This CE Event will be hosted in the first floor auditorium at Alliant International University - Fresno Campus. The campus is located 5130 East Clinton Way, Fresno, CA 93727
Drs. Nancy and Paul Aikin are experts in the practice and teaching of Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT) and for Families (EFFT). This CE program combines practical, concise instruction with video-taped and live examples to help clinicians apply principles of EFT and EFFT to their practice right away.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is an extensively researched and empirically validated model of practice based on explicit conceptualizations of marital distress and adult love through an attachment lens. EFT provides the clinician a highly effective, precise roadmap to helping couples clarify emotional signals they send one another, de-escalate, and move out of negative interaction patterns that threaten their experience of security and connectedness. EFT is collaborative and respectful of clients. It combines experiential Rogerian techniques with structural systemic interventions. The goals of EFT are: 1) to expand and re-organize key emotional responses – the music of the couple’s attachment dance; 2) to create a shift in partners’ interactional positions; and 3) initiate new cycles of interaction to foster the creation of a secure bond between partners.
Key moves and moments in the change process have been mapped into nine steps and three change events. Using a combination of didactic and experiential material Paul and Nancy will cover the basic principles of EFT, including these steps and stages. By the end of the day, participants will have an opportunity to practice some of the key interventions that distinguish EFT and EFFT from all other approaches.
EFT is the most researched model of couple therapy that exists having 16 rigorous studies showing consistently positive outcomes----even with depressed and traumatized folks included. The positive follow up studies shows these results are stable over time. A research-based approach, EFT is scientifically documented as the most effective couple’s therapy treatment to date according to the criteria set by numerous organizations including the American Psychological Association. EFT combines a systems view, a here and now experiential approach, a focus on emotion and an attachment understanding to create a new science of adult love and bonding. Its treatment model provides an opportunity for new bonding events between couples building secure attachments and safe havens. EFFT is newer in its development and preliminary evidence supports the effectiveness of EFFT as well (Johnson, Maddeaux, & Blouin, 1998).
Objectives:
This workshop is designed to help you:
1. Apply the role of emotion as a key organizer of inner experiences and interactions in couple and family relationships.
2. Describe basic attachment theory and the 'new science of love' and analyze their influence on couple’s connection or distress.
3. List the steps and stages in Sue Johnson’s EFT attachment map of EFT and EFFT.
4. Differentiate between the Attachment and Caregiving Systems of EFFT therapy and apply to the family treatment situation.
5. Describe the way EFT teaches us how to deescalate couples’ negative interactions.
6. Identify EFT moves that allow you to facilitate bonding moments within couple therapy.