On the heels of a promising session sex therapy session, Mark and Julie meet with Hickey and Barnett. They hope to address the emotional aspects of their relationship, long neglected due to Julie’s history of physical pain, OCD and addiction. Now that she is sober, Mark is finally expressing long-buried feelings of neglect and anger. The couple is now trying to mend and rebuild their frayed and fragile tie by focusing on their respective attachment issues.
Couples like Mark and Julie who lack a template of emotional fluency have difficulty accessing and expressing painful and vulnerable emotions within themselves and between one another. And in the absence of secure attachments and a sense of safety in their relationship, partners will turn to secondary coping strategies such as substance abuse and dependence. Instead of couples “having patterns,” the patterns “have the couples,” and they grow angry, hurt and disconnected.
Barnett and Hickey’s use of the EFT technique of enactment (having couples speak directly to each other) and their view of addiction as an “action tendency” rather than as a symptom, helps them sow the seeds of attachment with Mark and Julie. The couple then begins on their path to re-connection. Watching and learning from these master clinicians will be a boon to your clinical practice with couples facing seemingly insurmountable relationship challenges.
Length of video: 1:44:31
English subtitles available
Group ISBN-10 #: 1-60124-565-3
Group ISBN-13 #: 978-1-60124-565-6
Michael Barnett, MA, EdS, LPC is a licensed psychotherapist 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 is also a partner at Pine River Psychotherapy Associates, a highly respected and visionary private practice in Atlanta since its inception in the 1970s. Michael has ardently worked toward integrating traditional and experiential processes in working with addictive disorders. This humanistic, attachment-based work culminated in a system for tailoring the EFT model to more effectively treat couples who present on the addictive continuum. In doing so Michael has made a unique contribution to the existing body of EFT education and training.
Jeff Hickey, LCSW, CST is the director and president of the Chicago Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy (chicagoeft.com). He has been practicing and teaching Emotionally Focused Couples therapy for over 15 years and over that time has presented many trainings and workshops around the country. He has also presented on the intersection of sexuality and couple relationships, an area of growing interest among clinicians. Jeff is also a certified sex therapist and has over 30 years of clinical experience working with a broad range of couples presenting with a wide variety of concerns, including trauma and sexuality.
CE credits: 1.75
Learning Objectives:
- Discuss the use of EFT theory and techniques in clinical work around addiction
- Explain how to maintain clinical focus on attachment rather than addiction issues
- Describe the use of co-therapists in EFT when working with couples
Bibliography available upon request
This course is offered for ASWB ACE credit for social workers. See complete list of CE approvals here
© 2019