1.75 CE Credits Available
EFT Masterclass Volume 2: Addiction
by Michael Barnett & Jeff Hickey
In this second demonstration in our EFT Masterclass series, Michael Barnett and Jeff Hickey help a couple step from the shadow of addiction to heal their relationship.
The biggest source of addiction relapse is relational distress. When addiction enters couples treatment, the focus on sobriety and relapse can be a distraction from core relationship issues. As the already fragile alliance crumbles, the non-addicted partner is often neglected and the disconnection deepens.

Learn to stay squarely focused on relationship dynamics by watching Barnett and Hickey apply core EFT principles and techniques in their work with Mark and Julie. This video will bring to life how EFT can help couples build their emotional fluency skills within a safe yet challenging therapeutic space. From within that space, you can help your clients discover and explore the unspoken emotional and personal issues that culminate in reactivity and destructive patterns in their relational dance.

What therapists are saying…

“So well done—both therapists connected with the clients immediately and the demonstration of EFT techniques makes this a great educational resource. Definitely would recommend this video if you work or train in the field of addiction. Great video!”

—Mary G. Mayorga
“Very helpful in understanding how to develop conceptualization of a couple and addiction from an EFT lens as well as how to work with couples in general. I appreciate how this video describes common struggles related to addictions and working with couples, and features a clinical session that models how to facilitate these conversations.”

—Andy Felton, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Stout
“Clear and insightful, this video captures a co-therapeutic intervention for a couple who has suffered from addictive behaviors, including pain killers and alcohol. See how Attachment Theory helps make sense of the emotional material that is missing in couples, while EFT helps individuals with addictions embrace their biographical pain and share it with their partners, who in turn, learn to co-regulate with their beloved. Useful to academics, practitioners, students or anyone else working with couples. ”

—Carlos Del Rio, PhD, Couples and Family Therapist, Assistant Professor of Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Bellevue University
In Depth
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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

Course Reviewed January 2024

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