BECOME A CERTIFIED PRACTITIONER

The EFST-P Level 1: Core Certification Program is the starting place for professionals who want to learn Emotion Focused Skills Training for Parents (EFST-P). This training includes the basics and core principles of the model, as well as a strong focus on experiential practice and skill development (including in the core chair task) for applying the tools in working with parents.

Emotion Focused Skills Training for Parents (EFST-P) can help you empower parents to adopt a central and significant role in supporting their child of any age (little, adolescent, or adult child) in their recovery from or coping with a mental health problem, severe physical illness, or other difficulties such as educational or social challenges.

Who Should Enroll

• Therapists and Mental Health Professionals seeking specialized skills in working with parents.
• Social Service and Healthcare Professionals supporting parents, children and families.
• Educators and Professional Caregivers looking to enhance emotional support in their roles.

This training provides a thorough understanding of the EFST framework as well as skills for putting the model into practice.

When is the Next Training

November 2024 - Every Friday for 4 weeks, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST.

1. Session 1: November 8, 2024
2. Session 2: November 15, 2024
3. Session 3: November 22, 2024
4. Session 4: November 29, 2024

Note: You must participate in all 4 sessions to complete the Certification.

Who Will Deliver The Training

• Dr. Michelle Emmerling

Program Delivery

• Online via Zoom

Program Fee

• Fee: $999 USD (inclusive of applicable taxes)

What Is Included

• Step one in Professional Certification through the Emotion Training Institute: Upon successful participation and completion of all four days of the training, participants will achieve the first step (Level 1) in the process to become certified in EFST-P.
• Online Course for Review and Reference: Your training fee also gives you access to our EFST-P Online Course for review and practice (365-day access).
• Community Support: Become a part of our community of EFST professionals.  Options are available for support and guidance from our trainers and supervisors and through mentorship events.

EFST-P LEVEL 1: CORE CERTIFICATION

This series of seminars covers the core aspects of Dr Joanne Dolhanty’s Emotion Focused Skills Training for Parents (EFST-P). 

Learn this simple and effective system to guide parents to: 

• Navigate their own and their child’s emotions
• Enhance their own and their child’s motivation for change
• Transform problematic relationships in their family.

What is Emotion Focused Skills Training For Parents (EFST-P)?

EFST-P emerged out of Dr Joanne Dolhanty’s pioneering work of including parents in the treatment of individual adults suffering from severe eating disorders. It has since evolved into becoming a lifespan model to work with parents who have a loved one of any age suffering from a mental health or physical health problem, or other problems such as social or educational struggles.

Professionals have implemented EFST-P, in person and online, in a variety of health care and mental health care settings, including large hospitals, small and large community organizations, and private practice. 

Professions that utilize the model include psychotherapists, social workers, child and youth workers, counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors, and others in the helping professions.

Emotion Focused Skills Training for Parents is an evidence-based intervention.

In a large randomized clinical trial, parents attended this program while their child struggling with the mental health problem did not. Children were assessed before and after the parents received the intervention and again at follow up. Children made significant change although only their parents attended, and at 12-month follow-up, the children no longer required mental health intervention.

Why Become EFST-P Certified?

• Specialized Training: Gain in-depth knowledge of how EFST principles apply to parenting.
• Practical Application: Learn how to help parents understand their children’s emotional needs and support their children to develop self-efficacy with their emotions.
• Professional Growth: Stand out in your field by becoming a certified EFST-P practitioner, providing specialized services to families in need.
• Ongoing Support: Get access to a network of professionals and continuous educational resources.

Learning Outcomes

• Core EFST Principles: Understand the fundamentals of EFST and how they apply to the parent-child relationship.
• Emotion-GPS for Parenting: Learn how parents can use their “Emotion-GPS” to guide emotional understanding and behavior in their children.
• Validation and Empathy: Teach parents how to validate their children’s emotions and respond with empathy.
• Motivating Positive Change: Equip parents with tools to motivate change and address emotional blocks in their children, by understanding competing motivations.
• Apology and Repair: Help parents learn the power of an effective apology and how to repair emotional mishaps and ruptures with their children.
• Creating Healthy Boundaries: Guide parents on how to establish and maintain healthy, protective boundaries with their children
• Embrace radical responsibility in place of self-blame
• How we embody the EFST-P stance: We share emotion skills, not parenting expertise

---

ABOUT YOUR TRAINER

---

PROGRAM OUTLINE

Session 1 - Core Program

• Unit 1 – Introduction to EFST-P
  • How motivated are you?
  • The unique qualities and challenges of parent motivation
  • Enhancing intrinsic motivation vs urging to change
  • Self-Assessment
  • Rationale for affording parents a central role in their loved one’s recovery
  • Core principles regarding parents that underlie EFST-P
  • Overview of the three modules of the core NET structure of EFST-P
  • The bridge metaphor for change
  • “Emotion self-efficacy”
    
• Unit 2 – Navigate Emotion
  • Emotions 101
  • Why Emotion?
  • Learn about emotion
  • Universality of emotion
  • Emotion Basics Simplified
  • Work with emotion
  • Tool: Validation – Beginner 
  • Impact of invalidating emotion
    
• Unit 3 – Enhance Motivation
  • The difficulty of validating
  • Hijacked
  • Feeling Traps
  • Magnets & Triggers
  • Advanced Validation
  • Competing Motivations
  • Tool: Conversation between the self and the self
  • Motivation and awareness
    
• Unit 4 – About Boundaries
  • The old way of thinking about boundaries
  • Rationale for a new conceptualization of boundaries
  • The new way of thinking about boundaries
  • Incoming and outgoing boundaries
  • Emotion-motivation influencing boundaries

Session 2 - Core Program (continued)

• Unit 5 – Boundaries without Judgment
  • Tool: Boundary PECCS
  • Assess and Address
  • Flex Your PECCS
  • Confounding boundaries and judgment
  • Tool: Apology
• Unit 6 – Integrate
  • Impact of Apology – Delivering
  • More conversation between the self and the self
  • From self-blame to radical responsibility
    

Session 3 - Experiential Activities

• Discrepancy Task
  • Working with Competing Motivations
  • Orientation to Discrepancy Task
  • Discrepancy Task to Process Parent Competing Motivations
  • “Be the Parent” Discrepancy Task
  • Discrepancy Task to Process Clinician Competing Motivations
    

Session 4 - Experiential Activities + Review

• Competing Motivations
  • Advanced experiential practice in working with:
    • Parent Competing Motivations
    • Clinician Competing Motivations
  • Video demonstration and analysis
• Review
  • Core Program Review
  • Experiential Activity Review
  • Group Questions & Challenges
    

Note:

A significant part of Session 3 & Session 4  is spent working in pairs or small groups to practice the tools available through EFST.  Ample time is provided to ensure attendees are fully engaged and understand the activities, along with gaining experience in practicing how to deliver and work with EFST tools.

---

OUR FOUNDER

---