EFT Therapist in Portland, Maine
Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples and individuals seeking deeper connection, emotional safety, and lasting change.
What Is EFT and Why Does It Work?
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a research-backed, attachment-based approach that helps individuals and couples identify the deeper emotional needs and fears beneath patterns of conflict, disconnection, or emotional shutdown.
Rather than focusing only on communication skills or surface behavior, EFT helps you:
Recognize the emotional patterns that keep you stuck
Understand what’s really happening beneath arguments or distance
Express vulnerability instead of reacting defensively
Create new ways of relating built on safety, responsiveness, and trust
EFT is highly effective for couples, but it’s also a powerful tool for individuals struggling with anxiety, relational trauma, and self-worth.
Is EFT Therapy right for you and your relationship?
EFT Couples Therapy May Help When:
You feel distant or emotionally disconnected from your partner
You’re stuck in the same cycle of conflict, criticism, or withdrawal
One or both of you feel unseen, unimportant, or alone in the relationship
Trust has been shaken by betrayal, secrecy, or repeated hurt
You want to rebuild closeness and feel like a team again
EFT for Individuals Can Support:
Anxiety or emotional overwhelm rooted in past relationships
Fear of rejection, abandonment, or being “too much”
Difficulty expressing needs or setting boundaries
Patterns of people-pleasing or emotional shutdown
Healing attachment wounds or relational trauma
Compassionate, Emotionally Attuned Care Grounded in EFT
My approach is warm, collaborative, and deeply respectful of your emotional experience. I have advanced training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (externship and core skills, certification in process) and integrate this work with attachment theory and Internal Family Systems when helpful.
Clients often describe sessions as calm, grounding, and non-judgmental. Rather than offering quick fixes, we focus on understanding the patterns that developed for a reason , and helping you create lasting change.
This work is about slowing down, making sense of your reactions, and helping you respond from a more secure place.
What to Expect in an EFT Therapy Session
In early sessions, we explore your current challenges and the emotional patterns that keep repeating.
For couples, we identify the negative cycle you’re caught in, and how both partners get pulled into it, often without meaning to.
For individuals, we look at how past relational experiences shaped your current emotional responses and coping strategies.
As therapy progresses, we slow down reactions, access the vulnerable feelings underneath them, and practice new ways of connecting, both with yourself and with others.
You will not be blamed, labeled, or pathologized. EFT is about creating safety, not shame.
Client experiences with EFT Therapy
“We finally stopped having the same argument over and over.”
“For the first time in years, I feel like my partner really hears me.”
“Cara helped me understand why I shut down in relationships and how to show up differently.”
EFT Therapy FAQs
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Many couples therapies focus primarily on communication skills, problem-solving, or negotiating differences. While those tools can be helpful, they often don’t address the deeper emotional patterns that drive conflict.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) looks underneath arguments to understand what each partner is really feeling and needing — often fears of rejection, disconnection, or not mattering. Instead of just helping you talk differently, EFT helps you experience each other differently.
When the emotional bond feels safer, communication tends to improve naturally. Couples often find they stop having the same fight over and over because the underlying cycle has shifted.
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Yes. EFT is specifically designed for pursue-withdraw patterns, where one partner reaches for connection while the other pulls away. Withdrawal is usually not a lack of caring — it’s often a protective response to feeling overwhelmed, criticized, or unsure how to respond.
EFT helps create enough safety that the more withdrawn partner can stay engaged without feeling pressured or exposed. At the same time, it helps the pursuing partner express needs in a way that feels less attacking and more vulnerable.
Many couples are surprised to see the quieter or more avoidant partner gradually become more open and responsive as the process unfolds.
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I offer both in-person sessions in Portland, Maine and secure online therapy throughout Maine. Many couples and individuals find telehealth to be just as effective as meeting in person, with the added convenience of not having to travel.
Some clients even feel more comfortable opening up from their own home environment. All online sessions are conducted through a confidential, HIPAA-compliant platform.
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EFT is widely known for couples therapy, but it can be very powerful for individuals as well. Individual EFT work focuses on understanding your emotional patterns, attachment history, and how past experiences shape the way you relate to others today.
Many people seek EFT individually when they are struggling with anxiety in relationships, fear of abandonment, difficulty trusting, or patterns of people-pleasing or emotional shutdown.
Doing this work on your own can lead to meaningful changes in current and future relationships, even if your partner is not in therapy.
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Every relationship and individual is different, but many couples begin to notice meaningful shifts within the first few months. Early changes often include feeling less reactive, understanding each other’s triggers more clearly, and experiencing moments of connection where there used to be conflict.
Deeper trust repair or long-standing patterns may take longer. EFT is designed for lasting change rather than quick fixes, so the pace is collaborative and tailored to your goals and circumstances.
Even when challenges remain, couples often report that conflicts feel less threatening and easier to navigate as therapy progresses.
Training & Credentials
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in Maine
Advanced training in EFT (certification in process)
Internal Family Systems Level One trained
Trauma-informed, attachment-based approach
Secure, HIPAA-compliant therapy for in-person and telehealth sessions
EFT Therapy in Portland and Across Maine
In-person: Downtown Portland, Maine
Online (secure video): Available throughout Maine, including South Portland, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Freeport, Augusta, Bangor, and rural communities
Begin Your Journey Toward Emotional Safety and Connection
Whether you want to reconnect with your partner or better understand your own emotional patterns, EFT offers a path toward real and lasting change.
If you’re ready to take the next step, I’d be honored to talk with you.