Emotion Focused Family Therapy

Gail Palmer, MSW, RMFT

Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) is a model of intervention that helps build strong and cohesive families from the inside out, according to presenter Gail Palmer, MSW, RMFT. The EFFT approach uses new insights from attachment theory to understand distressed and satisfying relationships within a family. Palmer has worked closely with EFFT co-creator Sue Johnson and has trained therapists across Canada and the United States. She is a founding member of the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute and a family therapy professor in the School of Social Work at Carleton University, Ottawa.

In this Saturday special session, Palmer will review relevant research, discuss family distress from an attachment perspective, and identify EFFT stages including key change events and clinical interventions. The workshop that follows (3:15-6:45pm) will focus more closely on the core skills and tasks in therapeutic practice, corresponding interventions, change events that foster a secure bond between family members, and interventions to help families re-process negative affect and restructure negative interactions.

Facilitator/Presider: Jeffry Larson, Family Therapy Section Chair