Fall 2021
The fall Foundations course will be held in-person!
Emotion-Focused Therapy is a modern, empirically 
supported approach that, as its name suggests, focuses directly on emotion. It is an integration, refinement, and further development of Person-Centered Therapy and Gestalt Therapy, is grounded in a contemporary theory of emotion, and is informed by decades of research.
This course will introduce participants to EFT’s emotion theory, which provides for both a moment-by-moment emotional process diagnosis, and a map of treatment from initial presentation to the conclusion of therapy. Along with emotion theory, this course will introduce clinicians to a large number of fruitful ideas and insights which EFT has synthesized from the humanistic tradition.
In addition, participants will learn & practice a highly differentiated suite of interventions designed to access and process emotions. In a cumulative sequence of focused, experiential exercises, participants will observe, offer, receive and discuss these interventions.
Meetings will include: Lectures on EFT theory; live & video demonstrations of interventions; small & large group experiential exercises; small and large group discussions.
What: A foundational course on the theory and most basic interventions of Emotion-Focused Therapy.
When: Wednesdays, from 9am to 12:15pm, Fall 2021
- 9/8/21, 9/15/21, 9/22/21, 9/29/21, 10/6/21
- 10/13/21, 10/20/21, 10/27/21, 11/3/21, 11/10/21,
- 11/17/21, 12/1/21, 12/8/21, 12/15/21, 12/22/21
Where: 95 High Street, Suite 207, Portland, Maine.
Who: For Counselors and therapists who wish to add Emotion-Focused interventions to their repertoire.
Read participant feedback here.
Topics include:
Meeting 1: Clearing a Space, Introduction to EFT Emotion Theory
Meeting 2: Attending, Symbolizing, Focusing
Meeting 3: Empathic Attunement, Congruence
Meeting 4: Basic Empathic Responding (Empathic Reflection, Following Responses, Empathic Affirmation)
Meeting 5: Basic Empathic Responding II, Emotion Regulation
Meeting 6: Introduction to Empathic Exploration, The Empathic Conjecture
Meeting 7: Vocal Patterns, Differentiation, The Exploratory Reflection
Meeting 8: Depth of Experiencing, The Evocative Reflection
Meeting 9: Productive Emotional Processing, The Exploratory Question, Agency
Meeting 10: Retroflections, The Process Observation
Meeting 11: The Gestalt Experiment, The Process Suggestion
Meeting 12: Self-Interruption, Empathic Refocusing, Acceptance
Meeting 13: Experiential Presence, The Process Disclosure
Meeting 14: The Experimental Formulation
Meeting 15: Consolidation & Review
Learning Objectives
By the end of the 15 meetings, participants will be able to:
- Contrast the four types of emotions found in EFT Emotion Theory: Primary Adaptive Emotions, Primary Maladaptive Emotions, Secondary Emotions, and Instrumental Emotions.
- Describe each of EFT’s experiential response modes: Basic Empathy, Empathic Exploration, Process Guiding, and Experiential Presence. They will be able to classify diverse interventions within this system.
- Distinguish the constituent elements of Productive Emotional Processing: Attending, Symbolizing, Regulation, Accepting, Differentiation, Congruence, and Agency.
- Differentiate a dozen distinct categories of humanistic interventions designed to access & process unprocessed emotion.
What this course is NOT: This course does not cover EFT Markers and Therapeutic Tasks; rather, it covers micro-interventions that lead up to, and are often included within, tasks. Markers and tasks are introduced in EFT Level 1. This course is also not Sue Johnson’s attachment-focused model of EFT.
Early Bird Registration (until August 31, 2021):
- Pre-Licensed Clinicians (i.e., students or conditionally licensed): $675
- Independently Licensed Clinicians: $750
Regular Registration (After April 23, 2021):
- Pre-Licensed Clinicians (i.e., students or conditionally licensed): $750
- Independently Licensed Clinicians: $900
A certificate of 45 Contact Hours will be provided upon completion of the program.
Maximum of 9 Participants.