Emotion Focused Skills Training for Youth (EFST-Y)

Helping Youth Find Their Voice, Understand Their Emotions, and Lead Their Own Change

FAQs to help you in your decision to join EFST-Y

What is EFST-Y?

Emotion Focused Skills Training for Youth (EFST-Y) is a powerful, humanistic therapy group for adolescents that helps them build emotional self-awareness, develop healthy relationships, and take charge of their healing and growth. It’s based on the work of Dr. Joanne Dolhanty, a leader in the field of Emotion Focused Therapy and the founder of EFST.

Unlike many traditional therapy models that focus only on managing behavior or building external skills, EFST-Y helps youth explore the emotional roots of their struggles. The goal isn’t just coping—it’s transformation.

Who is EFST-Y For?

This group is designed for youth ages 13–18 who may be:

  • Struggling with anxiety, depression, anger, or emotional overwhelm

  • Feeling disconnected or misunderstood

  • Experiencing school refusal, social withdrawal, or relationship issues

  • Dealing with trauma, family stress, or identity challenges

  • Tired of being labeled, pathologized, or told to “just calm down”

EFST-Y is especially helpful for youth who haven’t responded fully to other approaches like CBT or DBT, and who are ready to go deeper.

A New Way to Heal

EFST-Y isn’t about labeling problems. It’s about helping youth understand themselves—why they feel what they feel, and how to move forward in a way that aligns with who they truly are.

Instead of telling them what to do, we:

  • Join alongside them

  • Stay curious, even when things feel unclear or messy

  • Trust that with the right support, youth can access their own capacity for change

Our Core Beliefs

EFST-Y is built on core assumptions that shape every session:

  • All youth are capable of growth and change.

  • Emotions aren’t the problem—they are the path.

  • There is no such thing as an unmotivated youth.

  • Symptoms are not disorders—they’re signals of unmet emotional needs.

This model is not a top-down therapy. It’s a collaboration, where we work with youth to make sense of their emotional world—and empower them to shape their future.

Why EFST-Y?

Youth today are facing a mental health crisis. Many are told to “manage” their symptoms, but very few are given the tools—and the space—to truly understand why they feel the way they do. EFST-Y is different.

EFST-Y helps adolescents:

  • Understand the emotional patterns behind their distress

  • Build a stronger connection to themselves and others

  • Learn to recognize and work with their own "brain boss"—the internal critic or survival instinct that often gets in the way

  • Access their inner wisdom and regain a sense of control

  • Develop the confidence that they can feel better and manage life’s challenges

In EFST-Y, we believe: You are the answer.
That means we don’t see youth as broken or resistant—we see them as wise, capable, and already holding the key to their own healing.

What Happens in EFST-Y?

EFST-Y is a 6–8 week group program facilitated by therapists trained in EFST. It combines individual reflection, experiential techniques, and group-based emotional exploration.

Youth will learn how to:

  • Understand and name their emotions

  • Recognize the "vault"—the internal place where painful emotions are stored

  • Identify their "brain boss"—the internal survival voice that may push them to avoid, withdraw, or lash out

  • Transform emotions with emotions using tools like self-validation and emotion expression

  • Build emotional boundaries that foster safety and connection

All of this happens in a space that is non-judgmental, collaborative, and empowering.

Parent/Caregiver Involvement Optional

EFST-Y can also be paired with EFST for Parents (EFST-P) to help caregivers better understand their child’s emotional world and how their own history and responses impact the healing process.

EFST-Y recognizes the bidirectional nature of mental health in families: when youth grow, caregivers grow too—and vice versa.

“The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.”

- Alden Nowlan

How can EFST-A help you?

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Treatment Goals

Dream it.

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Make It
 

Build it.

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Make It

  • Brain Boss

  • Competing Motivation

  • The Vault

  • The Tangle

Contact us.

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.