Emotion Focused Skills Training for Parents & Caregivers (EFST-P)

Join the Waitlist!

Join the Waitlist!

Join the Waitlist!

Two‑Day Workshop (in person) &  Eight‑Week Group (virtual)
We’re currently gathering interest to plan our next offerings. Signing up helps us choose days/times that suit you—no commitment, no fees. We’ll keep you informed as we lock in dates.

How is EFST provided at VAULT?

  • Two Day Workshop

    Typically, the two days will run from 9:00AM - 4:00PM(EDT) with scheduled breaks in between. This two day workshop can be offered both in person and virtually. This two day workshop will typically be run on weekends but these days can vary depending on a variety of factors including space and demand. Just like the eight week group this is both psycho-educational and experiential.

  • Eight Week Group

    We will be meeting as a smaller group on a weekly basis for 1.5 hours at a time for eight weeks. Depending on demand this may be offered in person or virtually. In order to ensure that we complete the intervention in its entirety each round of this weekly group will run eight weeks at a time. The days and times that this weekly group takes place will vary depending on need. Just like the two day workshop this is both psycho-educational and experiential.

What will joining EFST offer you?

Supporting Yourself While Supporting Your Teen: A Workshop for Parents

Parenting an adolescent who is struggling with their mental health can be overwhelming, isolating, and emotionally draining. Many parents want to help but are unsure how—or if—they can truly make a difference. This evidence-based intervention offers a new perspective and real tools for change.

Emotion-Focused Skills Training (EFST) is a structured, research-informed approach that empowers parents to play an active and meaningful role in their child’s recovery. Developed from the work of Dr. Joanne Dolhanty, EFST is grounded in the belief that families—and parents in particular—can be powerful agents of healing.

This workshop is designed specifically for parents who want to build their confidence and strengthen their connection with their child. Through EFST, you’ll learn how to navigate strong emotions (your child’s and your own), enhance your motivation to stay engaged, and transform family relationships with compassion and insight.

What makes this therapeutic intervention different is its dual focus: helping you better understand and support your child, while also helping you reflect on your own emotional patterns and responses. It’s not about blame or fixing—it’s about building awareness, learning practical skills, and discovering just how capable you are.

If you’ve ever felt helpless, uncertain, or sidelined in your child’s mental health journey, this workshop is here to support you—so you can feel more confident, connected, and effective in your parenting.

FAQs

  • The primary goal of EFST is to empower parents/caregivers to feel confident as active, primary agents in guiding their loved one of any age through the behavioural, emotional and relational challenges of everyday living. It is a research-based model that has been clinically tested in supporting parents and caregivers of individuals facing a wide variety of mental health issues including but not limited to eating disorders, substance use, depression, anxiety, life transitions, sibling conflict, emotional dysregulation and suicidality.

  • Navigate Emotions – Enhance Motivation – Transform Relationships

    Navigate the world of emotions and develop self-efficacy in working with emotion

    Enhance motivation-to-change with emotion focused techniques

    Transform relationships with emotion focused tasks

  • EFST is a skills-based approach focused in emotion processing. The Emotion-Focused Skills NET provides parents with a variety practical tools that can be immediately implemented within the family.  The use of these tools help parents to stop walking on eggshells, feel more confident supporting their loved ones through painful and overwhelming emotions and often lead to an increase in flexibility and openness to parent involvement. It is a model that believes in the healing power of parents and that empowered parents can then empower their loved ones in their own journey to wellness.