From the Desk of Lynda Rees,
You all may be wondering what my personal back story is as to why I am working with Nancy to offer Conscious EFT™ for Psychotherapy.
I have been integrating EFT into my Individual, Couple and Family Psychotherapy practice for 15 years. When I started using EFT it was not well known and considered pretty out there!
I was quite skeptical because of the lack of scientific evidence and yet curious too because of how it helped me personally. This was also true for my clients!
As my skepticism shifted, interestingly enough to a large extent so did my client’s skepticism. They became increasingly willing to use EFT in our sessions and for their own self-care.
What I also noticed was the difference EFT made when I used it in a timely way, respecting my clients’ readiness, needs and goals. I am in awe of the way EFT not only gives my clients a self-help tool but is a very powerful and effective tool to use in session.
It is not a tool to be taken lightly, it is one that when applied skillfully and safely is extremely powerful, effective and life changing. EFT has also been an important tool in my personal transformation journey.
In my early training at the University of Guelph as an individual, couple and family psychotherapist I was inspired by my professor and supervisor/mentor Dr Claude Guldner. He inspired me to consider how my personal history and triggers impacted not only my therapeutic relationship with my clients but also my assessments, my working hypotheses, and my interventions. His viewpoint had a huge impact on my professional and personal development.
I made a commitment then to pay attention to how I used who I am with all of my humanity, my wounds and my experiences and offer this in a therapeutic transformational way with my clients. This has been an amazing journey!
I truly believe my effectiveness as a clinician is directly related to my observing when I am triggered in session with a client and still respond in a therapeutic way. As well, to take time to reflect deeply outside of the session about what personal patterns of mine might be blocking progress for my client and take action to change them.
This commitment to both my professional and personal growth as well as my interest in mentoring put me on a track of figorous training offered with AAMFT as an Approved Supervisor/Mentor for Couple and Family Therapists. I saw and still see the importance of offering supervision and mentoring in order to mentor therapists in developing their use of self in their clinical work. I also am an Approved Mentor with AAMET.
Now, my interest in EFT, my commitment to personal and professional growth as well as supervision/mentoring are all coming together. I am honoured to be part of launching Conscious EFT™ for Psychotherapy. Nancy and I have been working hard to develop something that will be helpful and inspire the new generation of psychotherapists to use Conscious EFT™ professionally and personally.
Our desire is to offer a co-facilitated EFT training and mentoring program, model a collaborative team relationship and give psychotherapists an opportunity to learn and grow professionally and personally in a safe environment. We believe this will create clinicians who are not only technically proficient in EFT, but also growing their relationship with self as it impacts both their therapeutic relationships with clients and in their personal lives.
This is the ongoing personal and professional growth we all must do to ethically offer EFT as a safe and sustainable transformation process.
Lynda Rees
RN Psychotherapist, CCFT, RMFT, MSc.
AAMFT Clinical Fellow & Approved Supervisor,
AAMET Accredited EFT Advanced Practitioner,
and AAMET Approved EFT Mentor
Beautifully written. I am so proud to know both of you and to have been part of your personal stories. I think this is a natural progression of your collaboration with each other and that you have something amazing to offer to other practitioners. Congratulations!