Quick Details

Dates:
Module 1: December 11-12, 2025 (Online)
Module 2: February 26-27, 2026 (Hybrid)
Module 3: April 9-10, 2026 (Online)
Module 4: May 29-30, 2026 (Online)


Time:

The first day of each module is from 9am-5pm

The second day of each module 9am-2pm

Location:

Online

EFT Core Skills 2025-2026: Online & in San Diego

Deepen your clinical skill. Strengthen your therapeutic presence. Learn to intervene with precision and heart.

Join Dr. Sam Jinich and Natalia Gilabert, ICEEFT Trainer for Argentina, for a uniquely accessible, small-group Core Skills training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). 

This series blends English and Spanish instruction throughout, making it one of the few opportunities worldwide to receive advanced EFT training accessible to clinicians who work in English, Spanish, or both.

You do not need to be fluent in both languages to participate – this experience is designed to support clinicians working across cultures and languages who want to strengthen their EFT practice and deepen their understanding of attachment, emotion, and connection.

Training Dates

  • 1

    Modules

    • Module 1: December 11-12 (Online)

    • Module 2: February 26-27, 2026 (San Diego + Broadcast)

    • Module 3: April 9-10, 2026 (Online)

    • Module 4: May 29-30, 2026 (Online)

Who this is for

This training is designed for clinicians who are serious about integrating Emotionally Focused Therapy into their clinical practice. It is especially valuable for:

  • Licensed and pre-licensed mental health professionals
  • Clinicians who have completed the EFT Externship
  • Therapists currently working with 1–3 couples in an ongoing capacity
  • Practitioners seeking EFT certification or greater clinical grounding in attachment-based work


Whether you are new to EFT or returning to the model after some time, this series provides a step-by-step structure to help you embody EFT with confidence and clarity—in either language.

Why Core Skills?

Core Skills is where the EFT model becomes embodied – moving from cognitive understanding to clinical intuition and emotional attunement.

This training supports therapists in:

  • Tracking emotional cues and attachment signals in session
  • Becoming fluent in the language of affect and interpersonal safety
  • Using the EFT Tango to guide session flow without rigidity
  • Practicing interventions that reshape relational cycles, not just manage them
  • Receiving direct, strengths-based feedback on your real-life clinical work


By the end of the series, many therapists report a profound shift – not only in how they practice, but in how they understand themselves in the therapy room.


Event Details

Completing all 4 modules (48 hours) meets ICEEFT certification requirement

Schedule:

For each two-day module, the daily schedule is:

Day 1: 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. PST

Day 2: 9:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. PST

Quick Details:

Languages: English & Spanish (real-time interpretation)

Location: Fully online with optional hybrid component

Tuition: $1,720 (save $100 when paid in full)

Installment Options: 6 x $263 | 6 x $303 (community) | 4 x $455

CEs Available: 48 CE hours (details forthcoming)


Scholarships are being made available through Renova San Diego. 

For more information about scholarships, please email [email protected]


Register for Core Skills

Don't miss out on this very rare virtual bilingual training!

Meet Your Trainers

Sam Jinich, PhD

Sam Jinich, PhD is a Certified Trainer in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT). He has been a clinical psychologist in private practice since 1995, specializing in working with couples from diverse backgrounds. Dr. Jinich was born in Mexico City and received his PhD from the University of California/San Diego State University’s Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology where he focused on couples and family therapy. He did his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine’s Center for AIDS Prevention Studies. In 2013, he founded the San Francisco Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy where he is the Director. More recently, he co-founded (with Natalia Gilabert,EFT trainer for Argentina) EFT Academiain Argentina, providing EFCT Master Classes, workshops, webinars, and supervision to clinicians around the world. As a bilingual and bicultural trainer in EFT, Dr. Jinich has been responsible for establishing EFCT in Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Brazil, Chile and Spain through mentoring and supervising therapists in these countries toward becoming EFCT practitioners, supervisors, and trainers. He was involved in the planning and supervision of therapists in the first-ever multi-national randomized clinical-trial research study in Spanish on the effectiveness of couples therapy in general, and specifically of EFCT. Dr. Jinich is particularly known for his creative and passionate presentations on EFCT.

Clinical Psychologist

Natalia Gilabert

Natalia Gilabert is a Clinical Psychologist with 25 years of experience as an individual and couples psychotherapist. She is a certified trainer by the International Centre of Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT), and has trained therapists in Latin America (Argentina, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador) and Spain. She is the Founder and Academic Director of the "EFT Argentina" center, aimed at providing official ICEEFT training in the Spanish-speaking world. She conducts and leads emotional "Hold me Tight" workshops for couples in Argentina and Chile. Co-Founder and Co-Director of the International Center "EFT Academia", dedicated to providing Specialization Courses in Couples Therapy based on the EFT model (Infidelities, Highly Conflictual Couples, Erotic Intimacy). Co-founder, Co-Director, and Instructor at CEAP International Center for Adult Attachment Specialization, aimed at offering Diplomas and Postgraduate Training Courses in Adult Attachment. She provides supervision for therapists at an international level, and is part of the Supervisors Staff for Research in EFT Couples Therapy at the University of Navarra. She participates as a lecturer in postgraduate and Magister programs at Chilean Universities and is a prominent speaker at Latin American Congresses as a reference in Adult Attachment and Couples Therapy.

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.