Welcome to the Leading Edge in Emotionally Focused Therapy, hosted by Drs. James Hawkins, Ph.D., LPC, and Ryan Rana, Ph.D., LMFT, LPC—Renowned ICEEFT Therapists, Supervisors, and Trainers. We're thrilled to have you with us. We believe this podcast, a valuable resource, will empower you to push the boundaries in your work, helping individuals and couples connect more deeply with themselves and each other.

Key Highlights:

Counterintuitive approach: When clients become reactive, therapists should move towards the emotion, not away from it

Reactivity is a signal of underlying fear and pain that needs acknowledgment

The goal is to help clients organize and understand their emotional experience

Main Points:

Understanding Reactivity

Reactivity indicates a need for emotional organization

Therapists must first ground themselves to stay present

Look for cues like voice changes, slower pace, and "yes" signaling

Therapeutic Approach

Move towards the reactivity with curiosity and empathy

Co-create meaning with the client

Help clients understand the attachment function of their emotional response

Trust and Corrective Experience

Develop trust that vulnerable emotions exist beneath resistance

Be willing to take vulnerable steps before seeing the full result

Learn through practice and experiencing successful interventions

Practical Strategies:

Validate the function of protective behaviors

Slow down the process

Become an "attachment interpreter"

Closing Insight: EFT aims to help clients find flexibility in their reactive moments and connect with each other, not eliminate reactivity.

Upcoming events, if you would like to train with James or Ryan…

To support our mission and help us continue producing impactful content, your financial contributions via Venmo (@leftpodcast) are greatly appreciated. They play a significant role in keeping this valuable resource available and are a testament to your commitment to our cause.

We aim to equip therapists with practical tools and encouragement for addressing relational distress. We're also excited to be part of the team behind Success in Vulnerability (SV)—your premier online education platform. SV offers innovative instruction to enhance your therapeutic effectiveness through exclusive modules and in-depth clinical examples.

 Stay connected with us:

If you like the concepts discussed on this podcast you can explore our online training program, Success in Vulnerability (SV).

Thank you for being part of our community. Let's push the leading edge together!