This is my brief personal story. We became a blended family more than 20 years ago. As expected, the challenges of such family constellation began. Overtime, it became clear to us that no matter what books we read, what consequences we imposed, and what threats we made, our ways of parenting were not working.

So, as a couple, at different points in time in our children’s lives, we sought family therapy. As parents, we were aware that we had not been dealing well with the behavioral and emotional issues that arose overtime. The impact was noticeable and emotions such as anger and resentment had set in, impacting the family atmosphere as well as the relationship with one another.

Inspired to repair the parent-child relationship with our children and informed by my trainings in Emotionally Focused therapy for couples (EFT) and Emotion and Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT), we re-engaged in family therapy that focused primarily on emotions.

Specifically, we attended a workshop for parents called Emotion Focused Skills Training (EFST) for parents and families and this training became the key to the transformation of the relationship with our young and adult children.

Since then, I have trained in this approach, and I run EFST parenting workshops using the tools learned.