"The most functional way to regulate emotions in love relationships is to share them." - Dr. Sue Johnson
Register for a 4 Day Externship
Details and Registration
EFCT Externship with Dr. Rebecca Jorgensen
We are honored to welcome Dr. Rebecca Jorgensen, LCMHC, ICEEFT Certified Trainer and Supervisor, to St. Louis for our 2026 Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy Externship.
The EFCT Externship is a four-day, in-person core training and the foundational step in learning Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples. This internationally recognized training introduces therapists to a clear, structured, and deeply relational model for helping couples move from distress and disconnection toward secure emotional bonding.
Therapists are invited to join four days of immersive learning that integrates research, clinical application, and experiential practice. Whether you are new to EFT or seeking to refresh and deepen your skills, this externship offers a grounded and inspiring roadmap for working with couples.
Training Details
Dates: Tuesday through Friday, October 20–23, 2026
Times: 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM daily
Location: Pathfinder Church
15800 Manchester Road
Ellisville, MO 63011
Continuing Education:
24 CEUs are available for purchase. Final CEU details will be listed in accordance with licensing requirements.
Registration and Pricing - option to pay in 2 installments
Early Bird Price: $800
Available through August 15, 2026
$400 due at registration
$400 due by October 12, 2026
Regular Price: $900
Applies after August 15, 2026
$500 due at registration
$400 due by October 12, 2026
Repeater Rate: $500
If you have previously completed an EFCT Externship, you can register as a repeater for a discounted fee of $500.
Discounts:
$100 discount for students, military personnel, and community mental health center employees. Apply discount code DISCOUNT100 when making your first payment.
Scholarships:
A limited number of need based scholarships are available to support accessibility and inclusion.
Scholarship application deadline: September 4, 2026
Scholarship offers communicated by: September 21, 2026
Scholarship applications are available on our webpage at stleft.com/efct-externship-2026(opens in new tab) under the scholarship information.
Applicants will be invited to indicate the level of support needed, including 25 percent, 50 percent, or 75 percent reductions. Scholarship funds are limited and are intended to support as many therapists as possible. No up front payment is needed to apply for a scholarship. Discount codes will be emailed to recipients once scholarships are awarded.
Cancelation Policy:
If you are unable to attend, you will be provided a full credit for your registration fee toward a future STL EFT Community training.
We welcome participants from across St. Louis and around the world to this valuable training. Come Learn in the Lou!
Zeffy passes us the entire amount of your ticket purchase. They cover their costs by asking for donations from you at the time of purchase. If you do not wish to contribute to Zeffy, you can change that donation amount to zero.
For questions about the event, contact stleftcommunity@gmail.com.
Through a combination of lecture, videotape, observation of live interviews and exercises, participants will learn the basic concepts and theory of Emotionally Focused Therapy; identify the stages and steps of treatment; begin to formulate problematic cycles of interaction; and help couples end cycles of blame and disengagement so that they can restore and deepen the emotional bond between them. Sue Johnson’s second edition of The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy: Creating Connections is recommended reading for all participants. Experienced, local EFT supervisors will be available to assist small group learning and practice.
One of the premier EFT trainers will combine lecture, filmed demonstration, and experimental exercises to teach the concepts behind Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples and give participants a sense of what it looks and feels like to work with couples using the framework of attachment theory.
EFT for couples is a model developed by Dr. Sue Johnson that draws from over 25 years of outcome research and translates attachment processes into precise clinical interventions
Program Objectives:
Participants working in the following fields will benefit from this training:
- Name 2 advances in the new current era of couples therapy
- Describe the attachment map of couple’s therapy process
- Describe the “within” and “between” processes of EFT
- Name the 4 “Ps” of the EFT process
- Name the 3 predominant theories that EFT is based upon
- Name the 4 attachment styles
- Describe the process of attachment distress
- Describe how EFT defines emotion
- Describe the process model of emotion as defined by Magda Arnold
- Name the 6 core emotions
- Describe how EFT clinically uses emotion to create connection
- Name the 9 steps of EFT
- Name the 3 stages of EFT
- Name the key change events in EFT
- Describe at least 3 elements of the EFT assessment process
- Recognize process assessment
- Discuss attachment assessment
- Describe how the systemic pattern (cycle) becomes THE relational problem
- Name the different structural elements/parts of the cycle
- Name the different types of cycles
- Describe 3 underlying emotions that withdrawers feel
- Describe 3 underlying emotions that pursuers feel
- Define the EFT clinical skills associated with De-escalation
- Define the EFT experiential interventions
- Describe RISSSC
- Describe the withdrawer engagement key change event
- Describe the pursuer softening key change event
- List the 6 themes of blamer softening
- Define what an Enactment is
- Describe what an Attachment injury is
Therapists working in the following field with benefit in this training
- Psychologists
- Social Workers
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Professional Counselors
- Addiction Counselors
- Other Mental Health Professionals
