Philadelphia Center for EFT

04/27/2026

JOIN US IN SEPTEMBER FOR OUR NEXT EXTERNSHIP
If you’ve been circling Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)… reading about it, watching clips, maybe even trying to integrate pieces into your work...but it hasn’t quite landed yet…

This is the training that changes that.

The Philadelphia Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy Externship is a 4-day immersive experience designed to move EFT from theory into something you can actually use in the room. It’s not passive. It’s not abstract. It’s hands-on, experiential, and grounded in what actually happens between you and your clients.

You’ll learn how to:

Understand relationship distress through attachment and emotion, not just content
Track and work with patterns in real time
Use the EFT Tango in a way that’s fluid, not mechanical
Stay engaged, attuned, and effective when things get complex or stuck
This is the first step toward certification, but more importantly, it’s where therapists start to feel confident in the model, not just familiar with it.

If you’ve been wanting a framework that actually helps you go deeper—without getting lost in the weeds—this is it.

Dates: September 24-27, 2026
Location: The Retreat at St. Thomas (7020 Camp Hill Rd., Fort Washington, PA 19034)

Cost:
Early Bird Rate (until 8/24/26): $1350
Full Rate (after 8/24/26): $1550
CMH Clinician/Equity, Student Rate: $985

Register now: https://www.philadelphiacenterforeft.org/for-therapists/externship-program/

04/15/2026

Check out the latest issue of "The Attachment Brief," PCEFT's quarterly newsletter.

In this issue:

- Ruptures, Repair, and Resilience in Emotionally Focused Therapy by Purvi Parikh-Shah, PhD

- Navigating Connection: A Comparison of EFT and IFIO Couple Therapy by Lucy Raizman, LCSW, LMFT

- A Quick Thought: The Technique of "Being" by Roslyn Still, PhD, LPC

- PCEFT Supervisors-in-Training Interviews by Gretchen Mahoney

- Upcoming Training Opportunities

In Emotionally Focused Therapy, we conceptualize ruptures as inherent in the attachment fabric whether they occur between clients or with them. I want to explore the latter in the context of repair. As our therapeutic alliance is the foundation of safety for our clients, it's important to mend it wh...

04/11/2026

Working With Le***an Couples: Special Issues Related to Attachment

Presented by Robin Sesan, Ph.D., Certified EFT Therapist and Supervisor

June 5 @ 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

PCEFT Members: Free
Non-members/Guests: $35

Being a well trained couples’ therapist is of course necessary to provide our couples with the best possible care. When working with le***an couples, this is also necessary, but not sufficient. Le***an couples may present unique challenges to therapists who lack the knowledge or sensitivity to address the intricacies associated with sexual minority stress, traumatic attachment histories, coming out experiences, internal and external homophobia, as well as the negative interactional cycles that can develop when two women are partnered.

In this workshop, Robin will discuss these issues, heightening our awareness of the specific needs and dynamics present in le***an couples, which may differ from those encountered in heterosexual relationships. Additionally, she will guide each of us in identifying areas of bias, often seen in acts of omission or lack of attunement, when working with le***an couples. It’s important to note that many of the concepts discussed will be applicable to all same-sex couples. There will be ample time for questions and answers to foster a deeper understanding of these critical topics.

Friday, June 5, 2026
Online via Zoom
12-2 PM ET

This is a non-CE event.

Register: https://www.philadelphiacenterforeft.org/event/working-with-le***an-couples-special-issues-related-to-attachment/

03/31/2026

JOIN US!

All the World’s a Stage: How to use EFIT to Unpack the Impact of Current Events in the Here and Now

April 10 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Presented by: Purvi Parikh-Shah, PhD, Certified EFT Therapist and Supervisor-in-Training

Friday, April 10, 2026
12-1 PM (ET)
Zoom

PCEFT Members: FREE
Non-Members/Guests: $35

As EFT therapists, we need a way to explicitly discuss race, war, ICE raids, artificial intelligence or climate crises with our clients. These issues are more than “content” because the microcosm of clients’ attachment distress unfolds within the macrocosm of the world. Hence, the impact of current events cycles into our clients’ present moment experience. In more than one EFIT (Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy) session in the past month, geopolitical events have presented as threats to Dr. Purvi Parikh-Shah’s clients’ relational spheres; you may have noticed a similar thing in your work. In this training, Purvi (Certified EFT & EFIT Therapist & Supervisor-in-Training) will model how she has used EFIT to apply an attachment lens to attune with her clients in their sociocultural distress. If you feel unsure of how to process your clients’ experience of a current event in a way that’s specific to them and true to EFT, please join this critical discussion.

https://www.philadelphiacenterforeft.org/event/all-the-worlds-a-stage-how-to-use-efit-to-unpack-the-impact-of-current-events-in-the-here-and-now/

03/25/2026

EARLY BIRD RATE EXTENDED 'TIL 4/10!
PCEFT Members get an even BIGGER discount!!

Breaking Up but Still Connecting: An EFT Approach to Healthier Breakups
(with Dr. Ting Liu, PhD, Certified EFT Trainer)

Not all couples who come to therapy want to save or fix their relationships. More importantly, breakups do not have to be traumatizing or detrimental; it also does not have to become the biggest failure in life. As couple therapists, we need to be able to help these couples break up with compassion, appreciation, dignity, clarity, and self-worth as they move through this painful and scary process.

This workshop will focus on two challenging issues in couple therapy: (1) how to help couples who are indecisive or with different goals whereas one wants to end and the other wants to save the relationship; (2) how to help couples go through three stages of EFT to end the relationship while maintaining some levels of connection. Methods of presentation will include didactic teaching, experiential exercise, video demonstration and discussion.'

When: April 24-25, 2026
Where: The Retreat at St. Thomas (7020 Camp Hill Rd., Fort Washington, PA, 19034)
Time: 9 AM - 4:30 PM (Eastern)

12 CEs available for successful completion of the training.

Cost:
>>>>> Early Bird (before 3/24/26): $575 > PCEFT Member Rate: $517

03/16/2026

Check out this month's blog post, "All the World's a Stage for EFT: Working with the Impact of Current Events in EFIT," by Purvi Parikh-Shah, PhD, EFCT & EFIT Supervisor-in-Training

We don’t practice EFT in a vacuum. The microcosm of our relationships with our clients unfold within the macrocosm of the world at large. Hence, the impact of geopolitical forces cycle into our clients’ attachment distress. In EFT we don’t explicitly discuss race, war, ICE raids, artificial in...

01/15/2026

Check out the first installment of our new quarterly newsletter, "The Attachment Brief." In this issue, we share a variety of short articles by PCEFT board members, Purvi Parikh-Shah, TJ Walsh, and Jill Knerr. We also introduce you to two of our "in-house" supervisors-in-training. Let us know what you think!

Purvi Parikh-Shah, PhD PCEFT Board Member In this regular blog offering I want to explore EFT questions, concerns, celebrations, and the self of the therapist.  On emerging from the holidays, I felt mixed. While I enjoyed the time away with my family, I felt tired and overwhelmed. Regardless of whe...

01/12/2026

We at the Philadelphia Center for EFT are proud to announce the publication of Dr. Ting Liu’s latest book on EFIT, The Power of Emotion: Theory and Practice of Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy, written in Chinese. This book is one of a 4 part series of books Ting has been asked to write. We are thrilled to have such a brilliant author and skilled therapist in our midst. Please join us in celebrating with Ting on her newest publication.

***

Author’s Preface (translated to English)

This year marks my eighteenth year of bringing Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) certification training to Asia.

Since 2007, I have traveled to major cities throughout Asia every year to teach EFT theory and techniques to helping professionals. I often find myself asking: spending nearly half of every year teaching the same curriculum and answering similar questions—how do I remain so consistently passionate and find such genuine joy in it?

I believe it all stems from my faith in the profession of psychotherapy.

My daughter is twenty years old this year. Between the extreme weather caused by global warming, a world where superpowers dominate the economy, politics, and even warfare, and an era where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to replace many jobs and human functions—the challenges she will face are far beyond anything I can imagine. I am not a politician; I cannot shake the earth with the stamp of a foot. I am not an expert in science or medicine; I cannot invent knowledge that benefits all of humanity. Nor do I possess immense wealth to donate freely to those in need.

However, I want to do something for my daughter and for the future of this world. What I can do is apply my professional expertise to help every individual who walks into my therapy room to the best of my ability.

Psychotherapy is a highly specialized field. A competent therapist requires more than just solid professional knowledge and skills; they must be willing to serve as a vehicle for change, while continuously reflecting on and monitoring how personal factors influence the therapeutic process. More importantly, it is only through the accumulation of rich clinical and life experience—the synthesis of these many conditions—that we can fully utilize our potential to effectively alleviate a client’s suffering and achieve therapeutic goals.

I often tell my students: as helping professionals, we face the most vulnerable and painful aspects of the human experience. Therefore, every moment of every session should be approached with the utmost gravity. While we have no magic to instantly erase a client's pain, we must do everything within our power. Every minute we delay or falter means another minute of prolonged suffering for the client. Yet, every client we accompany also provides us with "corrective emotional experiences" that we might not otherwise encounter in our personal lives. As we provide therapy, we heal and grow alongside them.

I hope that on the day I finally step down from this professional role, I can still look at myself in the mirror and say with a clear conscience: "I have been worthy of the trust every client placed in my hands, because I assisted them with my whole heart and accompanied them with all my strength, ensuring they did not have to walk the rugged and bumpy paths of life alone."

12/16/2025

PCEFT's own Gretchen Mahoney is offering 4 sessions of reduced-fee ($50 for 50-55 minute sessions) supervision in Jan and/or Feb if you have completed the EFCT externship.

Gretchen serves on the PCEFT board and is an EFCT supervisor-in-training.

Supervision sessions are on Zoom, and include reviewing segments of video of your couples sessions, identifying particular area or question you want to find growth in, and most likely using some role-play to practice what has been discussed.

These sessions that we do together will be recorded, minus any video of your clients.

If you're interested in speaking with Gretchen please email pceft.training@gmail.com

09/25/2025

Join us on Zoom on Friday 10/17 from 12-1:30pm for a lunch and learn - “Adapting EFCT Interventions for Couples Entering Stage 2”

During this Lunch and Learn, Ruth Jampol, Ph.D., Certified EFCT Supervisor, and Jill Knerr, LMFT will explain how the therapist’s focus, pacing, and interventions change in Stage 2. Through teaching, video presentation, and group participation, participants will learn:

- how to identify markers of readiness for Stage 2;
- how therapist interventions change in Stage 2; and
- how Stage 2 interventions allow a deeper exploration of each partner’s vulnerabilities, attachment longings, and fears.

FREE for PCEFT members
$20 for non-members/guests

Register at the link below.

In this hour-long Lunch and Learn, Ruth Jampol, Ph.D., Certified EFCT Supervisor, and Jill Knerr, LMFT will explain how the therapist’s focus, pacing, and

09/04/2025

2 WEEKS LEFT TO REGISTER FOR EFIT ESSENTIALS! CLAIM YOUR SPOT NOW.

REGISTER: https://www.philadelphiacenterforeft.org/for-therapists/efit-essentials/

EFIT is transforming lives; helping individual clients move beyond insight into real, embodied change.

If you're already fluent in EFCT, EFIT is like stepping into a new room in a familiar home. The same attachment lens, emotion-as-agent-of-change focus, and powerful corrective experiences are all there, now directed inward, to reshape the client's internal world.

What that looks like in practice:

- Mapping the inner dance (self-criticism ↔ shame, protector parts ↔ vulnerable parts, freeze ↔ reach) with the same clarity we bring to couples’ pursue/withdraw cycles.

- - Slowing down and heightening emotion so clients can feel what’s underneath the content—and make new moves.

- Using enactments both inward (“Can you turn toward that overwhelmed part and say…”) and outward (“Imagine saying this to your sister/boss/self in the mirror”).

- Restructuring self-to-self and self-to-other positions so clients leave with a sturdier, more secure internal working model.
EFIT shines with:

- Anxiety, depression, grief, trauma echoes, perfectionism, burnout, loneliness

- Clients who “know their patterns” but still feel stuck

Therapists wanting more depth without advice-giving or content overload

What changes for clients:

- Less shame, more self-compassion

- Clearer needs and boundaries

- Greater nervous system flexibility and emotional regulation

- A felt sense of: “I’m not broken. I’m human—and I can reach.”

EFIT Essentials Training
September 18-21, 2025
Dr. Ting Liu, Certified EFT Trainer

REGISTER: https://www.philadelphiacenterforeft.org/for-therapists/efit-essentials/