The ICEEFT Trainers
Dr. Sue Johnson, Ed.D., C. Psych
Founder, Trainer
Dr. Sue Johnson was the founding Director of the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy and the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute. For over ten years, she was also the Director of the Marital and Family Clinic at the Civic Hospital in Ottawa. Sue was a clinical psychologist, researcher, professor, author, popular presenter and speaker and one of the leading innovators in the field of couple therapy. She presented all over the world and wrote on attachment and bonding, the science of love, interventions to repair relationships, trauma couples and forgiveness.
Sue was the primary developer of the Emotionally Focused model of couple therapy (EFT) which has demonstrated its effectiveness in over 25 years of clinical research. She was the author of several seminal books and numerous articles on couple and family therapy as well as the popular book Hold Me Tight (2008). Sue held professorships at the University of Ottawa and at Alliant University in San Diego, California.
She received numerous honors for her work, including the Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Couple and Family Therapy Award from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and the Research in Family Therapy Award from the American Family Therapy Academy.
Sue’s most recent books are Attachment Theory in Practice: Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with Individuals, Couples, and Families (2019) and A Primer for Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT): Cultivating Fitness and Growth in Every Client (with Leanne Campbell, in press).
Sue passed away in April 2024. Her work remains a guiding light for all ICEEFT trainers.
Nancy Tischler Aikin, Ph.D.
Trainer
Nancy is a co-founder of Aikin Associates Seminars, and as such has been a trainer / practitioner for the last 35 years. Along with her husband Paul, she is Co-Director of the Greater Sacramento-Davis EFT Center. Being an educator and community developer as well as a clinician has been her focus throughout her career. She is a practicing clinical psychologist in private practice seeing families, couples and individuals. She provides EFT supervision to individuals and co-leads ongoing EFT consultation groups with her husband Paul. She has also been consultant to the Davis Unified Schools and is currently hired by Sutter Medical Foundation as an outside expert to facilitate the hospitals’ physician wellness program.
Nancy earned her PhD in clinical psychology for the School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Davis in 1980 with a specialty in child treatment and worked with adolescents for many years as the clinical director of the teen services for Planned Parenthood of Sacramento. She is a certified EFT Trainer, Supervisor and Therapist. Her most recent project in collaboration with Sue Johnson, Gail Palmer, Jim Furrow and Paul Aikin is to expand the HMT program for couples to families.
Paul Aikin, Ph.D.
Trainer
Paul is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice seeing couples, families and individuals. Along with his wife Nancy, he is Co-Director of the Greater Sacramento-Davis EFT Center. He has held positions at the University of California, Davis as Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine; Clinical Psychologist and Director of Training at the Counseling Center; and Lecturer, Department of Psychology. He has also been a staff member and workshop leader at Esalen Institute. Through Aikin Associates Seminars, Paul has offered continuing education courses on psychotherapy treatment to the greater Sacramento Region for over 30 years. He has been a consultant to hundreds of local therapists. He continues to do ongoing EFT individual and group consultation and trainings.
Paul is a certified EFT Trainer, Supervisor and Therapist. With the support of Sue Johnson, he and his wife Nancy developed the Hold Me Tight /Let Me Go (HMT/LMG) Families with Teens Program and are currently developing the Hold Me Tight/Let Me Be Me (HMT/LMBM) Workshop for Families with Adult Children.
Robert Allan, Ph.D.
Trainer
Dr. Robert Allan is an experienced educator and trainer, specializing in counselor/therapist learning and development. He is an Assistant Professor in the couple and family track of the graduate counseling program at the University of Colorado, Denver. Robert is licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist and Professional Counselor in the state of Colorado where he maintains an active couple therapy and supervision practice. Robert also researches the practical application of Emotionally Focused Therapy across diverse populations. Robert has published in peer reviewed journals and presents regularly at scientific conferences on the process and efficacy of EFT for couples. He has been involved in trainings in Canada (where he is from), England, Scotland, and now the US; and has a strong interest in helping counselors and therapists integrate EFT into their practices.
Giulia Altera, Ph.D.
Trainer
Dr. Giulia Altera is a Psychotherapist and a Clinical and Forensic Psychologist.
She is a certified Trainer, Supervisor and Therapist in Emotionally Focused Therapy. As well as one of the founders of the EFT Italia Community and the Director of the EFT North Italy Center. She is also leading the development of EFT in Brazil.
Giulia brings warmth and passion to her work, and she enjoys providing therapy and supervision in person and online. She is supportive and extremely attuned to the needs of her clients, the groups that she trains, and of the co-trainer. She is professional and effective in her teaching and therapy and actively seeks feedback to keep on growing and learning.
Before EFT she specialized with honors in Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy at the Miller Institute of Genova. Following by the completion of the II level Master’s Degree at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of Genoa in Criminology and Forensic Psychiatric Sciences. She practiced as a freelancer in Criminal Psychiatric Hospital, in prisons of maximum security, and worked for years in the treatment of drug addiction and Alcohol Dependencies. During this time she also completed the International Training on the treatment of trauma and dissociative disorders with Dr. Kathy Steele (International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD).
She is also a certified Schema Therapist. She speaks fluent Italian (mother tongue) Portuguese and English, and can provide therapy, supervision and teaching in all three languages. For this she has been involved in trainings outside her country and she is helping to bring EFT in Brasil, Portugal, Poland and Iran.
With great warmth and passion, she deals mainly with problems concerning couples, and in particular with couples of trauma survivors, with personality disorders (individual and couple), and LGBTQI+ couples.
For more information on Dr. Giulia Altera, please visit: http://www.eft-norditalia.com/ or http://www.eftitaliacommunity.com
Matt Angelstorf, C. Psych.
Trainer
Matt is a clinical psychologist in Germany who has always been passionate about understanding the workings of intimate relationships and helping people strengthen their love for one another. Matt has been a driving force in teaching and growing EFT in Germany since 2009. In 2013 he had the opportunity to work at Sue Johnson’s Ottawa Couple and Family Institute and was able to work with and learn from some of the most experienced EFT trainers. Matt has been described as having a very powerful presence and warmth as a therapist and excellent structure and clarity as a teacher. Beyond the therapy room, Matt is always interested in finding ways to educate the general public about how fulfilling and lasting relationships can be built and maintained.
Ali Barbosa, MFT
Trainer
Ali Barbosa is a Marriage and Family Therapist and a Certified EFT Supervisor and Trainer. He´s the director and founder of the Mexican Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy and has a full time private practice in Mérida at the south east of México, where he usually works with couples who come from different cultures and backgrounds. Ali has collaborated extensively with Sam Jinich in the translation of EFT resources to Spanish and has helped him in various trainings throughout Latin America and Spain. He´s very connected to his Hispanic community and also co-leads monthly supervision groups in Spanish via Zoom. Ali is very passionate about training and developing new and creative didactic resources for EFT trainings. For more information go to www.eftmexico.com.
Michael Barnett, LPC
Trainer
Michael Barnett, MA, Ed.S, LPC is a licensed psychotherapist currently residing in Los Angeles California. He forged his professional career in Atlanta Georgia with over 30 years of clinical experience. Michael is an ICEEFT(International Center of Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy) certified supervisor and trainer in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT), and is the founder and director of the Atlanta Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy. He was a partner at Pine River Psychotherapy Associates, a highly respected and visionary private practice in Atlanta since its inception in the 1970s. Michael is an active member of the National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors, American Counseling Association, and the Licensed Professional Counselor’s Association of Georgia, where he served on their board of directors for several years.
The central focus and passion of Michael’s work is both couple’s therapy, and training professionals who work with couples. His interest in couple’s therapy began early in his career. Michael specifically noticed that effective and successful couple’s therapy healed not only the relationship, but in the process of therapy, the individuals within the relationship consistently evolved into the best and most authentic versions of themselves, healing emotional pain and historical wounds in the process. He concluded that effective couple therapy could facilitate the deepest levels of change for the individual as well as for the couple. Michael has taught EFT throughout the United States, and facilitates all of the modules for certification as an EFT therapist and supervisor. In addition to his clinical work, supervision and training, Michael conducted a research project that incorporated EFT into inpatient addiction treatment protocols at a leading alcohol and drug treatment center in Atlanta. He and EFT trainer Jim Thomas have co-created a training module using EFT to treat couples on the addictive continuum in outpatient settings. Michael has been interviewed on multiple radio programs, he has been invited to address therapy associations and group practices as a consultant, and has led dozens of corporate leadership development programs throughout his career. Michael uses life experience, humor, clinical competence and compassion to present the EFT model to his audiences. He has been described by others as warm, knowledgeable and approachable person and therapist. In his free time he enjoys meditation, exercise, spending time with his family and friends, playing guitar, and losing himself in the wonders of nature.
Anne Belgram-Perkins, C.Psych
Trainer
Anne, a native American naturalised French, is a licensed clinical psychologist in France and a certified EFT therapist, supervisor and trainer. Anne’s background, before EFT, was in systemic therapy and intercultural psychology, with professional experience in French Social Services and in the public health sector. She has been in private practice for over 20 years, working in both French and English with individuals and couples and families. Anne is an ardent proponent of EFT, and dedicated to developing this profoundly humanistic model of therapy in her adopted country. She heads the growing EFT community in France and is the founder of the French EFT training center.
Dr. Marlene Best, Ph.D., C. Psych.
Trainer
Dr. Marlene Best is a registered psychologist, Certified EFT Trainer and Supervisor. At the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute, she provides EFT therapy and supervision. She offers EFT training in Canada and internationally. Marlene is also a Clinical Professor at the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, where she provides clinical supervision to Ph.D. practicum students and interns who are learning EFT. She won the student-nominated award for excellence in clinical supervision in 2016. Marlene is known for her warmth and ability to create a very safe, open learning environment; her clear, structured teaching style; her interest in and attention to issues relating to person-of-the-therapist; her focus on therapeutic process skills; and, her ability to offer helpful encouraging feedback in a clear, empathic manner. Marlene is passionate about teaching EFT Externships, Core Skills, Master Classes on Stage Two, and supervision skills. She also offers mini-workshops on EFT to various professionals, including graduate students in psychology, medicine, and education.
For more information on Dr. Marlene Best, please visit the Ottawa EFT Centre.
Lorrie Brubacher, M. Ed., LMFT (NC) RMFT
Trainer
Lorrie L. 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 faculty at University of North Carolina, Greensboro and trains internationally. She co-developed EFT’s first interactive video training program on the EFT Attachment Injury Resolution Model (www.attachmentinjuryrepair.com) and has produced many EFT couple and individual training videos (https://steppingintoeft.com/). Some training videos are available with subtitles in Spanish, Italian, German, and Farsi. Her book Stepping into Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Key Ingredients of Change (Routledge, 2018) is translated into 6 languages. She has published in the Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy, the Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy, Person Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies, and Journal of Family Psychotherapy, and is on the editorial board for the ICEEFT newsletter. She has also co-authored six chapters with Dr. Sue Johnson. See https://steppingintoeft.com www.lbrubacher.com and www.carolinaeft.com
Dr. Leanne Campbell, Ph.D., R. Psych.
Trainer
Leanne Campbell is co-director of the Vancouver Island Centre for EFT and Campbell & Fairweather Psychology Group and is an Honorary Research Associate of Vancouver Island University. Trained by Dr. Sue Johnson in the early 1990s, she has continued to work in the EFT model since that time, and has worked with hundreds of individuals, couples and families over the past about three decades. In addition to maintaining an active and full-time private practice, with a primary focus in the areas of trauma and grief, Dr. Campbell currently manages a two-site practice comprised of over twenty clinicians and is a site coordinator for an Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) outcome study. An active ICEEFT Certified Trainer, Leanne has been providing trainings in EFT over the past many years and has similarly been involved in the development of various training materials including DVDs, on-line educational/training programs, books, workbooks and articles.
Joe X. Cantu, MA, LMFT
Trainer
Joe X. Cantu is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Certified EFT Trainer in Austin, Texas. Joe founded the Austin Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy and is the founder of EFT Communities in Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Antonio and Austin. Joe also established The Couples Institute, a private practice dedicated exclusively to working with couples and training EFT couples therapists. Joe is passionate about expanding awareness of EFT in Texas as well as providing EFT trainings and workshops in the Lone Star State. Previously, Joe traveled alongside and assisted Sam Jinich in his initial outreach to bring EFT to Mexico, Costa Rica, Argentina and Spain. Joe is one of the Spanish speaking trainers and is currently working on bringing the first trainings in Spanish to Texas. Joe was mentored by Sue Johnson, Sam Jinich and Jim Thomas.
Dr. Greg Cheney, Ph.D., LMFT, LCMHC
Trainer
Dr. Greg Cheney is a retired U.S. Army Chaplain, a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, AAMFT Approved Supervisor, and Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Supervisor with a PhD in Counseling and Counselor Education. He was the Director of the Watters Family Life Center for Counseling & Resiliency and the Family Life Chaplain Qualification Course at Fort Liberty, NC (aka Fort Bragg) in his final Army assignment. Greg spent years deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan while assigned to airborne infantry and Special Forces units and a career caring for soldiers and their families upon their return. As an EFT Trainer, his combat experience informs how he approaches EFT for use with combat veterans and first responders and also informs how he trains those who care for the heroes in those communities. For more information on Greg, visit him at www.drgregcheney.com and www.valiantcouplestherapy.com
Kathryn de Bruin, LMFT
Trainer
Kathryn de Bruin is a Marriage and Family Therapist, Certified EFT Trainer and Supervisor. She has a full time private practice in San Diego, CA where she works with children and families. Kathryn teaches Play Therapy at the University of California, San Diego, in the Play Therapy Program, and practicum at Bethel University. She is a Director for the San Diego Center for EFT, and serves various communities like Spokane, WA and Arizona.
With a heart for her homeland South Africa, Kathryn started www.eftsouthafrica.com. She travels back frequently to provide trainings. As a AAMFT supervisor, Kathryn enjoys providing supervision in person and online. Supervisees have described her as warm, perceptive and skilled. With her strong work ethic, it is important to Kathryn to be accessible and responsive to those who work with her. For more information on Kathryn, visit her online at www.kathryndebruin.com.
Eira Eklund-Mikola
Trainer
Eira is a licensed psychologist and family and couple psychotherapist, and also licensed EFT therapist, supervisor and trainer in Finland. Eira is one of the founders of the Finnish EFT center. Eira has worked over 20 years with families and couples. She is devoted to help people to build safe connections and strong loving bonds with each other. She loves teaching and is committed to grow Finnish EFT community and increase EFT’s footprint in Finnish health care system. You can find more information about Finnish EFT center here: https://www.tunnekeskeinenpariterapia.fi
Gerd Elliott, Licensed Psychotherapist/Socionom
Trainer
Gerd Elliott is a licenced psychotherapist approved by the Swedish gouvernment. She lives in Lund in the south of Sweden where she is a co-director and founder of the Lund EFT Center as well as owner of the private practice Parterapiinstitutet together with her collegue Tommy Waad. Gerd is a certified EFT Therapist, Supervisor and Trainer.
Gerd worked many years as a social worker in the Swedish Welfare System. She worked a lot with children and their parents helping them with support to live a better life together, socially and psychologically. Then she worked with parents in divorce, in councelling or investigating the best solutions for the children, sometimes demanded by the Family Court System.
Gerd started to work with couple councelling/therapy in 1998 and has done so since. In 2008 she was one of the driving forces in implementing and growing EFT in Sweden. Gerd works with couples and individuals at her private practice, she teaches EFT and has many supervision groups all over the country. According to the Swedish Law, every region has to offer couple therapy to every couple who needs it. Gerd is well known in Sweden among couple therapists employed by the the regions and by the Swedish Church.
A part Swedish, Gerd has good knowledge in English and French and can do therapy in all three languages. She is very committed in everything concerning attachment and relationships. Gerd is known as friendly, ambitious, humorous, loves to teach and help people develop in EFT.
Dr. David Fairweather, Ph.D., R. Psych.
Trainer
David Fairweather is co-founder and co-director of the Vancouver Island Centre for EFT, and Campbell & Fairweather Psychology Group in Nanaimo and Victoria, B.C. Trained by Dr. Sue Johnson in the early 1990s, David has been practicing EFT for almost three decades. Known for his empathic style and therapeutic use of laughter and humour, David helps individuals, couples, and families move away from the rigid negative patterns that keep them stuck, and toward places of authentic emotional contact, from which they can build more compassion and self-awareness, and find more balanced, flexible, and fulfilling ways-of-being and relating together. In addition to maintaining an active and full-time clinical practice, David currently manages a two-site office comprised of over twenty clinicians, has also extensively provided EFT trainings to other mental health professionals on Vancouver Island and other parts of Western Canada, as well as the U.S.A., U.K., and Europe, and has also been involved in the development of a variety of training materials, including DVDs and online streaming resources.
George Faller, LMFT
Trainer
George Faller is a Lieutenant in the NYC Fire Department, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in New York and Connecticut and an Approved Supervisor for AAMFT. He is the founder and director of the New York Center for EFT. As an EFT Trainer, George teaches several classes at Ackerman Institute for the Family. The experience George brings to the tri-state area is vast, as he works as a marriage consultant and conference leader to the US Military, FDNY, Wall Street executives, and trains therapists across the U.S. and abroad. Specializing in trauma, EFFT, and self-of-the-therapist issues, George is committed to pushing the leading edge of EFT.
Dr. Jenny Fitzgerald, Ph.D.
Trainer
Jenny is a Clinical Psychologist in Brisbane, Australia and is a certified EFT Supervisor and Trainer. She works in a private practice (Emotionally Focused Therapy & Training Australia) where she treats distressed couples and adults with mental health problems and manages her EFT training throughout Australia. (See www.eft-australia.com.au). Jenny has recently retired from twenty years of teaching at the University of Queensland, where she coordinated courses in clinical communication skills for medical students and sex and couples’ therapy for psychology and counselling graduate students. Jenny assisted the Australian Psychological Society to bring Dr Veronica Kallos- Lilly to Australia for many visits between 2006 and 2011 to teach EFT in Australia. Since becoming a trainer in early 2012, she has travelled to every state and territory of Australia teaching EFT workshops. She is noted for her enthusiasm for EFT and continues to enjoy helping clinicians grow in their EFT knowledge and skill and is delighted to see the steadily growing number of certified therapists and supervisors in Australia.
Dr. James Furrow, Ph.D.
Trainer
James L Furrow, Ph.D., is an innovative leader in the development and practice of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with couples and families. His research, writing, and training guide therapists toward the effective use of emotion to transform relationships and renew resilience toward a flourishing life. His work is featured in leading professional journals and core EFT texts including: Emotionally Focused Family Therapy and Becoming an Emotionally Focused Therapist: The Workbook. He is a clinical fellow and an approved supervisor with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. He resides in Seattle Washington where he maintains a clinical practice, teaches courses at Seattle University, and conducts professional training.
Natalia Gilabert
Trainer
Natalia Gilabert is a clinical psychologist in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a Certified EFT Therapist, Supervisor and Trainer. Natalia received her degree from the University of Buenos Aires in 2001. She first began training in EFT in 2015 and became a Certified EFT Supervisor in 2020. She was the 2020 recipient of the John Douglas Award by ICEEFT for her service bringing EFT to South America. She co-facilitates Hold Me Tight workshops and is responsible for coordinating all EFT trainings in Argentina. She was selected to be a therapist an Supervisor in the first EFT Clinical Trial in Spanish, sponsored by the University of Navarra in Spain. Natalia has been in private practice since 2002. She teaches and supervises in Spanish and Portuguese and is active in helping to build EFT communities in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Brazil and Peru.
Dr. Normand Gingras, Ph.D., C. Psych.
Trainer
Dr. Normand Gingras received his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Ottawa in June 2000. During his studies, he focused mostly on theoretical and epistemological issues within psychology. Since graduating, Normand has devoted himself to working with distressed couples using Emotionally Focused Therapy and on the treatment of trauma. He teaches couple therapy to graduate students in the Doctoral Clinical Psychology program at the University of Ottawa. Normand is a Certified EFT Trainer and teaches in French in Québec, Switzerland and France. Prior to his studies in Psychology, Normand worked as an aircraft maintenance officer within the Canadian Forces and holds an Electrical Engineering degree from RMC. For more information on Dr. Normand Gingras please visit the Ottawa EFT Centre.
Yve Gould, R.P.
Trainer
Yve lives in Papamoa Beach, New Zealand where she sees couples both in person and on-line, and individuals in her private psychotherapy practice. Yve offers EFT Intensives for couples and she is passionate about spreading the word and supporting others to learn EFT. Yve facilitates on-line supervision groups for therapists who are training in EFT. She has been co-leading Hold Me Tight® workshops for the past 6 years. Yve is a certified EFT trainer, supervisor and therapist and a Registered Psychotherapist with a Master’s degree in counselling, a diploma in teaching, and a lifelong love of encouraging experiencing and learning. To learn more about her, visit her website at www.yvegould.co.nz
Dr. Paul Greenman, Ph.D., C. Psych.
Trainer
Paul is an EFT therapist, supervisor and trainer. In addition to providing services to clients at the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute (OCFI) and the family medicine unit of the Montfort Hospital in Ottawa, he is also a full-time professor of psychology and former chair of the Department of Psychoeducation and Psychology at the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) in Gatineau, Québec. Throughout his career, Paul has been heavily involved in the teaching and supervision of EFT at the Montfort, at the Psychological Services Clinic of the UQO, and at the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute. Paul has a strong interest in the application of psychological treatments to patients in medical settings; he has overseen and contributed to research projects on the impact of EFT on couples in which one partner suffers from cardiac disease, as well as its effects on the management of other illnesses, including diabetes and post-partum depression. Paul has collaborated most recently with Sue Johnson and colleagues at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute on the development of the “Healing Hearts Together” program, which is an adaptation of “Hold Me Tight” groups for cardiac patients and their spouses. Paul has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He also presents regularly at scientific conferences on the process and efficacy of EFT for couples. Paul conducts therapy and trainings in French, German, Italian, and English.
Paul Guillory, Ph.D.
Trainer
Dr. Guillory is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley in the Clinical Science Program, Psychology Department. He has taught courses on Emotionally Focused Therapies at U.C. Berkeley. He is certified supervisor and therapist of Emotionally Focused Therapy, and currently a trainer-in-training. Dr. Guillory is the author of the upcoming book “Emotionally Focused Therapy with African American Couples: Love Heals,” Routledge, August 2021. He is the former chairperson of the Northern California Community of Emotionally Focused Therapy. Dr. Guillory was the psychological consultant to the Oakland Raiders professional football team and the National Football League for 14 years. He has also been a consultant to the Sacramento Kings professional basketball team, and is a selected provider for the National Basketball Players Association. He served as Director of the Center for Family Counseling in Oakland California for ten years. He has been in private practice in Oakland California for over 30 years.
Gretchen Harro, M.A., L.M.F.T.
Trainer
Gretchen Harro is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified EFT Trainer and Supervisor. Gretchen is known for adding creative elements to trainings that make the subject matter more accessible to multiple learning styles. She fosters an open, curious, and interactive learning environment as she helps therapists become more effective in their work. As the Director of the Chicago Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy, she focuses on community-building and increasing the number of skilled EFT practitioners. Gretchen is the owner of Relationship Works LLC, a private practice in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, where she leads a team of therapists in helping couples, families, and individuals to more satisfying, connected lives. For more information on Gretchen, visit her online at www.RelationshipWorks.life.
James Hawkins
Trainer
Dr. James Hawkins, ‘Doc Hawk’, is a Licensed Counsellor with 11 years of experience and an ICEEFT certified trainer, supervisor, and therapist. He obtained a Master’s in Marriage and Family Counselling and a Ph.D. in Psychology and Counseling. He currently serves as a Clinical Coordinator at a non-profit counselling practice in Northwest Arkansas. James is the founder of Healing Conversations, a training program developed to equip organizations and communities to have productive conversations about race. He is the co-host of two podcasts, The Leading Edge in Emotionally Focused Therapy, and The Leading Edge: Transforming Leadership Through Attachment Science. James is a part of the online training program, successinvulnerability.com develop to help EFT therapists and supervisors gain more focus in their clinical work. Doc Hawk brings a passion for helping individuals, couples, families, and communities in relational distress. James is married to his wife, Nicola and together they have five daughters.
Simona Herb, Ph.D.
Trainer
Simona is a licensed Systemic Marriage and Family Therapist in Iasi, Romania, as well as a Certified EFT Trainer and Supervisor and a Founder and Director of the Psiris Center, home of EFT Romania. Simona completed her doctoral research on forgiveness, Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy and couple satisfaction. Ever since 2013 she has lead the process of growing an EFT community over all Romania, thus leading to over 700 therapists currently in the process of being trained. Teaching alongside her mentors, both in Romanian and English, has allowed Simona to welcome to EFT training sessions in Romania foreign therapists as well (Italy, Poland). As such, Simona as well offers supervision in Romanian and English. For more information on Dr. Simona Herb, visit her website at www.eftromania.ro
Shih Ting Hung
Trainer
Dr. Hung is a licensed counseling psychologist in Taiwan, Republic of China. She is an approved supervisor with the Taiwan Counseling Psychology Association and a certified EFT Supervisor and Trainer.
Dr. Hung’s areas of specialties include: relationship distress, postpartum depression, anxiety, infidelity, parenting, and cultural adaptations of EFT for individuals, couples and families.
Collaborating with Dr. Ting Liu, Shih Ting has played a key role in promoting EFT in Mandarin-speaking regions, including Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Her expertise lies in the intricacies of the therapy process, allowing her to address the needs of her clients and supervisees and guide them through impasses in therapy. To contact Dr. Hung please email 17lovehappiness@gmail.com.
Helene Igwebuike
Trainer
Helene Igwebuike is an Integrative Counsellor and ICEEFT certified Emotionally Focused Couple Therapist, Supervisor and Trainer, as well as one of the founders of the British EFT Centre (BEFT). Helene is passionately committed to helping couples and individuals heal and transform the relationship with self and others by relating in open-hearted meaningful ways that build trust, emotional closeness, physical intimacy, personal and relational well being. Helene is of mixed African and European heritage and has a wonderfully diverse cosmopolitan practice based in London, England and also offers online therapy. Helene loves spreading her love of EFT by training therapists in the model and supporting the growth of the British EFT community. She runs regular Hold Me Tight (HMT) workshops helping couples rekindle the spark and strengthen their bond in Winchmore Hill, North London. To learn more about Helene, visit: http://www.counselling4couples.co.uk/.
Dr. Silvina Irwin, Ph.D. C. Psych.
Trainer
Silvina Irwin, Ph.D. (PSY #19710) is a licensed clinical psychologist in Los Angeles, CA and co-founder of the EFT Resource Center, a home for EFT therapy, as well as training and supervision of therapists. In her psychotherapy practice, Silvina specializes in working with survivors of trauma. She is passionate about teaching and training, and conducts trainings in EFT for professionals, as well as workshops on Vicarious Trauma of the therapist, first responders, and the legal and medical community. She regularly co-facilitates Hold Me Tight® Workshops for couples and also offers team building and consulting for the corporate sector. Silvina is an ICEEFT Certified Trainer and Supervisor in EFT for Couples, and serves on the board of the LA Center for EFT. She received her Ph.D. form the University of Massachusetts, Boston with a background in neuroscience, and trained at Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Francisco. She is bilingual in Spanish and offers EFT training locally and abroad to the growing Spanish-speaking EFT Community. To learn more about Silvina, please visit Dr. Silvina Irwin or EFT Resource Center.
Dr. Sam Jinich, Ph.D.
Trainer
Sam Jinich, Ph.D. is a Clinical Psychologist in San Francisco, California. He is the Director of the San Francisco Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy (SFCEFT) and Instituto de Terapia Centrada en las Emociones (ITCE). Sam is a Certified EFT Trainer, Supervisor and Therapist. Sam is Co-Founder of the Northern California Community of Emotionally Focused Therapy (NCCEFT). Sam offers the full menu of EFT trainings in English at his San Francisco Center. He also teaches all EFT courses (Introduction, Externships and Core Skills) in Spanish in the USA, Latin America and Spain. In addition to his private practice, Sam has enjoyed supervising and teaching students in EFT. He also co-leads the Hold Me Tight® Workshops for Couples in San Francisco. You can learn more about Sam and EFT Trainings in San Francisco at www.SFCEFT.com or contact him directly at SFCEFT@gmail.com.
Dr. Rebecca Jorgensen, Ph.D.
Trainer
Dr. Rebecca Jorgensen is an experienced educator, specializing in distance learning. She is co-founder and director for the San Diego Center for EFT and director of TRI EFT Alliant and research faculty at Alliant International University. Becca has devoted her career on healing trauma and compulsive sexual behavior, couple therapy and counselor education. She is passionate about advancing and innovating the education and training of Emotionally Focused Therapy. Becca also loves doing EFT training and presentations as well as online supervision groups. To learn more about her, visit her website at www.drrebeccajorgensen.com.
Dr. Veronica Kallos-Lilly, Ph.D., R. Psych.
Trainer
Dr. Veronica Kallos-Lilly is a founding Director of the Vancouver Couple and Family Institute. She had the good fortune of “growing up” as an EFT therapist while completing her doctoral program at University of Ottawa. Veronica has been teaching EFT since 1995, along the Pacific Northwest and throughout Australia. She has been a member of ICEEFT since its inception and sits on the Newsletter Editorial Board.
Veronica enjoys supervision and presenting Externships, Core Skills Training, and advanced topics, such as EFT for trauma couples, individuals and deepening your work with emotions and self-of-the-therapist. Veronica brings warmth and passion to her work, as she helps enhance your skills and explore your own personal journey with the model.
Elana Katz, LCSW, LMFT
Trainer
Elana Katz is a senior faculty member at the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York City. She has presented nationally and internationally on family therapy and mediation, including programs in Argentina, Chile, Israel, Mexico and Spain.
One of the first therapists in New York to become certified in EFT, as an ICEEFT Supervisor and Trainer she teaches core EFT programs in New York, the Midwest, and Israel. Elana was previously on faculty at the Yale School of Medicine where she supervised psychiatry residents and consulted to family treatment in the general hospital setting. She has been quoted by the New York Times, the Associated Press, and other media outlets, including National Public Radio. Elana is active in professional organizations, including the Executive Board of the New York Center for EFT, where she is also a founding member.
Elmien Lesch
Trainer
Elmien Lesch holds a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and a PhD in Psychology. She is an associate professor in the Psychology Department at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. She runs a part-time practice where she focuses on providing EFT interventions and supervision. She frequently presents training events in Emotionally Focused Therapy and enjoys providing participants with an experiential training experience. Her interest in close relationships extends to her research area where she aims to generate knowledge about women and men’s experiences in close relationships, as well as the quality of, and processes in, close relationships in the diverse South African population. Currently, she is focusing on father-child relationships; and generating knowledge about indigenous and non-professional relationship interventions. For more information, please see: https://www0.sun.ac.za/
Dr. Ting Liu, Ph.D., LMFT
Trainer
Ting Liu, Ph.D, the clinical director of Philadelphia Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy and the founder of Asia Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy, is a certified EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) trainer, supervisor and therapist.
She is licensed in Pennsylvania as a Marriage and Family Therapist and is an Approved Supervisor with the American Association of Marriage & Family Therapy. She maintains a Private Practice in Wayne, PA and can be contacted via email better.relationship@gmail.com
Dr. Liu received her doctorate in Child Development and Family Studies with a specialization in marriage and Family Therapy from Purdue University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Family Intervention Science at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Her publications include four books she has translated into Chinese in the field of MFT and EFT. She has also published several journal articles on different applications of EFT, and wrote a chapter on multi-cultural applicability of EFT to diverse populations.
Dr. Liu offers EFT training, supervision, and case consultation to therapists in the Philadelphia area, as well as to therapists in Beijing, Chiang Mai, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Shanghai, Shenzen, Singapore, Taipei, and Tokyo. She specializes in multi-cultural applications of EFT, infidelity issues, mood disorders, and Emotionally Focused Family Therapy with adolescents. To contact Dr. Liu please email tingliu.lmft@gmail.com
Heike McCahon, MA.
Trainer
Heike is an experienced counsellor and educator with over 30 years experience and a therapist, supervisor and trainer in EFT.
She has a Master’s degree in education and a diploma in both teaching and counselling. Since 2013 she has been intensively involved with the growth of EFT in New Zealand and has helped form a solid base of EFT therapists throughout the country.
She facilitates numerous supervision groups and encourages the formation of peer led groups.
She is originally from Germany but has been in New Zealand since 1988. She lives in Christchurch where she works in private practice, mainly seeing couples and supervisees. She works in person as well as online. Her passion is to help couples reconnect and she brings warmth, humour and biculturalism to her work. She believes in supporting therapists to learn EFT in a safe, relaxed environment where they can feel open to share and learn.
To know more about Heike please visit her website : www.christchurchcounselling.co.nz
Sarah McConnell, M.A.
Trainer
Sarah is an experienced couple and family therapist in independent practice in Derbyshire, North West England. She is UKCP registered and also licensed as an LMFT-S and LPC-S in Texas. Sarah trained in Gestalt Therapy at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, USA and then completed her Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy in Houston, Texas after working in the oil and gas industry as an executive trainer and professional coach for 27 years. Sarah worked in independent practice in Houston before moving back to the UK in 2016, and was one of the founders of the British EFT Centre. Sarah is passionate in continuing to explore how neurodivergent clients can be better understood in therapy, and in developing EFFT and EFIT in the UK. Sarah was one of the therapists involved in research using EFT with the parents of autistic children (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28419496/)
Jens Mebius, Msc, ECP
Trainer
Jens Mebius is a certified as an EFT Therapist, EFT Supervisor and EFT Trainer. He works in Stockholm in his private practice doing EFT couple therapy. Hes also does a lot of supervision and trainings with therapists who struggle to learn to practice EFT effectively. Jens has worked in psychiatry before specializing in couple therapy, has an MSc in Gestalt Psychotherapy and an European Certificate for Psychotherapy. He consistently endeavours in developing EFT across Sweden and is know for his warm presence, humility and quick wit.
Lieven Migerode, MA. R. Psych.
Trainer
Lieven Migerode is a Registered Clinical Psychologist and founder of EFT Belgium. He introduced EFT in Belgium in 2006 and now teaches EFT as a certified Trainer and Supervisor. At the Psychiatric University Hospital of Leuven, for 30 years, he co-lead the postgraduate training program in Marital and Family Therapy. In his clinical practice, couples have been at the core for 40 years.
Lieven is a Certified Trainer and Supervisor and former President of the National Association for MFT (BVRGS). EFT and love are his passion, as shown in his 2015 book on Love and Loving (Dutch).
Together with Jef Slootmaeckers, he teaches in the area of EFT and violence in couples. They published several articles (English) and a book (Dutch) on this topic.
Teri Murphy, PhD
Trainer
Teri Murphy, PhD, is a licensed marriage and family therapist and an ICEEFT Certified Trainer, Supervisor, and Therapist in Emotionally Focused Therapy and Co-Director of the Tennessee Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy. A former bona fide rocket scientist, Teri transferred her systems engineering skills and strong scientific foundation to therapy, and has owned a private practice in Tennessee since 2012. Building on her previous career experience as well as her time as a graduate level counseling professor, Teri has curated a fresh, systemic perspective on creating connection, deep healing, and smoothly functioning relationships.
In addition to her clinical work, Teri is a sought-after speaker and loves sharing her knowledge on attachment, compassion, self-of-the-therapist, and relationships. Teri has written articles on love, self, relationships, and the science of connection for multiple national and local publications [Simple Practice, the Tennessean, Bedlam Magazine, and Venn Magazine], and enjoys facilitating workshops on relationships, authenticity, and personal development.
Above all else, Teri is a spitfire academic who believes in developing compassion for human beings through therapy, continuous self-assessment, listening to and learning from leaders in multiple disciplines across fields of work, and challenging herself constantly to be radically honest, question everything, and ultimately, when in doubt, to follow where love leads. She loves spending time with her husband and two teenage children, and has a special love for coffee. Lots of coffee.
Andrea Pagani, Ph.D., Psych
Trainer
Andrea is the founder of the EFT Italia Community. He is a Certified Trainer, Supervisor and Therapist. He is a Psychologist and Psychotherapist, and has worked for 20 years in the Psychotherapy field. He founded a center in Rome for couple therapy called “La casa della coppia”, and teaches at ASPIC University in Rome. Before specializing in EFT, he originally studied Humanistic and Integrate Psychotherapy. Andrea has a private practice in Rome, Italy, working with individuals, couples, groups, and supervises and teaching EFT.
He has published three books: “Il successo professionale 2.0″ (2012); “Il Counseling psicologico” (2014); “La casa della coppia” (2017). In addition, he has published numerous articles in scientific and popular magazines, speaking on radio and Italian television about couples. He has also designed and developed the first Italian smartphone app related to couples “Crescere insieme in coppia”. His work aims to spread EFT as a tool of well-being and a resource for couples, families and individuals.
Gail Palmer, M.S.W., R.S.W.
Trainer
Gail Palmer is one of the founding members and co-director of ICEEFT and is Chair of the ICEEFT Education Committee. For over twenty years, Gail has trained and supervised therapists and students in Emotionally Focused Therapy and has conducted Externships, Core Skills Trainings and workshops on a number of EFT topics across Canada, the United States and Europe. Working with families is a particular interest to Gail and she has developed the application of the model to families by both presenting and writing on EFFT. She is co-author of Becoming an Emotionally Focused Therapist: The Workbook.
Gail has her Masters in Social Work, is a Registered Marriage and Family Therapist in Canada and an Approved Supervisor with the AAMFT. She is a couple and family therapy lecturer at the School of Social Work at Carleton University and St. Paul’s University in Ottawa. For more information on Ms. Gail Palmer, please visit the Ottawa EFT Centre.
Dr. Lisa Palmer-Olsen, Psy. D., LMFT
Trainer
Dr. Lisa Palmer-Olsen is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in San Diego, California. She is a Certified EFT Trainer and Supervisor and a Founder and Director of the Training and Research Institute for Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (TRIEFT) at Alliant International University. In addition, she is the director of Alliant EFT Couple and Family Clinic. Lisa completed her dissertation research on how to supervise, train and teach Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy to clinicians. Her primary clinical and research interest is couple and family therapy; specifically with those couples and families dealing with trauma and attachment related struggles. She is an AAMFT clinical member and Approved AAMFT supervisor. For more information on Dr. Palmer-Olsen, visit her website at www.drlisapalmerolsen.com
SungDeok Park, MD
Trainer
Park SungDeok, a Korean MD and psychiatrist, is an ICEEFT certified trainer, supervisor, and therapist. He introduced EFT to Korea for the first time in 2004 and founded EFTKorea. Currently, he practices EFT at a private counseling center. As a psychiatrist, he served as a military doctor for three years and worked in a mental hospital for 20 years. After discovering EFT, he transitioned his focus entirely to practicing, learning, and teaching EFT. He is making efforts to promote EFT in Korea through TV broadcasts, as well as lectures at universities, psychiatric hospitals, and academic societies. He has translated eight EFT-related books into Korean and plans to continue translating EFT books with his colleagues. In the past, he participated in a Korean TV program called ‘Couples Get Together’ as an expert on marital recovery for six years. He has published four books featuring his EFT experience for the general public in Korea. Park SungDeok is fully committed to EFT training and education for Korean therapists, endeavoring to promote healthy living for individuals, couples, and families in Korea. In addition, he travels to various countries around the world, leading group couple seminars to help recover the relationships of Korean couples living abroad. For more information on Park SungDeok, you can visit him at www.koreaeft.net and www.psdlovetree.com.
James Parrin
Trainer
James Parrin is the founder of the EFT Ireland Community, an EFT trainer, supervisor and therapist. Before specialising in EFT, James originally studied Process-Oriented Psychotherapy and is a Process Work Diplomate (an internally recognized level of excellence within the larger Processwork learning community and the International Association of Process-Oriented Psychology, IAPOP), and an accreddited memeber of IAHIP (Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychothery).
He has a private practice in Dublin, Ireland, working with individuals, couples, EFT trainees, supervisees and learning groups.
James’ focus is on the continuing development of training opportunities and supervision for the ever expanding Irish EFT community of therapists, their communities and clients.
James has a deep and caring motivation for the transformative nature of relationships. He considers the ability to develop a fluid, relational awareness to be a profoundly psychological and spiritual path. This underlies his love for EFT and the development of a supportive community of therapists who are dedicated to mastering their relational and therapeutic skills and interventions.
Hanna Pinomaa, M. Psych.
Trainer
Hanna Pinomaa lives in Finland and she is a graduate of Helsinki University. She is a government approved couple psychotherapist and a Certified EFT Therapist, Supervisor and Trainer. She is also a chairperson of the Finnish Couple Therapy Association.
Dr. Kyriaki Polychroni, MA, R. Psych, CGP, ECP
Trainer
Kyriaki Protopsalti-Polychroni is a Greek-Canadian Psychologist, Marriage and Family Therapist, who resides in Athens, Greece. She is a long-standing Clinical and Faculty member of the “Athenian Institute of Anthropos” – the first center to practice family therapy in Europe. She is a founding member of the European Family Therapy Association (EFTA) and the association’s Immediate Past President. She is also Honorary Chair of the European Chamber of Training Institutes (EFTA-TIC).
Kyriaki is the Founder and Coordinator of the “EFT Greek Network” (www.eft.net.gr ). She trains professionals in Couple and Family Therapy throughout Greece and Europe, particularly in the Balkan countries of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hersegovina and Bulgaria and in Iran. Her many years experience with couples and families of cultures undergoing sociocultural change, provide Kyriaki with unique expertise in working in depth with diversity and intergenerational processes affecting partner and family relationships. Her professional passion lies in training professionals to work with culturally determined patterns of relating echoed in partners’ conflictual ‘inner voices’ as a means for facilitating change in the couple/family.
Ryan Rana, PhD., LMFT, LPC
Trainer
Ryan is the founding Director of the Arkansas Center for EFT and is a Certified EFT Supervisor and Trainer. A former counseling/marriage and family therapy faculty member, he did his training in Emotionally Focused Therapy with Dr. Sue Johnson and George Faller. In 2012, Ryan founded the Arkansas EFT community where he currently serves as director. Additionally, Ryan and his wife Anne cofounded The Joshua Center in Arkansas, where he functions as the Executive Director and maintains his private practice. Ryan’s clinical practice specializes in work with couples, sexuality, anxiety, depression, traumatic stress, high stress performance/recovery, team leadership dynamics and other similar areas. He also provides EFT intensive sessions with couples in Arkansas. Ryan has a passion to advance EFT via education and trainings in several regions. Before becoming a therapist, Ryan was a pitching coach at the collegiate level of baseball. He also spends significant time studying military training processes and practices as well as dynamics of performance and sustainability in military and law enforcement – as well as how it relates to the process of strategies of change and healing in psychotherapy.
Dr Clare Rosoman, B Psych (Hons) D Psych (Clinical) MAPS FCCLP
Trainer
Clare is a clinical psychologist and co-director of the Australian Centre for EFT (ACEFT) where she and Dr Jenny Fitzgerald grow the Australian EFT community. With over 20 years experience in public, private and educational settings, Clare finds working within the EFT framework to be the most satisfying and rewarding work of her career. Clare has spoken nationally and internationally on EFT and is happiest when inspiring other therapists in the EFT model. Clare believes in the power of attachment and connection in all relationships; whether dyadic, polyamorous, monogamous or consensually non-monogamous and the unique people who make them what they are; whether hetero, LGBTIQ+, cis, trans, gender non-conforming – all beautiful humans. She is deeply respectful of the cultural context in which people live, love and grow and prioritizes this in her training and in her therapeutic work as she commits to being anti-racist, knowing that this work is always ongoing. Clare is continually inspired by the power of EFT, grateful to Dr Sue Johnson for her vision, and remains committed to sharing this most amazing model of therapy with the world.
Dimitrij Samoilow, R. Psych.
Trainer
Dimitrij is a Certified EFT Therapist, Supervisor and Trainer. He lives in Oslo, Norway, where he trains, supervises and provides Emotionally Focused Therapy in Norwegian, English and German. His clinical practice is at www.psykologvirke.no. Dimitrij is also known for authoring the popular Norwegian book, The Art of Love: 9 Keys to Living Well Together. He has also authored a book on working with violence in couple relationships.
He is registered as a psychologist with specialized training in adult clinical psychology and family psychology, is EMDR certified and has experience with drug and alcohol treatment. Dimitrij is actively involved in supporting and promoting EFT in Norway and throughout Scandinavia as well as in Switzerland and Germany. He serves on the board of EFT Norway (www.seft.no).
Debi Scimeca-Diaz, LMFT, LCADC
Trainer
Debi Scimeca-Diaz is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor in the state of New Jersey. She is the director of the New Jersey EFT Center. She has a full-time private practice where she specializes in couples therapy and provides on-going local and long distance EFT supervision and training. She spent 9 years as a Clinical Director of a community mental health Outpatient Clinic where she provided supervision, training and mentoring to new therapists in the field. Debi is an AAMFT clinical member and Approved AAMFT supervisor. She is dedicated and passionate about providing quality training to other professionals. Her goal is to touch the people she works with on a deeper level. For more information, visit her website at www.CouplesTherapyNJ.com or www.EFTCNJ.com.
Zoya Simakhodskaya, Ph.D.
Trainer
Zoya is a licensed Psychologist and Certified Therapist, Supervisor and Trainer. She has a full-time practice in New York City working with adults and couples, specializing in cross-cultural and bilingual couples and families. Zoya is one of the founding members and Executive Director of NYCEFT. To provide the best treatment for couples and families, she also founded the Center for Psychological and Interpersonal Development in New York City. In addition to her psychotherapy practice, Zoya has many years of experience providing crisis intervention in an urban psychiatric emergency service. She continues to teach as a voluntary faculty at NYU School of Medicine and CUNY. Zoya presents and teaches nationally on EFT and now is also bringing EFT training to therapists in Russia and Ukraine. She has a particular interest in intersection of EFT and sexuality and has been teaching a Masterclass “Sex as a Safe Adventure” with her colleague Michael Moran, LMFT, CST nationally and internationally. You can learn more about Zoya at Real Couples Program.
Jette Simon, C. Psych.
Trainer
Jette Simon is a Clinical Psychologist with 40 years of experience working with couples around the world. She is the Founder and Director of The Danish Center for EFT. She has trained couples therapists throughout Europe as well as in Israel, South Africa and the Middle East. Her experiential approach emphasizes helping therapists expanding and developing their own use of self in order to help them create a deep connection with couples and create an atmosphere of trust, hope and expansive possibility. She is a certified EFT Therapist, Supervisor and Trainer. She is the host of multipart Danish TV series “We Struggle to Survive”.
Jef Slootmaeckers
Trainer
Jef Slootmaeckers is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Belgium. He is a certified EFT therapist, EFT supervisor and EFT trainer and a board member of EFT-Belgium.
Jef is specialized in working with Intimate Partner Violence and EFT. He started to work in a shelter for women and children. Later, he worked for more than a decade in a specialized center where he gave couple therapy to people suffering from violent escalations in their relationship. Now he has a private practice for EFT therapy and supervision. Passionate about working with trauma and aggression, Jef is always looking for ways how we can use all three modalities of EFT to help wounded people, couples and families to fight for a safer connection.
Together with Lieven Migerode he wrote a book (Dutch) and articles on EFT and Intimate Partner Violence. Together they presented the EFT and Violence/Fighting for connection-training at different places in the world. You can contact him at jef@eft-belgium.org.
Sandra Taylor, Ph.D.
Trainer
Sandra is one of the founders and the Coordinator of the British EFT Centre (BEFT) and an accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). She is an experienced educator and trainer, having trained therapists in University, College and National Charity settings over the last 20+years. Her previous career was an Occupational Therapist in a variety of mental health settings. A key interest of hers is the learning experience and her PhD thesis was on the reciprocal influence of counselling students and their trainers. As a trainer she enjoys theory and making it come alive for therapists by embedding it in their developing EFT skills. She is now in private practice as a certified EFT couples therapist, supervisor and trainer. She has been involved in trainings in England, Dubai and the US and is based in Lytham St. Anne’s, a small town in the north-west of England.
Jim Thomas, LMFT Emeritus
Trainer
Alexine Thompson-de Benoit, Psychologue FSP, LMFT
Trainer
Alexine’s natural sensitivity and care for people have made the EFT model the perfect fit for her. Her passion for EFT is evident and contagious. She has worked in private practice as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Los Angeles, where she lived for 12 years and fell in love with EFT, before returning to her native Switzerland in 2013, where she is a Clinical Psychologist and a member of the Swiss Federation of Psychologists. At present, she works in private practice, almost exclusively with couples, and is appreciated for the warmth and safety she provides in her sessions. In recent years, Alexine has been an important part of developing EFT in her country, by co-facilitating and co-organizing EFT trainings, introductory workshops or public speaking events, as well as delivering numerous Hold Me Tight workshops with her husband, and supervising EFT therapists in training. As a Trainer for French Speaking Switzerland, she is passionate about communicating from the heart the powerful difference this model can make.
Doug Tilley, LCSW-C Emeritus
Trainer
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Yolanda von Hockauf, M. Ed., RMFT
Trainer
Yolanda von Hockauf is a founding director of the Vancouver Couple & Family Institute. As a therapist in the original research study on EFT for Sue Johnson’s doctoral dissertation at the University of British Columbia in 1983, Yolanda has been involved in EFT from the ground up. She is currently a member of the ICEEFT Education Committee as well as the International Committee.
Yolanda trains in Europe and North America. She presents on special topics such as EFT with Individuals, EFT and Trauma, and Beyond Core Skills, which includes a self-of-the-therapist focus. As an AAMFT Approved Supervisor, Yolanda especially enjoys mentoring EFT therapists toward becoming Certified Supervisors.
Karin Wagenaar, LMFT
Trainer
Karin Wagenaar is a Certified EFT Therapist, Supervisor and Trainer in the Netherlands. She is a fully licensed psychotherapist and Marital and Family Therapist. Karin works in private practice, treating couples and families, and was a clinical director for 11 years in an in-patient clinic for clients with severe personality disorders. She is also a faculty member at the RINO Group in Utrecht, the Netherlands, teaching psychotherapy and systems therapy. In addition, she trains in EFT and enjoys supervising therapists in EFT. She is the chair of the Dutch foundation for EFT.
Christine Weiß
Trainer
Christine Weiß, known as ‘Tine’, is an ICEEFT certified EFT-Trainer, Supervisor and Therapist living close to Hanover, Germany. She is one of the founders and an active board member of the EFT Community Germany (EFTCD). Under the German state license as Heilpraktikerin for Psychotherapy she and her husband run their private EFT practice, working with couples, individuals, supervisees and groups. She offers online sessions as well.
Before specializing in EFT she was trained in body- and movement related approaches e.g. Somatic Experiencing (SE)®, working in psychotherapy with the echoes of trauma. She also taught Argentine Tango for more than 20 years and trained new teachers. Together with her husband she developed the Tango-Dialog-concept, where couples experience EFT through Tango.
Tine shows a deep love and skill to support inner growth, resilience and secure bonds. The attachment based, humanistic approach of EFT is deeply rooted in her work with clients and participants. She offers regular Hold Me Tight (HMT) workshops for EFT therapists with their partners.
To learn more about Tine, please visit: https://www.eft-paartherapie-hannover.de/
Robin Williams Blake, RP
Trainer
Robin is a Registered Psychotherapist and a Certified EFT Trainer, Supervisor and Therapist. He is the director of the Toronto Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy. Robin met Dr. Sue Johnson at a Leading Edge Seminar in 2001 and since then has been instrumental in developing EFT in Toronto. Robin has taught EFT at York University, the Living Institute of Existential-Integrative Psychotherapy and at the Trauma Clinic at Mount Sinai Hospital. Robin has been in private practice in Toronto for over 18 years where he works with couples, families and individuals. To learn more about Robin visit: www.torontoefttrainer.ca
Kurt Wical, PhD., LMFT
Trainer
Kurt brings to his practice of individual, couple, and family therapy training and experience on how to deal with the difficulties that arise in personal and work relationships. Many times it is difficulties in these primary relationships that lead to distress, as seen in symptoms such as anger, depression, anxiety or addictions. Kurt is certified by ICEEFT in Emotionally Focused Couples therapy and is an EFT supervisor and trainer. He specializes in couple therapy and provides supervision and training in Emotionally Focused Therapy. He also does pre-marital counseling and father-child relationships. In addition to his practice, Kurt is the director of the MN Couple Therapy Center and of the MN Center for EFT. Kurt received his MA in Counseling from the University of New Mexico and his PhD in Family Social Science from the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Tat-Ying Wong, M.D., M.T.S., M.Div., RMFT
Trainer
As a physician, TY recognized that treatments for relationship distress, a deadly and prevalent chronic illness, were inadequate. Since learning EFT cured 3 out of 4 couples with relationship distress, he has trained thousands of Chinese professional helpers in North America and Asia in EFT and produced hundreds of EFIT, EFCT, EFFT, HMT/C4C, HMTLMG training videos with Chinese clients. As an AAMFT, CAMFT, OAMFT Approved Supervisor and Program Director in the MFT Internship Program at GHC, TY has personally trained over 200 therapists and physicians, including most of the Chinese MFT’s in Toronto (www.gracehealthcentre.ca/counseling). As Lecturer and Faculty in the award winning Counselling and Psychotherapy in Family Medicine Program in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, TY is passionate about equipping Family Physicians to work effectively with couples and families (https://www.cpd.utoronto.ca/cpfm/faculty/). He is also interested in equipping faith leaders as Adjunct Faculty in Pastoral Counselling and Family Ministry at the Chinese Canadian School of Theology and Adjunct Faculty at the Alliance Bible Seminary Centre of Canada. TY is on staff in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Humber River Hospital, the first lean, green and all digital hospital in Canada. He continues to develop evidence based Chinese psycho-education and therapy resources (www.hkreconnect.org.hk) and has conducted and published the first EFT/HMT/C4C outcome study with Chinese couples. His vision is to share EFT, this incredible gift of healing relationships and deep attachment wounds, with Chinese around the world.
Dr. Scott R. Woolley, Ph.D.
Trainer
Dr. Scott R. Woolley is a Distinguished Professor of the Couple and Family Therapy Masters and Doctoral Programs in the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University. He is a founder and Director of the San Diego Center for EFT and the Executive Director of the Training and Research Institute for EFT at Alliant (TRIEFT Alliant). Scott has worked closely with Sue Johnson since the late 1990s and is one of the original ICEEFT trainers. He has provided over 80 international trainings in Asia, Europe, and South, Central and North America and nearly 200 trainings across the United States. Scott maintains an active practice in couple and family therapy in San Diego, California.
Cindy Goodness Zane, PsyD, JD
Trainer
Born and raised in Hawaiʻi, Dr. Cindy Goodness Zane is a of multiethnic backgrounds and strongly identifies with her Hawaiian and Japanese ancestries. She started her professional life as an attorney, but discovered that she was drawn to helping people to improve their lives. As a Hawaiʻi Licensed Clinical Psychologist in private practice, Dr. Zane enjoys working with clients of diverse backgrounds, identities and varied life experiences to overcome life challenges and strengthen their relationships. After all, life is less scary and most meaningful when we have close others to share it with.
Now an ICEEFT Certified EFT Trainer and Supervisor, Dr. Zane is passionate about training more EFT clinicians throughout her home state of Hawaiʻi and from around the world. She especially enjoys supporting the development of EFT clinicians of diverse backgrounds and identities, as well as those who work with diverse populations.
Dr. Senem Zeytinoğlu Saydam, Ph.D.
Trainer
Dr. Senem Zeytinoğlu Saydam is an assistant professor at Ozyeğin University’s Department of Psychology and the program director of the its couple and family therapy masters program in İstanbul, Turkey. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist, an AAMFT and CAMFT clinical fellow and AAMFT and CAMFT approved supervisor. She is a certified EFT therapist, supervisor and trainer. Aside from her faculty position, she holds a private practice at Bude Psychotherapy Center where she sees individuals, couples and families and provides clinical supervision to graduate students. Previously, she worked as a family therapist at Acıbadem Hospital Pediatric Neurosurgery Unit and established a preparation program for children and families.
Senem received her Masters’ degree from Columbia University Teachers College in counseling psychology and her doctoral degree from Drexel University in couple and family therapy. Her dissertation was on experiences of parents raising a child with cleft lip and/or palate. Her research and clinical interests include person of the therapist, couples issues, medical family therapy and coping with illness and trauma.
She is the co-founder and the president of Turkish Emotionally Focused Individual, Couple and Family Therapies Association. She is currently serving on the boards of Turkish Couple and Family Therapy Association and International Family Therapy Association.
Kenneth Sanderfer, LMFT – Emeritus
Trainer
As of December 2022, there are over 70 EFT Trainers worldwide. Trainer candidates are currently being considered only where a Trainer candidate fluently speaks a language other than English and/or in areas outside North America. In North America, there is a moratorium on new Trainer candidates until at least 2024.
ICEEFT Certified Trainer Responsibilities and Co-ordination
ICEEFT Certified EFT Trainers are the primary leaders in promoting the Mission of ICEEFT, namely to educate mental health practitioners and to increase public awareness as to the efficacy of EFT and its role in strengthening relationship bonds.
The role of an EFT Trainer is demanding. EFT Trainers lead Externships, Core Skills, Master Classes, and Special Topics, and offer Supervision. Typically, a trainer is affiliated with an EFT Centre and often serves as the Director of that Centre.
Trainers responsibilities typically include:
- Developing and/or promoting an EFT Centre
- Serving as primary liaison between the ICEEFT Board of Directors and a local EFT Centre
- Serving on ICEEFT Committees
- Contributing to the development of EFT practice, supervision, training and research
- Co-operating and being mutually supportive of each other’s efforts in the development of EFT training events and resources
Following the Core Values of ICEEFT, EFT Trainers seek opportunities to support the development of EFT Centres and/or Communities through innovation, collaboration, and promotion of the best interests of EFT practitioners. As ambassadors and stewards of the EFT model, Trainers seek opportunities to actively collaborate and cross train with other Trainers thereby furthering the development of EFT expertise at a global and local level. When training opportunities or invitations involve overlapping interests and expertise, Trainers will contact their colleagues in the area of interest to consult and coordinate any training they wish to offer with existing training programs and community initiatives. This open, co-operative consultation respects the considerable effort and investment of all trainers and community organizers and reflects the collaborative nature of the EFT model.