Emotionally focused Therapy
Not just talk therapy.
Not just insights.
Lasting change you can feel.
Where most therapy stays in your head, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) goes to the heart. This approach connects you to your deeper emotional experience, where lasting change actually begins.
Available for couples (EFCT) and individuals (EFIT) in Minnesota, Illinois, & Iowa
go beneath the surface
Understand what's really driving your emotions, not just what's happening on the surface.
find the context
Name the unmet needs behind the reactions and frustrations and heal them at the root.
feel a shift
Create new emotional experiences in session that shift how you relate to others and yourself.
Every emotion makes sense in context.
Most people come to therapy wanting to "fix" or stop their emotions. They want to get rid of the anger, the shutdown, the anxiety, the distance. But those reactions aren't the problem. They're signals. Every emotion, every pattern, every cycle is pointing to something deeper: an unmet need, an attachment wound, a part of yourself that hasn't been heard yet. EFT gets to that deeper meaning, so instead of managing your reactions from the surface, you understand them from the root. And that changes everything.
Emotionally focused individual therapy helps you when...
You disconnect or snap at people you love and aren't sure why
You know your patterns but can't seem to break them no matter how much you understand them
Your feelings are hard to access, or they overwhelm you when they do surface
You've done therapy before but felt like something was still missing
Life looks fine from the outside, but something underneath feels off or unfulfilling
Emotionally focused Couples Therapy helps your relationship when…
You keep having the same fight and it never actually resolves
One of you shuts down and the other pushes harder, and you're both exhausted by it
You feel lonely even when you're in the same room
You love each other but somewhere along the way you stopped acting like it
Something happened that broke trust, and you don't know how to find your way back
What is Emotionally Focused Therapy?
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) was developed by Dr. Sue Johnson in the 1980s and is now one of the most well-researched approaches in couples and individual therapy worldwide.
At its core, EFT is based on one simple idea: we all need to feel securely connected, both to the people we love and to ourselves. When that connection feels threatened, we react. It's a protection mechanism, but one that's usually misguided and can often make us feel even worse.
EFT helps you understand those reactions from the inside out. Not just what's happening, but why it's happening and the unmet needs underneath it all.
From that understanding, something shifts. You're able to experience your emotions differently, stop trying to "fix" yourself, and start living a more connected life.
What happens in an EFT session
Feel Seen & Understood
My process helps you articulate what you're really feeling at a level you may have never been able to access before.
Access Emotions You’ve Avoided
Safely explore the feelings that have been driving your reactions without feeling overwhelmed by them.
Bridge the Gap
In our sessions, it's common for needs to be named, walls to come down, and old patterns to lose their grip.
what you’ll experience
Most therapy asks you to talk about your emotions. EFT asks you to feel into them. With this approach, I guide you through a new way to experience your emotions — one where they finally make sense, and you can hear what they've been trying to tell you all along.
EFT THERAPIST
Why Emotionally Focused Therapy?
I specialize in EFT because it gets to the place where change actually happens. Rather than analyze emotions from a distance or put a label on what you're experiencing, we go deep so you can move through life differently. EFT is the experiential heart of everything I do, the part of the work that creates the kind of shifts you can actually feel.
Assess & Learn
We start with a comprehensive Gottman assessment — a clear picture of where your relationship is strong and where it needs attention.
For couples
EFT for couples identifies and tracks a negative cycle of interacting. I pair EFT with the Gottman Method to give couples both the practical skills and the deep emotional work that reharmonizes your connection and builds lasting change. The Gottman framework builds understanding between sessions. EFT creates the shifts that happen in the room. Together, they move you further and faster than either could alone.
This season of life is calling for a shift.
Whether it's your relationship, your sense of self, or both, something is asking for your attention. That's not a problem to fix, it's an invitation to listen.