EFIT Essentials - Emotionally Focused INDIVIDUAL Therapy

EMOTIONALLY FOCUSED INDIVIDUAL THERAPY

EFIT Essentials is an amalgamation of the previous Level 1 and Level 2 EFIT trainings, now offered as a seamless, intensive learning experience. The training is structured to provide a solid foundation and an advanced understanding of the EFIT model, embedded within an attachment science framework. Through a blend of theoretical instruction and experiential exercises, participants will be guided to apply the model with individuals in their practice, fostering their growth as adept, attuned, and responsive EFIT therapists.

This 4-day (24-hour) training event is a didactic and experiential program where participants will be invited to apply the EFIT principles and interventions. The training will delve into the heart of the empirically validated EFIT model, presenting a coherent framework for understanding individual emotional processing and change.

What will I learn in “EFIT Essentials”?

Participants will learn to:

• Describe the key elements of the attachment perspective on personality and its significance for clinical intervention
• Delineate clients’ “within and between cycles” otherwise known as internal and interpersonal patterns and how they create and reinforce each other and foster presenting problems that manifest as emotional disorders
• Describe the core components of emotional disorders – depression and anxiety.
• Outline the process of change and the elements of the EFT Tango to shape corrective emotional experiences.
• Apply the EFT micro-interventions.
• Outline the applicability of EFIT for different clients with different symptomatology.
• Adopt an attachment humanistic perspective on clients, their problems, and therapeutic interventions.
• Discover and distil core emotional experiences and promote emotional balance
• Outline protective, self-defining and interactional iatrogenic patterns.
• Choreograph dramas that expand the self and open engagement with others.
• Integrate corrective emotional experiences into models of self and others.
• Validate the client’s sense of competence and worth in every session.

Who is this training for?

EFIT Essentials training is designed to be an immersive and enriching professional development opportunity, aimed at equipping mental health professionals with the essential skills and knowledge necessary for effective EFIT practice. Through a blend of theoretical teachings, practical exercises, and collaborative learning, this program aims to foster a deeper understanding and proficient application of the EFIT model, empowering participants to contribute to the mental health and well-being of the individuals they serve.

Prerequisites & Sequence

There are no prerequisites for EFIT Essentials.

Recommended readings

• “A Primer for Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT): Cultivating Fitness and Growth in Every Client” by Susan M. Johnson and T. Leanne Campbell, 2022. Routledge.
• “Attachment Theory in Practice: Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with Individuals, Couples, and Families” by Dr. Susan M. Johnson, 2019. Save 25% thanks to Guilford Press with promo code ZFEFT.
• “Becoming an Emotionally Focused Therapist: The Workbook (2nd Edition)” by James L. Furrow, Susan M. Johnson, Brent Bradley, Lorrie L. Brubacher, T. Leanne Campbell, Veronica Kallos-Lilly, Gail Palmer, Kathryn Rheem, Scott R. Woolley, 2022. Routledge.

Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) extends Dr. Sue Johnson’s model of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy to work with individuals. EFIT helps you to create corrective emotional experiences in individual therapy to shape safety and security with others and within self.

Johnson argues that psychotherapy is most effective when it focuses on the healing power of emotional connection. Attachment theory provides proven techniques for treating the two common presenting problems in individual therapy: anxiety and depression. It provides a practical map for shaping love or secure attachment that positively impacts emotion regulation, social adjustment and mental health (Johnson, 2019).

“But love is not only an end for therapy; it is also how every end is reached” (Lewis, Amini, & Lannon, 2002). In EFIT, the therapeutic alliance is the heart from which emotion regulation and secure bonds with others and within the self are shaped. Core attachment emotions are reprocessed to fuel corrective emotional experiences of love, between and within. Clients are helped to discover and validate inner emotional experiences that can then be used as a guide for living. Confidence flows from a secure connection with others, creating a safe haven and a secure base in the dynamic flow between interpersonal and internal worlds.