About Emotionally Focused Therapy
Dr Sue Johnson is a globally revered clinical psychologist and author, and founder of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT).
She is best known for her work in couple therapy and for her use of attachment science and emotion in her work. She is Director of the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT), Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa and Distinguished Research Professor at Alliant University, San Diego.
SEE FULL BIOAttachment science has emerged as the most profound, research-based understanding of how we develop as human beings. Our emotions, our ways of thinking and acting and our habitual ways of engaging with others. Attachment science has already transformed how we understand and relate to our children, giving us a new perspective on their emotional vulnerabilities and needs. It now offers us a map to simplify the emotional life of adults and the dramas that shape our most important adult relationships. Specifically, attachment science has cracked the code of love and loving, showing us how our sense of self develops and is continuously shaped in the dance with others.
Attachment is emerging as simply the best guide we have to who we are and how we connect to others. Lack of secure attachment has emerged as a risk factor for every form of mental health problem, whilst a sense of secure connection with others has been linked to resilience and a more coherent positive sense of self.
Dr Johnson’s Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), takes the attachment perspective out of the research lab and into therapy sessions with individuals, couples and families. Dr Johnson shows how the principles of attachment theory translate into organic, on target interventions that allow therapists to create significant moments of change in every session.
EFT uses Attachment science as a map to make sense of problems, simplifying complex narratives of dysfunction and negative relationship cycles. It offers a clear, simple set of interventions that have been shown to create intrapsychic and interpersonal change. Attachment science is the future of psychotherapy, offering not only deep understanding but eminently practical guidelines for intervention across treatment modalities. This is the unifying vision that the psychotherapy field has been missing.
ICEEFT was founded in 1998 by Dr. Sue Johnson and her colleagues in Ottawa, Canada, with a mission to expand and develop Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for the benefit of individuals, couples and families globally. By providing education and training to mental health professionals, certification for EFT therapists, and conducting clinical research, ICEEFT supports mental health professionals to facilitate meaningful connection between partners and within families.
With a philosophy that relationships are the core of human experience, ICEEFT is dedicated to understanding and enhancing couple and family bonds. This work is supported by decades of gold standard research that demonstrates the efficacy of EFT in supporting and developing emotional bonds key to relationships, mental and physical health. ICEEFT serves to further support and expand EFT, with therapists certified to provide respectful, empathetic therapy, creating positive outcomes for distressed and disconnected couples, and families worldwide.
ICEEFT works closely with communities and partners globally, striving to build public awareness of EFT and the key role it plays in strengthening human connection.
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