Families at the Crossroads: Emotionally Focused Therapy for Families

Date: November 4-5, 2022 | Time: 9am - 5pm both days, Arizona time

Location: In-Person at New Vision Center for Spiritual Living in Phoenix, AZ AND Virtual Live-Streaming

Certificate of Attendance: 14 hours (7 hours of instruction per day; 1-hour lunch not included)

**CE certificates are available for purchase if a free certificate of attendance is not sufficient (psychologists and out-of-town participants may be interested in this option);

Cost: By 7/31/22 - Members $340, Non-Members $375, Students $125

8/1/22 - 9/30/22 - Members $365, Non-Members $400, Students $125

On or After 10/1/22 - Members $390, Non-Members $425, Students $125

**A $100 discount is offered to attendees working in a community mental health agency or who are active members of the military

Description: Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) is an attachment-based approach that combines both systemic and experiential interventions to mend broken bonds and heal fractured families. Emotionally Focused Therapy offers practical strategies to engage the unique power of family relationships to promote belonging and foster becoming. EFFT guides a therapist through a family’s relationship blocks toward resources for growth and connection. Through the power of transforming emotional experience, a family finds healing and restores resilience to face the everyday and unexpected challenges of life.

This workshop demonstrates the application of EFT principles and practices to family relationships. Understanding family distress through an attachment lens unlocks new resources to transform rigid relational blocks into accessible and responsive bonds of connection and care. Participants will gain focus and skills to support parents and children, both young and old, to regain their emotional balance and strengthen ties that families rely on for support, connection, and growth. This training explores EFFT as a powerful transformative approach that is foundational in helping parents and children who are struggling with remaining securely attached.

Please note, this is an EFFT Level 1 Training, with an emphasis on families going through high-conflict divorce.

Workshop Format: This workshop will combine didactic instruction, experiential exercises, and case examples to demonstrate the practice of EFFT. The training will deepen participants conceptualization of emotional processing within family relationships. Sessions will highlight specific application of EFFT interventions necessary to transform reactive relationship patterns. Clinical demonstrations and discussions will illustrate key steps in the EFFT process of change.

Learning Objectives: Participants will…

- Conceptualize family distress using theories of emotion and attachment.

- Delineate key practices of EFFT from EFT work with couples.

- Summarize the key components of the “secure cycle” of caregiving and attachment.

- Label the stages and markers of change in the EFFT approach.

- Identify therapist practices that promote a working alliance with parents and children.

- Gain strategies for strengthening parental investment in the EFFT process.

- Practice key interventions common to processing attachment related affect.

- Examine a 5-step sequence for accessing and processing with emotion in family relationships.

- Analyze parent child interactions using EFT practices to work through specific relational blocks.

- Identify EFT interventions used to restructure new patterns and promote safety and security in the family.

- Apply the relationship reframes and enactments to invite new levels of engagement between family members.

- Describe the emotional landscape of post-divorce parent child interactions.

- Illustrate EFFT practices with parents and children facing high conflict divorce.

- Explore the relationship of secure attachment to family patterns of resilience.

Program Level: Intermediate

Diversity Statement: This presentation is informed by the ICEEFT statement and commitment to anti-racism. Specifically, this training includes an assessment focus on the CARE model outlined by Johnson & Campbell (2022), which guides therapist to evaluate attachment, emotion, and therapist alliance issues within the context of ethnicity, culture, and social location of families. Various examples are used through the training to illustrate the application of EFFT to families representing different social contexts.

James Furrow, Ph.D., is leader and contributor to the practice of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with couples and families. Together with EFT originator, Dr. Susan Johnson, Jim co- authored Emotionally Focused Family Therapy; Becoming an EFT Therapist: The Workbook and The EFT Casebook. He is also co-authored Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy for Dummies, a practical resource for couples and therapists seeking an everyday understanding of EFT principles and practices. Formerly Jim served as the Evelyn and Frank Freed Professor of Marital and Family Therapy at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, where he trained psychologists and marital and family and conducted research on adolescent risk and resilience. He is a clinical fellow and an approved supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, a member of the National Council on Family Relations, and a Certified Family Life Educator. He co-founded the Los Angeles Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy and board member of the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT).

Cancellation / Refund Policy: In the event that you have paid for an upcoming event but are not able to attend, you may request a refund up to 30 days prior to the event. Refund requests must be received in writing via email to: [email protected]. Requests received at least 60 days prior to the start of the event will receive a full refund of the registration minus a $25 administrative fee. Requests received between 30-59 days prior to the start of the event will receive a 50% refund of the registration. No refunds will be issued for cancellations received less than 30 days prior to the start of the event.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

New Vision Center for Spiritual Living, 18010 North Tatum Boulevard, Phoenix, United States