In Person Quarterly Event
Working with Couples from Mixed Cultural Backgrounds:
Collectivist / Individualist
Presented by:
Jyoti Nadhani, LMFT & Trent Wright MFT JD
When: March 21, 2026
Time: 10am to 1pm
Where: The Calvin Room at First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, 2407 Dana Street, Berkeley, CA 94704
SUBJECT:
When cultural and racial differences enter the therapy room, attachment distress can intensify in ways that require more than standard EFT interventions. This workshop teaches clinicians how to track attachment cycles in multiracial and multicultural couples without relying on stereotypes or cultural generalizations. You will learn to identify how external stressors - racism, language barriers, family systems - activate core fears of invisibility and unsafety. The session will include adapted EFT interventions that honor both universal attachment needs and the couple's cultural context as well. Through case examples and practical guidance you'll develop skills to slow down meaning-making, validate survival wisdom, and help couples build a "third culture" of secure connection. Cultural humility meets clinical precision.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
-
Describe two key attachment patterns commonly seen in multiracial and multicultural couples when using Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), including how cultural contexts shape emotional expression and protest behaviors.
-
Identify at least three cultural factors (e.g., language, family systems, support structures) that influence attachment cycles and articulate how to address them in an EFT session.
-
Demonstrate two to three clinical skills for intervening in Stage One of EFT when attachment distress is elevated due to cultural or racial stressors, including naming impact and facilitating repair with cultural humility.
PRESENTERS:
Jyoti Nadhani, LMFT, is a psychotherapist and certified Emotionally Focused Therapy practitioner with extensive clinical experience working with multiracial and multicultural couples. She brings a deep relational and contemplative approach to therapy, integrating attachment theory with contextual awareness of race, culture, and family systems. Jyoti is particularly interested in how therapists can hold cultural differences with humility while tracking core attachment patterns in the therapy room. As a clinician and teacher, she emphasizes meaning-making, emotional presence, and repair in cross-cultural relational work, helping couples build secure bonds across differences.
Trent Wright, JD, LMFT brings over three decades of professional experience working with families and couples navigating complex relational challenges across legal, therapeutic, and mediation settings. His work is informed by a longstanding engagement with high-conflict relational dynamics, including marital distress, divorce, custody, intergenerational strain, and cross-cultural misunderstandings. Across the arc of his career, Trent has been deeply committed to developing greater cultural sensitivity, awareness, and clinical effectiveness through ongoing supervision, advanced training, and sustained clinical experience with diverse individuals, couples, and family systems. He approaches multicultural couple work with humility and curiosity, emphasizing reflective practice, attunement to context, and the careful integration of relational patterns with cultural meaning. His clinical orientation prioritizes respect, emotional safety, and thoughtful dialogue across differences.
AGENDA:
10:00 – 10:30: Snacks and Socializing
10:30 – 10:50: Announcements
10:50 – 11:50: Program
11:50 – 12:00: Break (not included in CE credits)
12:00 – 1:00: Program Resumes
1:00: Program Adjourns
TARGET AUDIENCE:
This training is appropriate for mental health practitioners who work with couples using Emotionally Focused Therapy. Level is moderate and experienced in EFT.
COST:
This training is free to members, while non-members pay $10. Two Continuing Education (CE) credits are available to both members and non-members for a charge of $45. A link to register and pay $45 for CE's will be emailed to all registrants at a later date prior to the training.
CONTINUING EDUCATION:
-
Alliant International University is approved by the American Psychological Association to Sponsor Continuing Education for psychologists.
-
Alliant International University Maintains Sole Responsibility For This Program and Its Content.
-
Provider Approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider #CEP17538, For 2 Contact Hours.
-
Approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No.4469
-
Those seeking CE Credit under the BRN must retain this certificate for a minimum of 4 years.
-
There are no known conflicts of interest, and no commercial support, associated with this program.
We are not authorized to speak on behalf of any licensing boards. If you have questions, check your licensing board’s website for their approved CE providers (for example, to see if they accept APA- or NBCC-approved CE providers). If you are still not sure, feel free to send what you have found on your licensing board’s website to help@trieft.org and they can help further clarify.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Those who attend this workshop in full, and complete the course evaluation will receive a certificate of completion via email within one week following the workshop. Please note that credit will only be granted to those who attend the entire workshop. Those arriving more than 15 minutes after the start time or leaving before the workshop is completed will not receive CE credit.
ACCOMMODATIONS:
NCCEFT meets all applicable local, state and federal standards, including the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42, U.S.C. 12101-12213 (2008)). We hold events only at professional venues that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42, U.S.C. 12101-12213 (2008)
ADA NEEDS: We will be happy to accommodate your ADA needs; please contact us at NCCEFTinfo@gmail.com at least two weeks prior to the seminar date.
PARKING:
For those with limited mobility, the underground church parking garage has disabled person parking spaces and an elevator up to the main floor. The entrance to the underground church parking garage is located on the south side of Channing Way between Telegraph Ave and Dana St. The cost is $1 per 20 minutes with a $10 maximum. A second option is across the street from the church on the north side of Channing Way at the Telegraph-Channing Garage. The cost is free for the first hour and $2 per hour after that.
NCCEFT PROGRAM GRIEVANCE AND REFUND POLICY:
The Northern California Community for Emotionally Focused Therapy (NCCEFT) is fully committed to conducting all activities in strict conformance with the American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles of Psychologists. NCCEFT will comply with all legal and ethical responsibilities to be non-discriminatory in promotional activities, program content and in the treatment of program participants. The monitoring and assessment of compliance with these standards will be the responsibility of the CPA PAS CE Program Director in consultation with the Board of Directors (Steering Committee).
While NCCEFT works to assure fair treatment for all participants and attempts to anticipate problems, there will be occasional issues which will require intervention and/or action on the part of NCCEFT. This procedural description serves as a guideline for handling such complaints.
When a participant, either orally or in written format, files a grievance and expects action on the complaint, the following actions will be taken:
1. If the complaint concerns a speaker, the content presented by the speaker, or the style of presentation, the individual filing the complaint will be asked to put his/her comments in written format. The CE Program Director will then pass on the comments to the speaker, assuring the confidentiality of the aggrieved individual.
2. If the complaint concerns a workshop offering, its content, level of presentation, or the facilities in which the workshop was offered, the CE Program Director will mediate and will be the final arbitrator. If the participant requests action during a workshop or conference, the CE Program Director or his/her representative will:
a. attempt to rectify the situation, and/or
b. provide a credit for a subsequent presentation, in the event of a program having an attendance fee or
c. provide a partial or full refund of the registration fee, in the event of a program having an attendance fee.
Actions 2b and 2c will require a written note, documenting the grievance, for record keeping purposes. The note need not be signed by the aggrieved individual.
3. If the grievance concerns the business practices of the NCCEFT CE program in a specific regard, the CE Program Director or Administrator will attempt to arbitrate.
REFUND AND ATTENDANCE POLICY:
In the event that a program presentation has an attendance fee, CANCELLATIONS should be made 48 hours prior to the event.
