Training in Emotionally Focused Therapy

The Carolina Center for EFT provides training to mental health professionals in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples. Located in central NC, our center serves the training needs of therapists in North and South Carolina. The training we offer is recognized by the International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT), directed by Dr. Sue Johnson, and can be applied toward becoming a Certified EFT Therapist.

Therapists with EFT training, on the advisory board include: Susan Morrow, Felicia Friesen, Lucille Keenan, Maria Wood, Lynne Hefetz, and David Von Kohorn.

Do you wonder how to help your clients to build trust? Particularly after a betrayal or an attachment injury. How to deal with overt lies? How to validate the pattern of fearing to tell the truth?

There are times a therapist needs to differentiate between a negative cycle which has slowly eroded the bond of trust between partners and a specific injurious event which shattered the bond of trust in one momentous blow. All of EFT therapy is a process of building trust – and we take our time throughout the model, step by step, first of all tracking how an automatic self-protective pattern is blocking partners from trusting, and when it is safe enough to share the underlying fears and needs, to reshape a bond of trust. Annabelle Bugatti from Las Vegas interviews Lorrie Brubacher on Building Trust in EFT.

Multi-ethnic hands in a circle

The Carolina Center for EFT is committed to helping our clients and our colleagues stand together for healing, safety, strength and solidarity during the increase in hate crimes and protests of white supremacy across our country. As a Center we are committed to creating safe, secure bonds in couples and families. As part of that commitment we decry the messages of hatred and white supremacy recently being advanced.

Many of our colleagues, clients and members of our community have grown up as targets of different types of oppression, and expressions of hatred and protests across the country are reopening old wounds. We work and pray for a society that attends to its most vulnerable, in our belief that this is what creates a safe and thriving community for all.

EFT Training and Therapy aims to cultivate a climate of inclusion, where all can feel safe, valued, and affirmed. We view love and meaningful secure connections with one another as a birthright to all human beings, and strive to promote a more loving humanity and community for all. We hope for a world in which every person can embrace their universal human attachment needs and thrive without fear of persecution or marginalization as a result of gender expression, race, ethnic or national origin, religion, sexual/affectional orientation, family structure, age, class, mental health, physical character or disability. Here’s a video portraying one example of love at its best, in a diverse world.

Watch a short video with Dr. Sue Johnson providing an overview of the basic EFT Training

Referrals to EFT Therapists

Our Center provides a referral base of therapists in North and South Carolina who are trained in EFT.

Carolina EFT Mission Statement

The mission of Carolina EFT is to create connections between therapists who want to use an empirically validated therapy model that can create lasting, loving bonds between couples and in families. Our goals:

To provide training and supervision for therapists interested in becoming EFT therapists.
To encourage therapist certification in EFT.
To foster the development of a community of well trained EFT couple therapists.
To promote ongoing learning and practice of EFT.
To provide quality therapy for couples, individuals and families.
To fill the Carolina communities’ needs for competent EFT couple and family therapists.

Philosophy of Carolina EFT

We share the philosophy of International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT):

“We adhere to the philosophy that relationships are at the core of human experience. Research indicates that emotionally fulfilling relationships are integral components of mental and physical health, and that emotionally focused interventions have the power to establish and re-create supportive bonds among individuals. We are therefore dedicated to the understanding and enhancement of couple and family relationships through an emphasis on emotions and their interpersonal impact. We believe that all people can maximize their potential given a nurturing social environment, which we endeavor to foster in our work with clients.”

Carolina Center for EFT