19/02/2026
Emotion Focused Therapy Teaching Tip #9: How you show up as a therapist matters.
In EFT, we know that presence often outperforms technique. Dr. Shari Geller has written extensively about therapeutic presence and its importance. But, what makes for strong therapeutic presence?
It starts with preparation to bring one’s whole self into the interaction with the client, intentionally and purposefully, from a place of centeredness in one’s self. I think of this as creating the space you need to act as a human tuning fork, coming into resonance with what the client is feeling, without losing yourself in their experience.
In session, maintaining presence is an ongoing process characterized by being receptive to the client’s verbal and nonverbal communication, maintaining attunement to both the client’s internal process and one’s own internal reactions as a therapist, and speaking intentionally in a manner focused on deepening the client’s internal focus on felt sense and emergent meanings. Dr. Sue Johnson coined the acronym RISSSC to capture the components of communication we associate with presence and attunement in session:
• Repeat: Repeating key phrases to help clients stay with their experience.
• Images: Asking for or offering images to make the feeling more concrete and real.
• Soft: Using a soft, warm vocal tone to signal safety and invite vulnerable emotions.
• Slow: Slowing down the pace to allow for deeper emotional processing.
• Simple: Using simple, clear language to stay on the same page and avoid getting too
cognitive.
• Client's own words: Using the client's own words to honour their expertise in their own
experience.
When you are engaged with your clients in a manner consistent with strong therapeutic presence, you may experience a sense of deep focus or ‘flow’. Time may feel like it passes differently, and you may be aware of acutely feeling with your client. You may have intuitive responses that deeply resonate with the client.
As a supervisor and trainer, I have observed some common patterns in my supervisees seeking to increase therapist presence.
• For those more comfortable with cognitive models, letting go of the pressure to teach or educate clients often assists with cultivating therapist presence and with deepening client experiencing.
• For those trained in more psychodynamic models, shifting from interpretation (which often reorients clients cognitively to the therapist’s words and ideas) to shorter empathically attuned therapist responses can help clients safely stay with their own internal experience, undoing self-silencing and unblocking emotion before shifting to making meaning.
• For therapists who naturally lean into emotion and rely on intuition in the moment, learning to more clearly differentiate between resonance with a client’s emotions, the therapist’s personal emotional reaction to a client’s emotional expression, and the therapist’s own trigger points in response to a client’s words or actions is essential.
Want to learn more? Registration is now open for my 2026 EFT for Individuals course! This course has been carefully crafted for beginners who want a gentle introduction with time to apply and integrate knowledge in your existing skill base as you learn, or for intermediate clinicians seeking to deepen and consolidate your existing EFT skills.
Register today to secure your spot at https://transformingemotions.ca/eft-for-individuals/
with time to apply and integrate knowledge in your existing skill base as you learn
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