Masterclass in Emotion-Focused Therapy for Youth (EFT-Y) for EFT therapists: Integrate working with youth into your EFT practice

Objective

Join the first generation of clinicians training in Emotion Focused Therapy for youth and their caregivers. This training is for therapists with EFT experience looking to gain experience in working with youth, parent-child dyads, and families within an emotion focused modality. We will focus on the theoretical, technical, and practical components of extending EFT to youth.

Many youth come to therapy when there have been painful or overwhelming experiences in their lives. EFT’s emotion transformation process simply and brilliantly demonstrates how helpful emotions can reduce suffering. EFT has been adapted for youth aged 9 through 17 based on over ten years of clinical research.

EFT-Y supports clinicians to strengthen their attunement with their client’s verbal and nonverbal communication, identifying key moments in therapy, and facilitating emotion transformation through evocative and empathic responses. EFT-Y directs youth to their emotions as a fundamental meaning system. Each emotional experience provides clues to how the youth is experiencing their world while also organizing them to think and act in certain ways.
In addition to praising the fact that EFT offers an alternative to traditional therapies for youth, clients often appreciate that EFT-Y is individualized for them and places them at the centre of the process. As well, EFT-Y opens the door for recognizing how impactful primary caregivers are in a child’s emotional development and mental health. Many youth become more comfortable with expressing their emotions directly to their caregivers and allowing parents and caregivers to become involved in the therapeutic process.

Target Group

This two-day training is geared toward practicing professionals with a basic knowledge of emotion-focused therapy (e.g., EFT Level B or C) who are seeking to expand their therapeutic reach to include children and adolescents.