EFT & Addiction: An Attachment-Based Approach to Working with Addiction in Couples Therapy

Addiction affects far more than individual behavior—it disrupts attachment, erodes trust, compromises emotional safety, and reshapes the negative interaction cycle within intimate relationships. This two-day advanced training equips clinicians with an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) framework for understanding and treating addiction in the context of couples therapy.

Participants will explore addiction through an attachment lens, learning how substance use, compulsive behaviors, shame, and emotional dysregulation influence relationship dynamics. The training will examine how addiction becomes embedded within the couple’s cycle and how EFT interventions can be adapted to address both relational distress and recovery.

Through lecture, case examples, demonstrations, and clinical discussion, participants will learn strategies for tailoring Stage 1 and Stage 2 EFT interventions, working with sexual compulsivity within an attachment framework, and navigating common clinical impasses encountered when treating couples impacted by addiction. Clinicians will leave with practical tools for integrating addiction treatment into the EFT model while promoting emotional safety, secure attachment, and lasting relational change.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

  1. Explain addiction from an attachment-based perspective and describe its impact on couple relationships.
  2. Conceptualize addiction within the Emotionally Focused Therapy negative interaction cycle.
  3. Identify the roles of shame, denial, and emotional dysregulation in maintaining addictive and relational patterns.
  4. Adapt Stage 1 EFT interventions to promote safety, de-escalation, and stabilization when addiction is present.
  5. Apply Stage 2 EFT interventions to facilitate corrective emotional experiences and strengthen secure attachment.
  6. Integrate assessment and treatment strategies for sexual compulsivity within the EFT framework.
  7. Recognize common clinical barriers encountered when working with addiction in couples therapy and implement evidence-based strategies for addressing therapeutic impasses.
  8. Develop treatment plans that integrate attachment theory, EFT principles, and addiction recovery to support long-term relational healing.

Date: October 23–24, 2026
Audience: Licensed Mental Health Professionals and Graduate Students
Presenter: Michael Barnett, LPCC, Certified EFT Trainer
Hosted by: Awakenings Center for Couples and Sex Therapy
Co-Hosted by: Mathews Counseling
CE Credit: 12 NBCC Clock Hours

In-person in Raleigh, NC at:

ST. Paul’s Christian Church
3331 Blue Ridge Rd
Raleigh, NC 27612

If you need accommodations or have questions, please message info@Mathewscounseling.net or call 919.587.8018.
Mathews Counseling Employees and Contractors get $200 off the cost of attending using code “Adam” at checkout. 

Presented by Michael Barnett, LPCC, EFT Trainer

Michael Barnett, MA, Ed.S., LPC, LPCC, is a licensed psychotherapist in both California and Georgia with more than 30 years of clinical experience. He is an ICEEFT-certified supervisor and trainer in International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy’s model of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). He founded the Atlanta Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy in 2008, leading it for over 15 years, and currently serves as co-director of the EFT Center of Los Angeles.

Barnett specializes in the integration of attachment science, Emotionally Focused Therapy, trauma, and addiction treatment. He conducted a three-year research project adapting EFT for inpatient addiction treatment and has developed training resources and clinical protocols that apply attachment-based principles to addiction recovery.

He is the author of the book The Emotionally Focused Therapy Workbook for Addiction (New Harbinger Publications, 2024), which presents an attachment- and EFT-based approach to healing addiction. The book includes a foreword by Sue Johnson.

In addition to maintaining a psychotherapy practice with couples and families, Barnett teaches EFT internationally, providing externships, Core Skills trainings, certification supervision, and presentations for therapists. His work emphasizes creating secure attachment bonds, fostering inclusion, and helping clients heal longstanding emotional wounds through relationship.

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