EFT Conference

 As an undergrad student, just starting to pursue psychology, I was lent this book by a professor because I had heard about Emotion Focus Therapy(EFT) in a class and wanted to know more.  This was back in 2004.  I read this book and I have to tell you, it changed my perspective on therapy.  I remember thinking, you know this therapy stuff can be pretty incredible.  It was the first time I had really connected to a theory that I felt could be extremely effective.  This helped me to solidify my interest and subsequent graduation in Psychology.  Leslie Greenberg was the pioneering Psychologist that developed EFT, so he kind of became a bit of an idol for me.  I even considered applying to York University in Canada for my graduate degree so I could study under him. (Of course foreign schools have ridiculous tuition prices for foreign students, so that was a no go ;)

Anyway, I found out about a month ago that for BYU's 2012 Counseling Workshop they had invited Dr. Greengerg to come down and present on EFT, and I can't even tell you how excited I was!  It's kind of a known fact that Dr. Greenberg is so busy that he rarely presents so I knew this would be a special opportunity.  I signed up and I was able to attend the conference that was held on Thursday and Friday of this week.  Like the nerdy geek that I am I arrived early so I could sit right up front.  I was like 5 feet away from Dr. Greenberg the whole time and I was totally star struck, he's such a cool guy!  Here's his bio/info BYU published about him if you're interested.  (One of the interesting things about Dr. Greenberg is that he started as an engineer.  He graduated in engineering and worked as one for a while but didn't find satisfaction in it so he went back to school to become a psychologist.)

He was adorable.  Really down to earth, humble and incredibly intelligent(the South African accent didn't hurt).  I was enthralled for 8 hours the first day and 4 hours the next.  Reviewing EFT was awesome and I learned a lot.  When I first studied EFT it was cutting edge and in psychology sometimes word travels slow... it was interesting to find out that for many at the conference this was their first exposure to it.  It felt a little funny to be with seasoned therapists and know more about it than they did.  Another fun thing about the conference was how many people I knew there.

All in all it was a great conference, kind of a dream come true to see Dr. Greenberg in person, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.