Masterclass Emotion Focused Couples Therapy (EFT-C)

Emotional injuries and forgiveness in couples therapy.

With Catalina Woldarski, PhD

Focus On Emotion (Belgium) is proud to announce this one day masterclass in Emotion-Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT-C), in the evidence-based approach of Dr. Leslie Greenberg and Dr. Rhonda Goldman
(ISEFT.org).

Background
Emotion Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT-C) is one of the most researched forms of couples therapy. The essential goal of EFT-C is to identify negative interaction patterns and create new, healthy interactions. Greenberg and Goldman's (2008) approach builds on Greenberg and Johnson's (1988) approach.

However, it focuses not only on the attachment needs and increasing the emotional responsiveness within the couple, but also on the identity needs, the process of emotional self-regulation and the personal transformation of maladaptive emotions into more primarily adaptive emotions in each partner.

Program
In this masterclass workshop, Catalina Woldarski will present her research on the process of forgiveness in couples who experienced emotional injuries within their relationship, i.e. transgressions that violate the
expectations of a close relationship, which leaves one partner feeling hurt and angry. These are critical events that often form process blocks in the transformation of the negative interaction patterns. They ask for a specific
approach in order to fully recover the sense of safety and belonging.

From her empirical study of couples struggling with emotional injuries, Dr. Woldarski developed effective pathways to guide the injured partner to fully experience and express the impact of the injurie, to facilitate ownership and heartfelt remorse in the injuring partner and to foster curiosity towards the underlying
intrapsychic and interactional dynamics that caused the injurie.

The workshop will entail a detailed presentation of the model, discussion of videoclips and skill practice.