REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
POLYVAGAL THEORY, SHAME AND EFT: INTEGRATING NEUROSCIENCE AND ATTACHMENT TO TRANSFORM COUPLES THERAPY
October 17 & 18, 2025
Preservation Park, 1233 Preservation Park Way, Oakland, CA 94612
Time: 9:00 am to 4:30 pm
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Presented by: Rebecca Jorgensen, PhD, Certified EFT Trainer and Supervisor
DESCRIPTION:
Learn how to read your clients’ nervous systems in real time and transform moments of shutdown or reactivity into safety, connection, and repair. In this 12-hour advanced EFT training, you’ll integrate shame processing into the EFT Tango, work effectively with high-conflict and trauma-impacted couples, and expand your somatic and co-regulation toolkit. Walk away with sharper clinical instincts, deeper compassion, and proven strategies to guide couples toward resilience, intimacy, and secure bonds.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Describe the autonomic hierarchy and the process of neuroception, explaining their role in shaping client perception of safety, danger, and emotional engagement in EFT.
2. Identify and analyze the components of an absorbing shame experience and examples of nervous system states, mixed states, and their behavioral indicators in shame activation.
3. Apply the identification of shame to self-of-therapist experiences to improve clinical responsiveness and therapeutic presence.
4. Explain how neuroception impacts shame expression, attachment behaviors, and the negative cycle, and describe the function of the vagal brake in regulating shame and anxiety.
5. Identify ventral vagal anchors and use shame assessment tools to enhance safety and engagement in emotionally charged interactions.
6. Integrate existential shame into tracking the couple’s negative cycle in Stage 1 and utilize EFT interventions to regulate secondary shame, helping partners move from defensive to co-regulated states.
7. Implement the moves of the EFT Tango with polyvagal-informed micro-interventions to shape corrective emotional experiences and deepen access to primary emotion.
8. Apply specific somatic techniques to help clients access and expand primary emotions in the presence of shame, and design strategies for improving vagal tone in self and clients.
9. Assess and implement interventions for high-conflict and trauma couples utilizing nervous system-informed and shame-focused EFT strategies, including the use of music, vocalization, and breathwork for regulation.
10. Demonstrate EFT process moves for working with shame in Stage 2 enactments and implement strategies to increase felt-sense safety in TM2, TM3, and TM4.
11. Integrate somatic and polyvagal techniques into EFT sessions to deepen emotion processing and create a shame resilience plan for individuals and couples.
12. Synthesize polyvagal theory and shame processing principles into EFT case conceptualization and treatment planning to accelerate healing and secure attachment outcomes.
PRESENTER:
Rebecca Jorgensen, PhD, EFT Trainer and Supervisor, teaches the science of love to clinicians around the world. She led EFT Externships, Core Skills and Hold Me Tight for Therapists in Northern California for more than ten years. She has taught and supervised EFT throughout the US, Canada and New Zealand as well as in Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Britain, the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Romania, Austria, Iran, Egypt, South Africa, Korea, Barbados, Mexico and Costa Rica. In add-on to her best-selling video courses, Emotionally Focused Therapy Step by Step and Emotionally Focused Therapy: A Complete Treatment, she has produced numerous webinars and online courses on effective therapy, relationship treatment, and secure, lasting love. She co-developed an attachment-based premarital program and experiential-based homework in the Building a Lasting Connection (TM) program. She continues to train therapists around the world and sees couples online in her St. George, Utah based office in an intensive therapy format; provides online EFT supervision and conducts live session consultation. She holds a faculty position at Alliant International University, and is a Founder and Co-director of the San Diego Center for EFT and the Training and Research Institute for EFT at Alliant.
AGENDA:
Day One:
9:00 am - Registration/check-in/mingling with refreshments
9:30 am - Training begins
1:00-2:00 pm - Lunch - provided
2:00 pm - Training resumes
4:30 pm - Training adjourns
Two 15-minute breaks will be offered with refreshments mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
Day Two:
9:00 am - Registration/check-in/mingling with refreshments
9:30 am - Training begins
1:00-2:00 pm - Lunch - provided
2:00 pm - Training resumes
4:30 pm - Training adjourns
Two 15-minute breaks will be offered with refreshments mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
COST:
Regular Fee is $499 for Licensed members and nonmembers, and $399 for pre-licensed and BIPOC/DEI members.
Continuing Education (CE) credit is available for an additional $40 on any ticket type.
CONTINUING EDUCATION:
Alliant International University Lifelong Learning & Professional Development program 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.
- the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) to provide continuing education for LPCCs, MFTs and LCSWs (provider #PCE234)
- NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 4469
There are no known conflicts of interest, and no commercial support, associated with this program.
AI was not used in the creation of this course.
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:
Only those who 1) attend this workshop in full, 2) purchase a CE certificate, and 3) complete the CE evaluation (via Google Forms sent by email) will receive a CE Certificate verifying CE credit. ALL attendees who fully attend will receive a free certificate of completion, valid for ICEEFT Certification, via email within two weeks after the training is completed. Please note that CE credit or a certificate of completion will only be granted to those who attend the entire workshop.
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.
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.
CODE OF CONDUCT:
By registering for this training, participants agree to abide by the NCCEFT Code of Conduct, which ensures a respectful, inclusive, and supportive environment for all attendees. Failure to adhere to this Code may result in removal from the event without refund.
REFUND AND ATTENDANCE POLICY:
In the event that a program presentation has an attendance fee, CANCELLATIONS are subject to a $50.00 processing fee and must be received 14 days prior to be eligible for a refund.
