Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT)
Emotionally Focused Family Therapy, EFFT, is a specific type of therapy modeled after EFT for couples. We know children are deeply emotional and social beings and what they want more than anything is to be able to think clearly and feel close to their parents.
EFFT is a type of therapy where we focus with families on restoring family bonds and promote resiliency. In understanding the family distress, we work from an attachment perspective with emphasis on understanding the emotional dynamics that feed into certain family dynamics. We experientially engage the entire family system and promote new daily interactions which decrease relational rigidity and distress.
Our goal is to transform problematic patterns, which often undermine a family’s safety and well-being. The parent & child relationship are redefined through new experiences of trust & vulnerability. We restore flexible connection and responsiveness we need in order to maintain healthy emotional bonds.
What Does EFFT (family therapy) look like?
Parents & children/teens- Adult children & parents
- Intergenerational sessions
Our initial consultation is one where we meet with the whole family. This allows us to evaluate the level of treatment and work with the most distressed subsystem.
We develop a treatment plan of family sessions, parent sessions, sibling sessions, individual sessions depending on your specific needs.
Typical family presenting problems include, but are not limited to:
- conflict
- disobedience
- oppositional/defiance
- substance abuse
- cutting
- promiscuity
- juvenile sexual offenders
- sibling tension, rivalry, conflict
- blended family issues
Our goals are aimed at building strong and cohesive families from the inside out. We find deeper emotional engagement and shared attachment needs and work through the relational injuries that occur with all families.
- create a safer environment within the family
- decrease conflict between parents & children
- address and decrease tension between siblings
- improve communication with all family members
- address difficult to discuss topics
EFFT is a non-blaming, non-shaming model rooted in the underpinnings of Attachment Theory. We listen to all perspectives and understand how family members get caught in a negative pattern that prevent a sense of safety within a family.
EFFT has a road map for therapy where the therapist can take the family through specific steps and stages designed to increase accessibility, responsiveness and vulnerability between parents and their children.
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