EFST-P Training

EFST-P Training for Clinicians is the starting place for professionals who want to learn Emotion Focused Skills Training for Parents (EFST-P).

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Emotion Focused Skills Training for Parents

EFST-P is a transdiagnostic intervention for professionals working with parents and caregivers of children of any age — little, teen, or adult — who are experiencing mental health concerns, physical health challenges, emotional or behavioural regulation difficulties, or strained parent-child relationships.

EFST-P helps clinicians support parents in strengthening emotion skills, navigating their own and their child’s emotions, enhancing motivation for change, and transforming family relationships.

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS TRAINING

This training is designed for:

  • Therapists and Mental Health Professionals seeking specialized skills in harnessing the power of parents in work with clients of any age.
  • Social Service and Healthcare Professionals supporting parents, children, and families.
  • Educators and Professional Caregivers who want to strengthen emotional support in their roles.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

Participants receive a thorough introduction to the EFST-P framework and practical skills for applying the model with parents and caregivers.

Core training areas include:
Navigate Emotion

Emotion basics, validation, invalidation, emotion self-efficacy, and helping parents respond to emotion differently.

Enhance Motivation

Feeling traps, magnets and triggers, competing motivations, and chair-based experiential work.

Transform Relationships

Boundaries without judgment, apology, radical responsibility, and repair.

Practice Experientially

Discrepancy tasks, “Be the Parent” work, clinician competing motivations, video demonstration, and group consultation.

THE EFST-P TRAINING PATHWAY

Orientation and Preparation
Begin learning through EFST books, research, videos, the online parent workshop, and consultation with an EFST expert.
Phase 1: Four-Day EFST-P Training
The core clinician training introduces the parent/caregiver workshop, EFST tools, chair work, and the foundations of EFST-P practice.
Phase 2: Progress Toward Certification
Includes advanced training, supervision, access to the EFST-P online course, and participation in parent workshops as a helper or observer.
Phase 3: Final Certification Steps
Includes supervised EFST-P work with families and co-facilitation of a parent/caregiver workshop where relevant.

What Is Included

Level 1 Certification Step
Successful completion of the four-day training satisfies the first step in the EFST-P certification pathway.
365-Day Online Course Access
Participants receive access to the EFST-P Online Course for review, reference, and practice.
Community and Mentorship
Join a growing community of EFST professionals with opportunities for peer support, mentorship, supervision, and consultation.

Upcoming Events

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Join the EFST-P waitlist to be notified about upcoming courses. 

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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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

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.