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3 Day Seattle Externship

Join us for Seattle's EFT externship officially endorsed by the International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT).  This training is crucial for therapists because it equips them with the necessary skills to foster secure, resilient relationships in therapy. It’s the first step in formal EFT training, opening the door to advanced practice and certification, enhancing therapists’ efficacy and confidence in their clinical work with couples.

EFT Seattle Trainer James Furrow will be joined by EFT Trainer Lisa Palmer-Olsen from San Diego, California. Together, Lisa and Jim bring together over 15 years of co-training with their special focus on relationship betrayals and high conflict couples.

What will I learn in an “Externship”?

  • Participants will obtain a clear understanding of the basic experiential and systemic concepts of an “Emotionally Focused” approach to therapy.
  • Participants will be able to view clients in the web of their interpersonal attachments and conceptualize relationship distress and repair based on theories of attachment and emotion.
  • Participants will develop skills in sharing and maintaining an engaged, open and collaborative alliance with clients.
  • Participants will develop skills in the 5 moves of the basic macro-intervention – the EFT Tango – in order to change patterns of affect regulation, models of self and other, strategies for engaging others and interactional patterns.
  • Participants will develop skills in EFT micro interventions taken from experiential and attachment systemic models of intervention.
  • Participants will develop skills in overcoming common blocks and impasses in couple therapy and so shape core corrective emotional experiences that lead to constructive dependency and what Rogers termed ‘existential living.’

Dates:

Wednesday: May, 13, 2026

Thursday: May 14, 2026

Friday: May 15, 2026

Time: 9am-6pm 

Location: TBD

Trainers

Jim Furrow & Lisa Palmer-Olsen

Jim Furrow

James Furrow, Ph.D., is leader and contributor to the practice of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with couples and families. Together with EFT originator, Dr. Susan Johnson, Jim co-authored Emotionally Focused Family Therapy; Becoming an EFT Therapist: The Workbook and The EFT Casebook. He is also co-authored Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy for Dummies, a practical resource for couples and therapists seeking an everyday understanding of EFT principles and practices. Formerly Jim served as the Evelyn and Frank Freed Professor of Marital and Family Therapy at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, where he trained psychologists and marital and family and conducted research on adolescent risk and resilience. He is a clinical fellow and an approved supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, a member of the National Council on Family Relations, and a Certified Family Life Educator. He co-founded the Los Angeles Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy, where he served as Executive Director before relocating to the Seattle area. Jim is an ICEEFT certified EFT therapist, supervisor, and trainer.

Dr. Lisa J Palmer-Olsen

Dr. Lisa J. Palmer-Olsen, Psy.D. is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist practicing in San Diego, California for over twenty years. She is also a Certified International Emotionally Focused Therapy Trainer and AAMFT approved Supervisor. Dr. Palmer-Olsen’s primary clinical and research interests are in the area of family systems and high conflict couple work, specifically with clients dealing with trauma and attachment related injuries. As a founder and Co-Director for Renova San Diego Inc, a non-profit 501(c)(3) based out of San Diego, she is committed to providing quality San Diego services accessible to all who seek it. Dr. Palmer-Olsen is passionate about providing affordable, high caliber training to mental health clinicians around the world. Dr. Palmer-Olsen completed her dissertation research on how to train and teach Emotionally Focused Therapy to professionals. Lisa was trained directly by the founder of the EFT model Dr. Susan Johnson.