This intensive 4-day workshop provides participants with a solid grounding in the skills required to work more directly with emotions in individual psychotherapy. The focus of the program will be experiential, learning how to provide a change in core emotional structures. Participants receive in-depth skill training through a combination of brief lectures, video demonstrations, live modeling, case discussions, and extensive supervised role-playing practice. 26 hours of American Psychological Association-approved CE credit available.
Day 1: Thursday, December 3rd, 2026 9am to 4:30pm CST
Day 2: Friday, December 4th, 2026 9am to 4:30pm CST
Day 3: Saturday, December 5th, 2026 9am to 4:30pm CST
Day 4: Sunday, December 6th, 2026 9am to 4:30pm CST
Location: On-Line via Zoom. The Zoom link will be sent to you prior to the start of the workshop.
Program Learning Objectives:
Identify universal human emotions in their adaptive forms
Identify the five elements of an emotion scheme
Classify strong emotional responses as primary adaptive, primary maladaptive, secondary, or instrumental
Describe the process of deepening emotions from instrumental or undifferentiated painful emotions to primary adaptive emotions
Use the focusing task to guide clients through an emotional deepening process
Describe the relationship between presence and empathic attunement and marker-guided task work
Name different kinds of empathic responses
Define evocative empathy
Identify the marker for the unfinished business task
Describe the set up for the unfinished business task
Describe the purpose of the unfinished business task
Demonstrate marker identification for a two-chair conflict split
Describe the set up for a two-chair conflict split
Describe the concept of a pain compass and how it is used to guide client process
Identify the marker for the self-interruption task
Describe the purpose of the self-interruption task
Identify the marker for the self-soothing task
Describe the set up for the self-soothing task
Describe the difference between following the client's emotional process and the client's content.
Describe one key learning each from your experience in the client chair and in the therapist chair during the training
Trainer: Dr. Rhonda Goldman (Ph.D., C.Psych.) is one of the co-developers of Emotion-Focused Therapy for individuals and couples. She is a Professor at the Chicago School. She is actively involved with research, development, and training in EFT. She has co-authored seven texts on Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), including Learning Emotion-Focused Therapy (2025), Deliberate Practice in Emotion-focused therapy (2021), the Clinical Handbook of Emotion-focused Therapy (2019), Case Formulation in Emotion-focused Therapy (2015), Emotion-focused Couples Therapy (2008), Case Studies in Emotion-focused Therapy (2007). She is a founding board member of the International Society of Emotion-focused Therapy (ISEFT).She runs the Emotion-focused Therapy Institute in Chicago. She travels internationally conducting training workshops for mental health professionals in Emotion-focused therapy for Couples and Individuals.
Intended Audience: This training was developed for licensed psychologists and accredited counselors/psychotherapists, regardless of prior knowledge of EFT. All backgrounds, license types, and therapeutic orientations are welcome. Pre-licensure therapists in training are also welcome.
Fee: $1290
Limited number of student discounts available (email for information)
APA CE Credit: 26 hours of APA-approved CE credit are available for participants who attend the entire program for an additional cost of $30. Partial credit cannot be awarded. We ask that all participants return the post-program evaluation form at the conclusion of the program.
Cancellation Policy:
30 or more days prior to start of training: Full refunds (minus deposit) are available. 1-2 day workshops receive a refund (less $50 deposit) and 3-4 day workshops receive a refund (less $250 deposit).
Fewer than 30 days to start of training: No refund is available.
Conflict of Interest Disclosures: No commercial support was received for this training, including but not limited to no commercial support for the training, for the content of the training, or for endorsement of products during the training. There are no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Emotion-Focused Therapy Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Emotion-Focused Therapy Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its contents.