Learn the science of love and attachment that will not only revolutionize your work with couples, it will change your work with individuals and families. This is an official Externship, endorsed by the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT).

By attending this externship and becoming a member of ICEEFT, you will be listed on the ICEEFT website where couples are going to find EFT trained therapists. It is also the first step toward becoming a certified EFT therapist. For further details about the certification process and about EFT go to iceeft.com, the website for Dr. Sue Johnson’s ICEEFT. 

Transform The Way You Work With Couples And Your Practice – Earn 28 CEUs in 4 days

In attending this Externship you will learn to:

• Obtain a clear understanding of the basic experiential and systemic concepts of an “Emotionally Focused” approach to couple therapy.

• Help partners process and understand their emotional responses and the resulting patterns that maintain couple distress and disconnection

• Conceptualize couple distress and relationship repair based on theories of attachment and emotion.

• Develop skills in helping partners to change the emotional responses that lead to relational distress and that maintain a repetitive negative cycle of interaction.

• Help partners shape new interactional patterns and bonding events.

• Practice EFT interventions to overcome therapeutic impasses with couples and to treat attachment related injuries.

This training includes live consultations sessions with couples which is a profound learning experience. 

About EFT

The 4-day externship was developed by Award-winning Susan M. Johnson.

Sue Johnson is Director of the International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy and Distinguished Research Professor at Alliant University in San Diego, California as well as Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa, Canada.

She has received numerous honors for her work, including Family Psychologist of the Year (2016-APA), Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Couple and Family Therapy Award from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and Research in Family Therapy Award from the American Family Therapy Academy. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

EFT is a proven-effective model, with improvement rates in the 90th percentile, and amazing recovery rates at 70-72%. This model utilizes the theory of adult love in a systematic map to heal distressed couple relationships which has a positive effect on the rest of the family – and ultimately – society.

EFT is a short-term approach developed by Susan M. Johnson, founder of the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT), and is based on John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory. It reflects the most recent research on the nature of relationship distress, adult love, and emotion. Emotionally Focused Therapy has revolutionized couple therapy. It is one of the most empirically supported models of couple therapy, is being taught all over the world and is a must-know model if you are working with couples.

• EFT is a research-validated approach to couple therapy: Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy was developed in the mid-1980’s by Dr. Les Greenberg and Dr. Sue Johnson. Since that time, dozens of outcome and process studies have demonstrated its effectiveness with a wide variety of populations and presenting problems. For more info on research: 

• A clearly delineated treatment model: The stages of treatment are clearly specified, beginning with De-escalation through Re-structuring to Consolidation, giving you a clear map for intervening with couples to facilitate lasting change.

• An attachment view of couple distress: Couples high in conflict or disengagement can be challenging for any therapist. Attachment theory provides a powerful organizing lens that will help you understand the most common ways couples express relational distress.

• Skills to work deeply with emotion: In EFT, emotion is both target and agent of change. A skilled EFT therapist evokes core emotions to create powerful enactments and unleash in-the-moment change events that help transform relationships.

• Specialized training in couple therapy: Many mental health professionals receive scant training in couple therapy. And yet relationship distress is one of the most common reasons for entering therapy and increasingly, couples are seeking therapists trained in EFT.

• Improvement in general psychotherapy skills: EFT’s humanistic orientation will likely enhance your ability to create a strong alliance that engages clients in the change process.

• A meaningful, competence-driven certification process: ICEEFT has laid out a training process and requirements for the demonstration of competence that ensure certified EFT therapists have met a high standard of EFT practice.

• Eligibility for membership in ICEEFT: The International Centre for Excellence in EFT includes members from around the world and maintains a directory of practitioners who have begun formal EFT training and those who are certified. ICEEFT also publishes a quarterly newsletter and maintains an active member listserve.

• A growing therapeutic community: Join hundreds of therapists who have participated in Externships over the years in Colorado and thousands more who have taken part at trainings around the country and across the world. Locally, EFT therapists support each other through peer consultation, a mutually supportive learning atmosphere and client referrals.

• 28 ceu’s: The training provides a significant amount of continuing education hours in four days.

Reference Materials for Study

The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection
Susan M. Johnson, 2nd Edition, 2004

Becoming an Emotionally Focused Couple Therapist: The Workbook
Susan M. Johnson, et al, 2005

Robert is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Denver, maintains a practice in Denver, and is a leader in the Denver EFT Community. He is an ICEEFT certified therapist, supervisor, and trainer, and his interest in EFT extends to his research work. Robert has trained counselors and therapists learning EFT in four different countries over the last ten years. Robert is the co-editor and contributor of Creating Cultural Safety in Couple and Family Therapy: Supervision and Training.  

Robert Allan, Ph.D., Certified EFT Trainer

Program and Clinical Coordination

Priscilla is a licensed psychologist and maintains a practice in the Denver area. Priscilla is an ICEEFT certified therapist and supervisor and co-founder of the Denver EFT community. Priscilla has been involved in EFT training and supervision for over ten years.

Priscilla Zynda-Otsuki, Ph.D., Certified EFT Supervisor