Boosting Progress and Reducing Dropouts: The Critical Role of Enactments in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
Boosting Progress and Reducing Dropouts: The Critical Role of Enactments in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
Description:
Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFCT) is a collaborative couples and marriage counseling model based on adult attachment theory and is widely heralded as one of the most successful approaches to creating loving relationships and lasting bonds. In EFCT, enactments are used to guide clients experientially through responding to each other in new and more vulnerable ways. Many therapists find themselves avoiding enactments as they can feel awkward or laden with “land mines” that seem to produce more conflict. This training will address why enactments can seem to fail, how to work with blocks to a successful enactment, and why enactments are essential both to the actual progress of EFCT and to the couple’s felt sense of progress that keeps them engaging in therapy.
Friday Lunch Series presentation from noon to 1 pm. 1 CE for Maine psychologists, social workers, and counselors. Early registration price ($25) valid > 1 month prior to event date (Full price=$30).
Learning Objectives:
As a result of engaging in the presentation, attendees will be able to:
Describe the purpose and importance of enactments in couple therapy.
Understand the function of enactments in keeping couples engaged in therapy.
Anticipate and work with blocks in couple therapy enactments.
Presenter Bio:
Andrea Medaris, Psy.D., is a licensed psychologist in the state of Maine and a certified Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFCT) therapist and supervisor. She earned her Psy.D. from William James College in 2018. In 2023, she joined Psychology Specialists of Maine (PSM) as Coordinator of the PSM Center for Relationships, where she now coordinates PSM’s residency program for therapists training in EFCT.