We are so pleased to offer this in-person EFT Externship 2025 at Whitworth University in Spokane, and we are honored to have EFT Trainer Kathryn de Bruin, LMFT guide us in our learning.  Last year’s externship was a fulfilling experience with 60 clinicians gathering for the 4 days to immerse themselves in EFCT and in this professional learning environment to experience first-hand the EFT community.

Created by Sue Johnson, EFT is an experiential therapy for couples, individuals and families that is emotion-focused, attachment-based, and process-oriented. EFCT Externship focuses more on applying EFT to partners/couples. Come learn this beautiful therapy model created by Sue Johnson.  We stand on her shoulders and we continue to spread her model and honor her legacy. 

This is an official 4 Day Externship (24 hours of training) endorsed by the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT) and in collaboration with Whitworth University Externship with Continuing Education units provided by TriEFT/Alliant.  EFT Externship provides the foundation for EFT learning and it is the first step in the certification process to become an ICEEFT Certified EFT Couples Therapist (EFCT).

Participants will see a live therapy demonstration by Kathryn de Bruin, a powerful experiential learning tool.

24 CEs are available for associate and licensed clinicians for a separate cost.   Coming Soon!   Check back soon for the CE link.

Attending EFT Externship is the first step on the path to EFT Couples certification.  Please see the ICEEFT website for more information about EFT certification.

WHAT WILL I LEARN AT EXTERNSHIP?

• Participants will obtain a clear understanding of the basic experiential and systemic concepts of an “Emotionally Focused” approach to therapy.
• Participants will be able to view clients in the web of their interpersonal attachments and conceptualize relationship distress and repair based on theories of attachment and emotion.
• EFT is a relational therapy. The Externship will focus on the model of EFCT laid out in the 2019 book, Attachment Theory in Practice, and teach the model as implemented in couple therapy sessions.
• Participants will develop skills in sharing and maintaining an engaged, open and collaborative alliance with clients.
• Participants will develop skills in the 5 moves of the basic macro-intervention – the EFT Tango – in order to change patterns of affect regulation, models of self and other, strategies for engaging others and interactional patterns.
• Participants will develop skills in EFT micro interventions taken from experiential and attachment systemic models of intervention.
• Participants will develop skills in overcoming common blocks and impasses in couple therapy and so shape core corrective emotional experiences that lead to constructive dependency and what Rogers termed ‘existential living.’

WHO IS THIS TRAINING FOR? WHAT WILL I LEARN AT EXTERNSHIP?

All mental health professionals including psychiatrists, psychologists, family physicians, social workers, psychiatric nurses, counsellors (including couples and family therapists), pastors and clergy, and students training in these professions. School counsellors and occupational therapists are permitted to attend if they are licensed and belong to a professional body that has standards of practice for psychotherapy/counselling.

Life coaches are not permitted to attend unless they also meet one of the mental health professional categories listed above.

SCHEDULE AND AGENDA 

Externship will meet Monday-Thursday, 9am – 4:30pm,  March 24, 25, 26, 26, 2025.

Each day, we will have a 15 minute break in the morning, a 1 hour lunch on your own, and a 15 minute break in the afternoon.

There will be an informal social gathering on Wednesday evening.

The Agenda will be (subject to change):

Monday:       Welcome and attachment theory

Tuesday:       EFT Stage 1 with videos of real sessions, and Live session conducted by Kathryn de Bruin

Wednesday:  EFT Stage 2 with videos of real session, and Live session conducted by Kathryn de Bruin

Thursday:     EFT with individuals (EFIT) and EFT with families (EFFT)

REGISTRATION IS OPEN

We offer the following registration rates:   early bird; military and associate clinician; student and regular.

In support of our initiative of diversity, equity and inclusion, we offer a reduced fee on a “first come, first served” basis.  Please email Ji-Hye Jean at [email protected] to inquire about the diversity initiative.

Contact us with questions:   [email protected]

Prior to the training, each registered participant will receive a welcome letter via email with more details including parking and local lunch spots. 

FEES AND CLOSING DATES.          

Early bird —  $1150.   Closing date is October 31, 2024.  

Regular  —  $1250.      Closing date is March 20, 2025.

Associate/Military —   $950.        Closing date is March 20, 2025.

Students  $750      Closing date is March 20, 2025.

Diversity $750     Closing date is March 20, 2025.    Email [email protected]

PREREQUISITE AND SEQUENCE

ICEEFT recommends taking Fundamentals of EFT prior to this course. There are no prerequisites for an EFCT Externship.

EFCT Core Skills follows an Externship.

Required Reading: The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection, 3rd edition, by Susan M. Johnson, 2020. Routledge.

Recommended Readings:
Attachment Theory in Practice: Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with Individuals, Couples, and Families by Dr. Susan M. Johnson, 2019. Guildford Press.

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.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Please understand. When you sign up and pay for this, or any EWNIEFT Community event, we count on those funds in advance to fulfill negotiated payment to our trainers and facility-use fees. We are a non-profit organization and each event must pay entirely for itself. If we cannot meet our financial obligation to our trainers, they may not be willing to return to our Community for future trainings. Therefore, cancellations are allowed up to 30 days before the start date of the training, less a $50 non-refundable administrative fee. If you must cancel with less than 30 days notice you may apply the missed registration or registration fees to any future EWNIEFT Community sponsored events up to two years later. If you have paid and fail to attend all or a portion of an Externship training, all or a portion of a Core Skills training module and/or a Master Class training for any reason without prior notification, no refund nor future compensation will be offered. No exceptions! Contact [email protected] for questions.