Frightened and angry as she undergoes invasive and painful cancer treatment, Jeannetta has felt increasingly disconnected from her husband Chris, who fears losing her and whom she knows is suffering silently alongside her. He on the other hand, lost his own father to alcoholism and cancer, was often taunted by his siblings, and learned early on to suppress his feelings, and later in life to numb them by drinking. Chris just wants to be the strong “papa” and role model of strength for his wife and children.

In this mutual “fight of their lives,” the couple opens up to Dr. Woolley in hopes of safely and reconnecting with each other, so that in Jeannetta’s words, they can “be afraid together.” From this front row seat to Dr. Woolley’s masterful work with this couple, you will learn how to address your own clients’ complex emotional needs by focusing on their unique narratives and experiences in order to help them develop comfort, safety, trust and (re)connection with each other. Additionally, you will see how to address diversity in clinical conversations with clients whose racial backgrounds differ from yours.

Dr. Woolley grounds his approach in Sue Johnson’s Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and its proven-effective “5 Tango Moves,” so as an added benefit, you will learn to adapt this experiential, systemic, and client centered technique into your own couples work.

Move 1—Reflecting the Present Process: Dr. Woolley shifts from conversation and client narration to direct efforts to have Chris and Jeannetta open up and share their feelings with each other, particularly Chris, who walls off his emotions.

Move 2—Affect Assembly and Deepening: Dr. Woolley supports Chris in accessing and expressing his more vulnerable attachment-related feelings, particularly his fears around loss.

Move 3—Using Enactment to Choreograph Encounter: Rather than asking Chris to share his emotions, Dr. Woolley asks him to reveal his fear of directly sharing his emotions with Jeannetta.

Move 4—Processing the Encounter: Dr. Woolley asks Jeannetta to respond directly to Chris about the impact of his emotional sharing on her.

Move 5—Summarizing, Integrating and Validating: Finally, Dr. Woolley highlights and validates the couple’s courageous efforts to share their most vulnerable feelings with each other and to strengthen their bonds of attachment.

Regardless of your level of training or experience in EFT, this video will provide you with an effective attachment-based and experiential framework for guiding couples through difficult sessions regardless of your own therapeutic approach.


After watching this video, you will be able to:

• describe how attachment theory informs Dr. Woolley’s integrative therapeutic approach with couples
• discuss how an emotionally focused approach to couples counseling is particularly well-suited for working with complex relational issues such as loss
• prepare a couples therapy treatment plan that incorporates EFT’s 5 Tango moves