The International Society of Emotion Focused Therapy (isEFT) was founded in 2015, as an organization for the national training institutes on Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT). Emotion Focused Therapy is an empirically supported psychotherapy approach that views emotions as centrally important in human functioning and therapeutic change. An emotion-focused approach promotes emotional awareness, expression, regulation, understanding and transformation of emotion and promotion of empathy as a path to health and well-being in individuals and couples. With deep roots in humanistic values and theory, EFT is dedicated to the scientific study of the process of human change in therapy. The evidence base is founded on 40 years of process and outcome research on the treatment of emotional suffering for people who struggle in their lives and relations. EFT was initially developed by Dr. Leslie Greenberg, in collaboration with Dr. Robert Elliott and Dr. Laura Rice (for individual therapy) and Dr. Sue Johnson (for couples’ therapy).  

isEFT’s mission 

The main goal for isEFT is to create a community for practitioners and scholars who work with emotion-focused therapy. Over the years, isEFT has taken on a community mission of providing public education on the importance of emotional awareness, with a purpose to promote mental health and wellbeing. In line with this mission, members of isEFT have produced several educational films and texts on emotions for the general public. The initiative for Emotion Awareness Day is taking this mission a step further. Emotion Awareness Day is not about promoting a particular approach to therapy, but about promoting awareness about the importance of emotions in our lives. This initiative is supported by all of isEFT’s 37 academic EFT-institutes, from 26 different countries worldwide.  

Please feel free to utilize the variety of resources on this website. We will be grateful if you have further contributions to developing and marking Emotion Awareness Day. We welcome all people – lay or professional – parents, teachers, politicians, decision makers, clinicians, psychotherapy researchers and scholars alike, to celebrate all emotions. We hope to provide support and discussion to stimulate the sharing of knowledge about what emotions are, how they work, what happens when they stop giving us important information and how to get them back on track.  We welcome your curiosity, experience, energy and wisdom.