EFIT Essentials, May 6 – 9, 2024 in Beautiful Asheville, NC

Lenoir-Rhyne University – Asheville
36 Montford Avenue, 
Asheville, NC  28801

Hours: 9am-5pm each day

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 (24hr) 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.

24 NBCC approved CE hours

Registration is now closed.

Email questions to Linda Hobbs.

Some recommended places of lodging in Asheville, NC during the training are listed here:

Hotels within 5-10 minute walk/drive of Lenoir-Rhyne (LR):

• Doubletree by Hilton (new, nice, 4-star. 4-5 min. walk to LR – $165/night)
• Embassy Suites (brand new, very nice, 4-star. 4-5 min. walk to LR – $270/night)
• Cambria Hotel (nice, 4-star. 10-12 min. walk to LR – $215/night)
• Hotel Indigo (nice, 4-5 star. 4-5 min. walk to LR – check availability & price)
• Uptown Place Suites – Marriot (4-min. drive; 15-min. walk to LR – $119/night) 
• Omni Grove Park Inn (luxurious! 10-min drive to LR – $400-$500/night)

Bed and Breakfast Inns within 5-10 minute walk/drive of Lenoir-Rhyne:

• Wright Inn & Carriage House (5-star – $239/night)
• Lion & The Rose (5-star – $245/night)
• Carolina Bed & Breakfast (5-star – $265/night)
• Google “Bed & Breakfasts Montford, Asheville, NC” for many others

Air B and B’s within 5-10 minute walk of Lenoir-Rhyne:

• Google “airbnb.com”; search for “Montford, Asheville, NC” ($95-$200/night)

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 the therapeutic interventions.
• Discover and distill core emotional experiences and promote emotional balance
• Outline protective, self-defining and interactional iatrogenic patterns.
• Implement the 5 moves of the EFT Tango to shape corrective emotional experience and EFT micro-interventions.
• Choreograph dramas that expand the self and open engagement with others.
• Integrate corrective emotional experiences into models of self and other.
• 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 individuals they serve.

Prerequisites & Sequence

There are no prerequisites for EFIT Essentials.

Required reading: “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.

Recommended readings:

• “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.

Cancellations

Subject to a $75 administration fee and must be made in writing at least 14 days prior to the first session to qualify for a refund of the balance paid. If you cancel with less than 14 days notice, but before the course begins you will be refunded 50%. If you cancel after a course has begun, there will be no refund. In the event a course is cancelled due to low registration, a refund will be issued in the full amount paid.

Carolina Center for EFT has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6488. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Carolina Center for EFT is solely responsible for all aspects of the training programs.

Equity Rate

Diversity/Inclusion scholarships are being offered to encourage participation from people from underrepresented groups, whose presence will enrich the training experience for everyone. If you can benefit from the equity rate pricing and identify with one of the following categories, please come and participate in the upcoming EFT training course. The categories are: 1) Those who identify with an underrepresented group and 2) those who work with historically marginalized communities.

If you have any questions, please contact Steve Wampler.

---

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 the means by which 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 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 experience that can then be used as a guide for living. Confidence flows from secure connection with others, creating a safe haven and a secure base in the dynamic flow between interpersonal and internal worlds.

Lorrie Brubacher is the Founding Director of the Carolina Center for EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy). A certified trainer with the International Centre for Excellence in EFT (ICEEFT), she has been an individual, couple and family therapist since 1989. She is an adjunct at University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She trains internationally and publishes frequently on the topic of EFT, often with its originator, Dr. Sue Johnson. She co-developed EFT’s first interactive video training program, has several EFCT and EFIT training videos, available at https://steppingintoeft.com and published Stepping into Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Key Ingredients of Change (2018).

What Past Participants Have Said About Lorrie’s EFIT Trainings

2023

“Best EFT training ever!

“Lorrie is skilled in relatability with all levels of the professionals in the room.”

“Anytime that Lorrie can show a video or do a live role play and do the ‘think out loud technique’ makes the training worth it, in my opinion. It’s so helpful to hear what she’s thinking about or noticing, and how that informs which direction she’s taking and why. For me, that helps solidify the didactic material into something that’s more of an integrated working model.”

“I love the clarity and simplicity that Lorrie brings. I also like how close she stays to client’s experience.”

2022

“I completed the personal journaling exercises before the training, then I was able to role play the personal incident which I journaled about in our extended exercise. The journal reflections helped prepare & connect me to my experience and EFIT, but going through it with my group experientially as a client was unexpectedly powerful, It was very moving for me, I felt the shifting sense of self and other. Thank you for creating this extended exercise”

“It was a transformative course for me! Lorrie is stellar and instructs with such humility and kind regard. It was my first glimpse of the richness of the EFT global community. Deeply grateful. Thank you.”

2021

“Lorrie is a very engaging trainer and I am extremely grateful for her attention to making this training an inclusive space”

“I really appreciated Lorrie’s teaching style, clear, concise and organised. The handouts were great to follow, and I found the experiential parts helped to really solify the learning. The new workbook chapter is so excellent for being able to get to grips with the model, in a clearly guided way. (Referring to chapter 9 in Becoming an EFT Therapist). The reflective process I think is the best way I’ve ever used to really understand the process. I would recommend that for every EFT therapist.”

“As someone new to EFT, I found Lorrie’s presence and availability to answer questions extremely helpful, plus the guided breakout room practice and debriefs very confidence-boosting.”

“Lorrie’s capacity to show and express in a digestible manner the seeming complexity of the work had me feeling attentive and drawn in throughout.”

“Lorrie’s persistent emphasis on staying present and with the emotion became a felt experience rather than just something I know.” 

“Lorrie’s videos of her work with clients made a lasting impression — and will nourish me for a long time to come.”

“I loved her warm manner and her respectful approach.”

2017

“The community from Romania is grateful for the opportunity that Lorrie gave us. We all feel enriched by the information and experiences. Lorrie impressed all the therapists by her warmth, genuine attitude and openness. By varying live demonstration with role plays and videotaped sessions, the course has a highly practical style, that has helps trainees to know how to use the attachment lens… to determine emotional regulations patterns… to track negative cycles that maintain the client’s presenting problem, and use the incredible power of emotion to revise the internal working models of self and other and choreograph corrective emotional experiences that can in turn transform the negative models into safe internal and interpersonal bonds.” – from Romania, 2017

“Lorrie is an incredible gift to the EFT Community. This training greatly increased my confidence and decreased my anxiety. Very enjoyable mix of didactic and experiential. Very genuine and positively vulnerable instructor.” – from Phoenix, AZ, 2017

“Excellent training. The live session/debrief was especially helpful. Good blend of theory and application.”

“So grateful for this training. I learned so much about the process of EFIT experientially from Lorrie and with my fellow participants. I loved how the training, organization, live session, videos and role plays helped me learn the materials. I love Lorrie’s kind, caring way of interacting with participants.” – from Greensboro, NC, 2017

Sue Johnson after Lorrie’s Live Session in Ottawa, November 2017:

“I’ll tell you what you just saw! You just saw perfect, constant, relentless attunement. And you saw it keep going. The central difference with EFT is that you stay in the emotion channel. You follow. You follow. And then you have to know where to go and Lorrie showed that beautifully. Beautifully. What you just saw was amazing attunement and a lot of what happened there was that Lorrie stayed with her. Lorrie stayed with her and validated and ordered her experience. As she stayed in the experience she directed her back. She ordered it. She kept the emotion going. … And because Lorrie was safe – holding her hand – focused the reflections – kept keeping her attuned – it’s like you pick up on the momentum of the emotion and the emotion keeps going. So you just saw a brilliant session!”