Transforming Addiction through Attachment and EFCT- with Michael Barnett

In this 12-hour experiential training, we will explore specific and necessary ways to tailor EFT skills and interventions in order to better address the impact that addiction has on the couple therapy process. Video clips of therapy sessions will be used to demonstrate concepts and interventions.

Psychotherapy with couples is both multi-layered and complex, often challenging the most skilled of therapists. In this uncertain, conflict-ridden era in which we live, where true connection is often at a premium, substance use and “process addictions” (e.g. to gambling, porn, or food) have escalated to epidemic proportions. It is not uncommon for couple’s therapists to be confronted with the additional challenge of contending with a pernicious “third-party” that lurks within the shadows of distressed relationships: addiction. Although EFCT is the gold standard for helping couples find their way to genuine, loving communion with one another, addictions present very significant obstacles to effectively working with couples that seek our services.

When:
AUSTRALIA: Fri Sep 12, Sat Sep 13, Sun Sep 14 (2025): 9.00 am – 1.00 pm AEST (Australia)
USA: Thu Sep 11, Fri Sep 12, Sat Sep 13 (2025): 4.00 pm – 8.00 pm PST (USA)
Total duration: 12 hours (4hrs x 3 consecutive days)

Tickets:
Early bird: A$450 (student) - A$590 (practising therapist)
Full price: A$500 (student) - A$670 (practising therapist)
EARLY BIRD TICKET sale ends 31 July 2025

Learning Objectives:

• Determine personal biases that may interfere with therapist’s presence when working with clients on the addictive continuum.

• Describe how to tailor the introductory assessment when addiction is present in the couple process.

• Describe and identify addiction through the lens of attachment theory.

• Describe addiction as an adaptive response to loss, and disconnection.

• Describe how addiction organizes the relational system.

• Describe how to integrate addictive behaviors into the negative interactional cycle.

• Describe how to work with shame in stage 2 of EFT with addiction.

• Describe how to work with and process emotion in the absence of emotional fluency.

• Utilize EFT to break through addictive denial without shaming and confrontation.

• Utilize an attachment-based understanding of the impact of addiction on emotional processing and relationships.

• Describe how to attend to unprocessed partner anger.

• Apply prescriptive interventions to stabilize addictive processes in the couple therapy.

Assumed prior knowledge: EFT externship or equivalent

About the trainer:

Michael Barnett, MA, Ed.S, LPCC is a licensed psychotherapist, author, and an ICEEFT certified supervisor and trainer in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with over 30 years of clinical experience. Michael founded the Atlanta Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy in 2007 and was the Center’s director until 2024 when he moved to Los Angeles, California. He is currently the co-founder and director of the EFT Center of Los Angeles and has a private practice in Pasadena.

Michael ‘s career has come full circle: he began his career working in inpatient addiction treatment centers and intensive outpatient addiction programs for over eight years, before beginning his private practice in 1993. By the time that he began his training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples in 2005, he had already led dozens of trainings for psychotherapy professionals and business leaders alike. Since becoming an ICEEFT certified EFT trainer in 2008, Michael has facilitated well over one hundred trainings, workshops, and speaking engagements on EFT, trauma, and addiction across North America and abroad.

Beginning in 2010 Michael began integrating traditional approaches to working with addiction with experiential psychotherapy. Michael and a team of EFT therapists completed a 3-year research project implementing EFT into the treatment regimen of a residential addiction treatment center in Atlanta. In doing so, he meticulously tailored the EFT model to treat the co-occurrence of trauma and addiction. The culmination of his research and the clinical application of applying EFT for the treatment of addictive disorders evolved into a non-pathologizing, humane, and effective process for healing addiction and stabilizing recovery. Michael was selected to co-present at the EFT Summit with Dr. Gabor Mate, where they had the opportunity to share their personal and clinical insights about working with addictions from a humanistic perspective to a broad audience of psychotherapists and mental health practitioners from around the world. Currently, after the publishing The Emotionally Focused Therapy Workbook for Addiction: How to Heal the Loneliness and Shame that Trigger Addictive Behaviors, Michael has been devoting his career to helping those suffering with addiction to heal from the inside out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I count this webinar as PD hours? Participants will be issued with an attendance certificate when they have attended the webinar (live) stating your name, the topic and length of the event. Participants are responsible for determining whether this is sufficient for their own certifying body.
Will there be a recording? QCEFT can confirm that, barring technical difficulties, we will be recording the webinar with Michael Barnett  and will provide a link to the recording to attendees. The recording will be available for 7 days post the event (not available for download or sharing). We do encourage you to attend the event live to maximise your learning experience and receive the Certificate of Attendance.