapy: relating interactional processes to outcome. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 43(2), 198-212. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12229
Welch, T.S., Lachmar, E.M., Leija, S.G., Easley, T., Blow, A.J., & Wittenborn, A.K. (2019). Establishing safety in emotionally focused couple therapy: a single-case process study. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 45(4), 621-634. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12398
PROFESSIONAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES
There is no commercial support for this CE program, instructor, content of instruction, or any other relationship that could be construed as a conflict of interest. There is no endorsement of products.