Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a short term (8-20 session) structured approach to couple therapy developed in the 1980?s by Sue Johnson and Les Greenberg. The conceptual foundation of EFT is attachment theory with its emphasis on the importance of maintaining a secure emotional bond. EFT interventions are unique in that they integrate the experience of individual emotions with systemic interventions that help couples restructure their interaction patterns. Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of EFT. Studies find that 70-75% of couples move from distress to recovery and approximately 90% show significant improvement. Research also demonstrates that the results last at least three years. EFT can be used with varied cultural groups and with both traditional and non-traditional couples, including same sex couples. The workshop will provide an overview of both the theory and practice of this therapeutic approach.

$50 per day for VAMFT members - (you must identify yourself to the VAMFT registrar as a member)

You have submitted your registration for the VAMFT conference. We look forward to seeing you at the conference.

Thank you!

Sustaining intimacy in a long-term relationship is a challenge for all of us, therapists and clients alike. While most people want to be in an intimate and sexually satisfying relationship these issues are often not explicitly addressed in couples therapy. The purpose of this workshop is to help therapists identify how and when to address these issues during the course of therapy and to gain a better understanding of how their own life experiences can affect how therapists manage these topics.

Most workshops focus only on what to do to make therapy effective. But we all know that mistakes are common in therapy and particularly in couples' therapy which Jay Haley once said is the most difficult of all therapy to do well. This workshop will have something for both beginning and experienced therapists, each of whom tends to make different mistakes. Since therapists destroy their most self-incriminating tapes, the best examples of bad couples' therapy, comes from films. Several clips will be shown and analyzed, along with gripping real case video of a woman pondering whether to her family or go off with her lover. The workshop will also describe how therapists' values about committment influence work with couples, for better or worse, and how we mess up so frequently (and could do better) with remarried couples.

This highly practical workshop will make your marriage and couples' therapy more effective, whatever your model.