Introduction
On June 19 2025, Dr. Leslie Greenberg delivered a 3-hour workshop on emotion focused therapy and its clinical application.
Workshop Outline
Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) is based on both empathic attunement to affect and marker guided, process directive intervention. In this workshop, the presenter will discuss the role of emotion in therapeutic change and discuss how not only acceptance of emotion but also change of emotion is important in therapy. It is proposed that the best way to change core painful emotions like fear, sadness and shame is with other more adaptive emotions like empowering anger, the sadness of grief and compassion. In addition, the transformation by synthesis as a change process, whereby one emotion changes another, will be discussed, as well as how emotional memories can be changed by memory reconsolidation processes. The use of gestalt methods of dialoguing with parts of self and imagined significant others in an empty chair to access and transform emotion will be demonstrated on video tapes.
This workshop will review the following content:
• Theory of emotion in therapy, adaptive function of emotion, and emotion schemes
• Emotion Assessment
• Primary adaptive emotion & primary maladaptive emotion
• Secondary reactive emotion
• Instrumental emotionality
• Self-criticism and the emotional change process
• Major Emotional Change Processes, including:
• Awareness
• Expression
• Regulation
• Reflection
• Transformation
• Changing emotion with emotion
• Corrective emotional experience
Content
Learning Objectives
By the end of this workshop, participants will learn to:
Identify different types of emotional expression.
Review principles of emotional change and supporting research.
Understand about changing memory by memory reconsolidation
Access adaptive emotions to produce change.
Identify phases in emotional processing to resolve self-criticism.
About the Presenter
Leslie Greenberg, Ph.D. is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Psychology at York University in Toronto and the primary developer of Emotion-focused therapy. He has received the Distinguished Research Career award of the International Society for Psychotherapy Research as well as the Carl Rogers and the Distinguished Professional Contribution to Applied Research of the American Psychology Association. He also has received the Canadian Psychological Association Professional Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Profession. He is a past President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research.
Dr. Greenberg is the primary developer of EFT and has authored many books on emotion in psychotherapy including Emotion-focused therapy: Theory and Practice (2015), Emotion-focused Couples Therapy: The Dynamics of Emotion, Love and Power (2008), Case Formulation in Emotion-Focused Therapy (2015), Emotion -Focused Therapy of Generalized Anxiety (2017), and Emotion-focused Therapy of Forgiveness (2019). Most recently he published Changing Emotion with Emotion (2021). He currently trains people internationally in emotion–focused approaches.
Training Modalities
Didactic content, video demonstrations, and Q&A
Who should attend
This workshop is for all psychological and counselling practitioners who are interested in the topic of emotion-focused therapy.
Continuing Education (CE) Credits
Bespoke Mental Health Canada is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. Bespoke Mental Health Canada maintains responsibility for the program.
After viewing this workshop live, participants have the option to complete an evaluation form in order to be eligible to receive a certificate confirming the number of credits awarded. This certificate will be sent via email.
Participants who view this workshop as a pre-recorded event will need to complete an additional content-related workshop knowledge quiz in order to be eligible to receive CE credits.
Participants who complete this workshop are eligible to receive 2.75 CE credits.
Fees
Professionals: $100 CAD + tax
Students*: $80 CAD + tax
* Proof of student status may be required in order to qualify for a student rate.
Key References
Greenberg, L., Rice, L., & Elliott, R. (1993). Facilitating emotional change: The moment-by-moment process. New York: Guilford Press.
Greenberg, L. (2002). Emotion-focused therapy: Coaching clients to work through feelings (2nd edition – 2015). Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association Press.
Elliott R., Watson J., Goldman, R., Greenberg L. (2004) Learning emotion focused therapy. Washington, D.C: APA.
Greenberg L. (2010) Emotion-focused therapy: Theory and practice. Washington, D.C.: APA Press (2nd edition 2016).
Greenberg L. (2021). Changing emotion with emotion: A practitioner’s guide. Washington, D.C: APA Press.
Elliott R., & Greenberg, L. (2021) Emotion-focused counselling in action. London: Sage Publications.