When: Orientation — Thursday, June 3, 2021, 7-9:30pm EDT; Optional Live Video Viewing – June 4, 2021, 9:30am-4pm EDT; Externship — Friday & Saturday, June 11 & 12, 2021 and June 18 & 19, 2021, 9:30am-4pm EDT
Where: On Zoom
Instructors: Lorrie Brubacher, MEd, LMFT, RMFT; assisted by Paul Guillory, PhD
Rates: Full Rate – $1,095; Early Bird Rate before 4/28/21 – $925; Student/Agency Clinician* Full Rate – $750; Student/Agency Clinician* Early Bird Rate before 4/28/21 – $675; Equity Rate** – $550
Additional Rate for CEs: $25
CEs: 28 CEs approved for LMFTs, LICSWs, LMHCs, and Lic. Psychologists
Target Audience: Marriage & Family Therapists, Social Workers, Mental Health Counselors, Psychologists
Level: Beginner
Limited to 70 participants.
Read CFINE and ICEEFT’s Diversity Statement
An Externship in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is the basic training program offered to learn the foundations of this state-of-the-art therapeutic modality. It is a pre-requisite for certification and follow-up advanced training in EFT.
This Online Externship was adapted to spread out the teaching time in order to minimize video conferencing fatigue. It began with an evening orientation followed by 5.5hrs of pre-recorded lecture with Dr. Susan Johnson on Friday, June 4, 2021, with the option of viewing this segment as a Home Study. The four days of live training that followed were highly interactive and engaging, including clinical techniques and skills training exercises, video recordings, observation of live interviews and discussion of specific cases and clinical issues.
Participants were introduced to the EFT humanistic approach to psychotherapy formulated in the 1980’s and developed in tandem with the science of adult attachment, a profound developmental theory of personality and intimate relationships. Video demonstrations, lecture and exercises oriented participants to how attachment science shapes the understanding of individual dysfunction and health, as well as the nature of love relationships and family bonds. Video demonstrations illustrated attachment views of human beings as innately relational, social, and wired for intimate bonding with others. Discussion highlighted how the EFT model prioritizes emotion and emotional regulation as the core organizing agents in individual experience and key relationship interactions.
EFT was explored as couples intervention; individual intervention to address depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress (EFIT – Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy); as well as to repair family bonds (EFFT – Emotionally Focused Family Therapy). Observation of live and video recorded interviews gave participants an opportunity to see the principles of attachment science using non-pathologizing experiential and relational systems techniques to focus on and change core organizing factors in both the self and key relationships.
At the conclusion of this program, participants were better able to:
- Describe 3 modalities of EFT therapy from the perspective of attachment science – EFIT, EFCT, and EFFT
- Describe 5 features of relationship distress
- Describe 2 causes of relationship distress
- Describe 7 basic features of Attachment Theory
- Identify 3 ways Attachment Theory informs working with couples, families, and individuals in EFT
Video Introduction to EFT by Dr. Sue Johnson (5.5hrs)
*To watch as a Home Study (on your own time) or as a live event June 4, 2021, 9:30am-4pm EDT
- 2hrs, 50min:
- Attachment Science as the Solution for Psychotherapy – EFIT, EFCT, EFFT (2hrs, 50min)
- 2hrs, 40min:
- Couple Therapy – The New Era: The Place of EFT
- Basics of the Model – Experiential & Systemic
- Adult Attachment Theory & Implications for Therapy
- Overview of the EFT Process of Change – Steps & Stages
- Macro-Intervention – The EFT Tango Across Modalities
Schedule (all times in EDT)
Participants met for a 2.5hr Orientation on June 3, 2021, at which time you were given access to 5.5hrs of video material (Dr. Sue Johnson providing an introduction to the EFT model), to be watched before the Externship.
Each day of the Externship covered 5hrs of material, include two 15min breaks (one in the morning, one in the afternoon) and a 1hr lunch break, as well as provide 30min of home room each day for a total of 22hrs. Optional videos will be available to view between sessions.
At least one quarter of the last three days consisted of watching and practicing EFT using exercises and video review. Two full-length therapeutic interviews were observed, with at least one of these being conducted in real-time.
Lorrie Brubacher, MEd, LMFT, RMFT is the Founding Director of the Carolina Center for EFT. She is certified with the International Centre for Excellence in EFT (ICEEFT) as a therapist, supervisor, and trainer. She is author of Stepping into Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Key Ingredients of Change (2018). She has worked in private practice in couple and family therapy since 1989, and currently practices in Greensboro and Winnipeg, Canada. She has an adjunct faculty appointment at UNC Greensboro, and has previously served as an instructor at 3 Canadian universities. She publishes and presents frequently on the topic of EFT, often publishing with Dr. Sue Johnson, the originator of EFT for couples. Lorrie has co-authored six chapters with Dr. Sue Johnson, published in the Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy, in the Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy and in Person Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies and is on the editorial board for the ICEEFT newsletter. Additionally, she teaches Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy and is co-developer, with Dr. Lillian Buchanan, of the first EFT interactive video training program, accessible at www.attachmentinjuryrepair.com. For additional information about Lorrie and her work, please see www.lbrubacher.com, www.carolinaeft.com, and https://steppingintoeft.com.
Paul Guillory, PhD is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley in the Clinical Science Program, Psychology Department. He has taught courses on Emotionally Focused Therapies at U.C. Berkeley. He is a Trainer-in-Training, certified supervisor and therapist of Emotionally Focused Therapy. His book Emotionally Focused Therapy with African American Couples will be released in April 2021. He is the former chairperson of the Northern California Community of Emotionally Focused Therapy. Dr. Guillory was the psychological consultant to the Oakland Raiders professional football team and the National Football League for 14 years. He has also been a consultant to the Sacramento Kings professional basketball team, and is a selected provider for the National Basketball Players Association. He served as Director of the Center for Family Counseling in Oakland California for ten years. He has been in private practice in Oakland California for over 30 years.
Save the Date for Core Skills Training in EFT:
Session 1: Thursday & Friday, September 23 & 24, 2021
Session 2: Monday & Tuesday, November 15 & 16, 2021
Session 3: Friday & Saturday, February 4 and 5, 2022
Session 4: Sunday & Monday, April 3 and 4, 2022
Session Times: 12-7pm ET (Day 1), 9am-4:30pm ET (Day 2)
*Agency Clinician/Student Rate: We offer this discounted rate to enable students and clinicians working in community mental health settings on a full-time basis to be able to participate. Group practices are not eligible.
**Equity Rate: This registration option is for participants with historical/institutional barriers to access. Please choose equity pricing only if you are a member of one or more historically marginalized communities.
The scholarship application for qualifying Black therapists to attend this Externship is currently closed.
This activity is approved certification by the New England Association for Family and Systemic Therapy (NEAFAST) on behalf of the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health & Human Services Professions, for LMFT professional continuing education.
Continuing Education Credit is approved through Commonwealth Educational Seminars for the following professions:
- Psychologists:
Commonwealth Educational Seminars is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Commonwealth Educational Seminars maintains responsibility for this program and its content. - Licensed Professional Counselors/Licensed Mental Health Counselors:
Commonwealth Educational Seminars (CES) is entitled to award continuing education credit for Licensed Professional Counselors/Licensed Mental Health Counselors. Please visit CES CE CREDIT to see all states that are covered for LPCs/LMHCs. CES maintains responsibility for this program and its content. - Social Workers:
Commonwealth Educational Seminars (CES) is entitled to award continuing education credit for Social Workers. Please visit CES CE CREDIT to see all states that are covered for Social Workers. CES maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Please note: It is the participant’s responsibility to check with their individual state boards to verify CE requirements for their state.
This program is being offered independent of any commercial support or conflict of interest. Clinicians with any level of experience are welcome to participate.
