I am often asked by trainees and students how long I have been practicing Dr. Sue Johnson’s Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). I could say I began to integrate elements of EFT with my first Person Centered paper in 1976; however, learning a model of therapy – what Carl Rogers called a way of being – it is more accurate to say I am engaged in a lifelong practice of learning. My journey of learning EFT began 66 years ago when I was born into a socially conscious, nature-loving, book-revering, Canadian dairy farm family! I spent my childhood from the age of six bonding and attuning with my closest sibling – a sweet non-verbal brother with … [Read more...]
February is a time for both love and validating righteous anger: Thoughts on How Love Can Revolutionize Therapy and Our Racist Society
"What’s love got to do with it?" Is love just a second-hand emotion, as Tina Turner sings? “Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?” Where is love in a society exploding with white privilege, horrific racial injustices, cultural inequities, and a pandemic disproportionately effecting people of color? Where does love fit into individual therapy with people whose distress is met with no loving relationships for comfort or support? How can love revolutionize our therapy and our racist society? Love, defined as safe and secure bonds, is the north star for therapists. “Love is not only an end for therapy; it is also the means by which … [Read more...]