Summary
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for Couples is one of the most research-supported and effective therapeutic approaches for helping partners move from distress to emotional connection. This session for psychologists, licensed mental health professionals, and ministry leaders will explore EFT’s 9-step transformational process and how it shifts couples out of reactive, repetitive conflict cycles and into patterns of emotional safety, responsiveness, and closeness. Participants will learn how to map these conflict cycles and the best ways to intervene when the negative cycle is occurring. Using case examples, video demonstrations, and guided discussion, participants will see how EFT’s key change events unfold and learn how to use enactments to deepen emotional engagement between partners.
Learning Objectives
Identify and map a couple’s negative interaction cycle using attachment principles and describe how this cycle erodes emotional connection.
Name and describe the nine steps of EFT and the key change events that move a couple from distress to connection.
Demonstrate the ability to conduct EFT enactments and guide bonding conversations.