Who we are

The Western Australian Institute of Emotion-Focused Therapy (waiEFT) aims to help facilitate the growth of Emotion-focused approaches to therapy in Western Australia. We provide a source of training in Emotion-Focused Therapy to clinicians, as well a providing a locus for a developing local community of experiential clinicians.

The waiEFT was established by Dr Jason Sharbanee in 2019, and is affiliated with the International Society for Emotion-Focused Therapy (isEFT). The trainings provided by the institute contribute to international certification as an EFT therapist by isEFT.

In addition, we are actively involved in research into the process and outcome of EFT, and collaborate with international researchers.

Dr Jason Sharbanee is the local trainer at the Western Australian Institute of Emotion-Focused Therapy. He is internationally accredited as a trainer by the International Society for Emotion Focused Therapy (isEFT). He is also a lecturer who teaches psychotherapy to postgraduate trainees, and conducts research into the process of change during psychotherapy. Jason also maintains a private practice a Clear Health Psychology.

Jason has been personally trained and supervised in EFT periodically over 10 years by the primary developer of the approach, Prof Leslie Greenberg. He began training in EFT in 2010, and subsequently moved to Toronto for 2 years to work and train with Prof Greenberg and Prof Jeanne Watson. This training included postdoctoral research investigating process of change in core insecurity, and a clinical internship at the Emotion Focused Therapy clinic at York University in Toronto under the clinical supervision of Prof Greenberg.

Since returning to Western Australia he has continued to get frequent clinical supervision in EFT for both individuals and couples from Prof Greenberg, and to conduct research on Emotion-Focused Therapy in collaboration with international colleagues.

His published research includes a chapter in the recent Clinical Handbook of Emotion-Focused Therapy.

Dr Jason Sharbanee, isEFT Certified Trainer and lecturer

Prof Leslie Greenberg is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Psychology at York University in Toronto, Ontario. He is the Director of the York University Psychotherapy Research Clinic. He is one of the primary developers of an Emotion-focused Therapy, and a co-founder of the International Society for Emotion-Focused Psychotherapy (isEFT).

He has co-authored the major texts on emotion focused approaches to treatment. These include Emotion in Psychotherapy (1986), Emotionally-Focused Therapy for Couples (1988), Facilitating Emotional Change (1993), Emotion-focused therapy: Coaching clients to work through emotions (2002) and Emotion-focused therapy of Depression (2006). Most recently he has published  Emotion-focused couples therapy: The dynamics of emotion, love and power. Emotion-focused therapy: Theory and practice (2010), Working with Narrative in Emotion-focused Therapy: Changing Stories, Healing Lives (2011), and Emotion-Focused Therapy for Generalised Anxiety (2017).

Prof Greenberg is a founding member of the Society of the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) and a past President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR) from which he received a Distinguished Research Career Award in 2004. His work has also been acknowledged with the Carl Rogers Award of the American Psychology Association, the Canadian Council of Professional Psychology Program Award for Excellence in Professional Training and the Canadian Psychological Association Professional Award for distinguished contributions to Psychology as a profession. In 2012 he was awarded the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Professional Contribution to Applied Research. His institutes are highly praised and are renowned for their atmosphere of authenticity and warmth.

Prof Leslie Greenberg,
Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Psychology at York University - Toronto, Canada

Prof Jeanne Watson is one of the primary developers of Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT).  She is a co-founder of the International Society for Emotion-Focused Psychotherapy (isEFT), along with Prof Leslie Greenberg, Dr Rhonda Goldman and Dr Robert Elliott. Currently, Prof Watson teaches Clinical and Counselling Psychology in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, at the Ontario Institute of Education at the University of Toronto, Canada. 

As a major exponent of humanistic-experiential psychotherapy, Prof Watson has made important contributions to the development of Emotion-Focused Psychotherapy through her contributions to theory, research and practice. She has co-authored and co-edited a total of 8 books and over 70 articles and chapters on the theory and practice of Emotion-Focused Psychotherapy, with special emphasis on the role of the therapeutic relationship conditions, the alliance, therapist empathy, emotional expression, depression and generalised anxiety disorder. Her most recent book is entitled Emotion-Focused Psychotherapy for GAD (2017) co-authored with Prof Leslie Greenberg. 

Prof Watson received the Outstanding Early Career Achievement Award from the International Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR) in 2002 in recognition of her contributions to research and was a member of the SPR executive committee from 2012 -2016 serving as President of the Society from 2014-2015. She is a Fellow of the American Psychology Association.

Prof Watson teaches workshops in EFT in Europe and North America and has been nominated by her students for supervision and teaching awards. Her workshops are consistently met with high praise, particularly for her warm and engaging style of teaching.

Prof Jeanne Watson,
Clinical and Counselling Psychology teacher at the Ontario Institute of Education - University of Toronto, Canada

certified trainer

Prof Rhonda Goldman

Prof Rhonda Goldman, PhD, is a Full Professor in the Clinical Psychology Department at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She has co-authored six texts on Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT). The most recent volume is Deliberate Practice in Emotion-focused therapy (March 2021). She has also published the Clinical Handbook of Emotion-Focused Therapy (2019), Case Formulation in Emotion-focused therapy: Co-constructing Clinical Maps for Change (2015). Other books include Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy: The Dynamics of Emotion, Love, and Power (2008), Case Studies in Emotion-Focused Treatment of Depression (2007) and Learning Emotion-focused Therapy (2004). Prof Goldman has also published two professional videos, published by the American Psychological Association, on Emotion-Focused Therapy, one focused on case formulation and the other on EFT with couples. Prof Goldman conducts research on EFT for couples, emotional processes, empathy, vulnerability, depression, case formulation, and self-soothing. She teaches graduate courses in Humanistic and Experiential Psychotherapy, Psychotherapy Seminars, and Emotion-Focused Therapy.

Prof Goldman is a founding board member of the International Society of Emotion-focused Therapy. She is an action editor for the journal Person-centered and Experiential Psychotherapies. She is the past-president of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration. She runs Emotion-Focused Therapy, Chicago, a private practice where she sees both couples and individuals. She travels internationally conducting training workshops for mental health professionals in Emotion-Focused Therapy for Couples and Individuals.

Prof Rhonda Goldman (PhD), Full Professor in the Clinical Psychology Department at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology