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Alishia Ladak
Counselling Therapist
- Helps with: Depression, Complex Trauma, Healthy Discipline Strategies, Anxiety
- Languages: English
- Where: Coquitlam · Online
Emotion-Focused Therapy
Emotion-Focused Therapy for individuals is a modality that approaches therapy as an experiential process, wherein change occurs through processing emotions in new ways and moving through defenses and secondary emotions to reach the core of one’s experience.
- 31 counsellors trained
- In person or online
What it helps with
Concerns emotion-focused therapy can help withWhat it helps with
How it works
What a course of emotion-focused therapy looks likeHow it works
Early on
Notice what you feel
You and your counsellor slow down and notice what you feel in the moment, such as a tight chest when you talk about a loss, and put words to it.
As you go
Explore deeper feelings
Together you look under the first feeling, like anger, to what may sit beneath it, such as hurt or fear, and the need it points to.
Over time
Keep going with care
Between sessions, you practise meeting your feelings with more kindness. You and your counsellor decide together how long to keep going.
Emotion-focused therapy may suit you if you
- Feel stuck in the same feelings, even when you understand why
- Want to understand your emotions, not just manage them
- Find it hard to name what you feel or what you need
- Carry grief, hurt or anger you have not had room to feel
- Like a warm, gentle pace led by what comes up in the moment
- Want to be kinder to yourself when you feel low or anxious
Something else may fit better if you
- Are in crisis right now: call or text 9-8-8
- Prefer structured skills and homework, as in CBT
- Mainly want quick, practical steps toward one goal
- Do not feel ready to stay with strong feelings yet
Not sure? A free consultation can help you choose.
Where
Emotion-focused therapy in person in Vancouver, Burnaby and Coquitlam, or onlineWhere
About
More about emotion-focused therapy
Theory
A basic assumption of EFT is that emotions are adaptive and serve important functions for survival, connection, and sense of self. Emotions are not seen as inherently good or bad, but they can be adaptive or maladaptive depending on how they are experienced and whether they impede one’s functioning or relationships. Emotions hold intrinsic wisdom about one’s needs and desires, and when they can be experienced consciously and intentionally, they can provide direction for growth and change not available through cognition alone. By processing emotions in new ways in the presence of a caring other, profound transformations can occur.
Techniques
Emotion-Focused therapy maintains an experiential focus on how individuals process their emotions. Because a basic tenet of EFT is that emotions must be activated in the here-and-now in order to be transformed, therapists join with their clients in processing defenses and blocks to emotions so that clients develop greater awareness of what their emotions are, how they experience them, and how they may be serving or limiting them. Therapy aims at welcoming the range of emotional experience such that the information that emotions hold can provide valuable knowledge for what one needs and how they can go about getting those needs met.
Emotions are evoked in session and processed in new ways that facilitate connection with core needs and experience. In this way, they can be transformed to make way for healthier, more adaptive emotional experience.
What it’s used to treat:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Eating disorders, trauma
- Interpersonal issues
Benefits of Emotion-Focused Therapy
Emotion-Focused Therapy can help individuals:
- Improve self-awareness
- Build healthier relationships
- Increase self-confidence
- Reduce emotional distress
- Develop healthier coping skills
- Improve communication with others
What Can Emotion-Focused Therapy Treat?
Emotion-Focused Therapy is beneficial for people experiencing troublesome emotions or finding it hard to cope with various life events. The therapy offers a chance to examine one's emotions, their origin, and learn how to respond to them more constructively.
The treatment will be effective for:
- Anxiety and worry
- Depression and sadness
- Traumatic experiences
- Grieving
- Communication issues
- Low self-esteem and lack of confidence
- Burnout and emotional exhaustion
- Difficulties with understanding and dealing with emotions
Moreover, Emotion-Focused Therapy can be useful for those wishing to enhance self-awareness and build healthier relationships with themselves and others.
Emotion-Focused Therapy at No Fear Counselling
In the process of emotion-focused therapy provided by No Fear Counselling, we strive to assist you in comprehending your emotions and making changes for the better.
Should you be facing problems such as anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, or difficulties in relationships, among others, according to your needs, the therapy might be the sole method applied, or it can be combined with different forms of therapy, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness-Based Therapy, and trauma-informed therapy.
Our counselling is available online and in-person across all of Canada.
Start Your Healing Journey Today
When your interactions and life have been affected by your emotions, Emotion-Focused Therapy can assist you in understanding and coping with such experiences.
No Fear Counselling team provides counselling services in Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam, Langley, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack, and online counselling in all of Canada.
Contact us today to know more about Emotion-Focused Therapy and find a therapist who will be suitable for you.
References:
Greenberg, L. S. (2002). Emotion-focused therapy: coaching clients to work through their feelings [2nd ed.]. Washington: American Psychological Association.0
Counsellors trained in emotion-focused therapyTrained in emotion-focused therapy
Anna MacGillivray
Counselling Therapist
- Helps with: Disordered Eating, Addictions / Substance Use, Body Image, Emotional Regulation, Existential Concerns, Codependency, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Depression, Complex Trauma, Assertiveness/Boundaries, Suicidal Ideation, Self Compassion, Work Stress, Spirituality, Perfectionism, Couples/Marriage Counselling, Guilt/Shame, Goal Setting, Cult Abuse, Personal Development/Growth, Work and Life Balance, Life Transitions, Self Esteem
- Languages: English
- Where: Vancouver
Cherise Maisey
Counselling Therapist
- Helps with: Men's Concerns, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Anxiety, Depression, Life Transitions, Relationship Concerns, Stress Management
- Languages: English
- Where: Online
Corey Chan
Counselling Therapist
- Helps with: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Anxiety, Parenting, Stress Management, Addictions / Substance Use, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), LGBTQ2+, Grief, Loss and Bereavement, Depression, Complex Trauma, Anger Management
- Languages: English
- Where: Vancouver
Dana Doucette
Post Practicum Intern
- Helps with: Anxiety, Career Counselling, Chronic Pain, Depression, Emotional Regulation, Identity, Life Transitions, Parenting, Perfectionism, Personal Development/Growth, Self Esteem
- Languages: English
- Where: Pitt Meadows · Surrey · Online
Erica Saborio
Counselling Therapist
- Helps with: Identity, Relationship Concerns, Anxiety, Attachment Concerns, Complex Trauma, Depression, Emotional Regulation, Grief, Loss and Bereavement, Guilt/Shame, Life Transitions, Loneliness, Personal Development/Growth
- Languages: English, Spanish
- Where: Coquitlam · Online
FAQs
Common questions about emotion-focused therapyCommon questions
Can't find your answer? Ask us a question.
In an emotion-focused therapy (EFT) session, you and your counsellor pay close attention to what you feel as you talk. Your counsellor may ask you to notice where a feeling shows up in your body, or to stay with it a little longer than usual. Some sessions use a chair exercise, where you speak to an empty chair as if a person or a part of yourself were in it. You can share as much or as little as you like.
Many people use EFT to make room for feelings tied to grief, loss or painful experiences. Your counsellor goes at your pace and helps you feel steady before any deeper work, and you can pause or slow down at any time. If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 9-8-8, call 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433), or call 911 if you are in danger.
EFT stays with feelings as you have them in the session, while cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) looks more at changing thoughts and habits. In CBT you may write down a worried thought and look for other ways to see it. In EFT you may instead stay with the worry, notice how it feels, and ask what it needs. Neither one is better; some people simply find one fits them more.
Yes, you can do EFT online by video from anywhere in BC, or meet in person. Many people find they can notice and share feelings well from a quiet, private space at home. Our intake team suggests counsellors who fit what you need, your language, your budget and where you want to meet.
It may be, depending on your plan and your counsellor's credentials. Many extended health plans cover Registered Clinical Counsellors and Canadian Certified Counsellors (RCC/CCC), so it helps to check your own plan. We also offer sliding scale rates for eligible people, and our fees and funding page has more detail.
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