About Elisa

Getting to know Elisa Joy Seibert, Ph.D., M.Div. ...

Licensed Psychologist, Counselor Educator
ICEEFT Certified EFT Supervisor and Therapist (EFCT, EFIT)

I have trained therapists since 1996 and love coming alongside folks just like you to help you stretch and grow. I am also passionate about the EFT model, so it is the perfect fit to pair the two. EFT has transformed my world and I’d love to help you discover its power too!

I provide a warm, safe stance for supervision, believing that we all learn best when we feel safe and supported, since it is hard to take risks if we don’t feel completely safe. So, first and foremost, I would work to help you feel safety so you can grow in the ways you desire to reach your goals. I am also a purist when it comes to EFT, so I offer my commitment to support you in diving into the heart of this lovely attachment-based model in a clear, focused, and congruent manner. As an ICEEFT Certified EFT Supervisor, I provide EFT supervision toward certification and all hours we invest in meeting together which include video review will count toward certification. And I can support you towards certification in EFCT (EFT for couples) and EFIT (EFT for individuals).

In case it helps to know a bit about me professionally, I first began learning EFT in 2012 and did my EFT Externship and Core Skills in 2014 at the Washington-Baltimore Center for EFT under the rich teaching of Dr. Kathryn Rheem. I have since taken about as many courses as she has taught, along with those of other fine ICEEFT trainers. Topics include:

  • Using EFT to Work Interpersonally in the Healing of Trauma (Kathryn Rheem) (12 hours)

  • Addiction and Attachment in EFT (Jim Thomas) (12 hours)

  • Emotionally Focused Family Therapy: Restoring Family Bonds & Promoting Resilience (Level 1) (George Faller & Gail Palmer) (12 hours)

  • Stage Two Change Events (Kathryn Rheem & Marlene Best) (12 hours)

  • Broken Bonds - Healing the Wounds of Infidelity [incl. Attachment Injury Repair] (Ling Tiu) (7 hours)

  • EFT Café with a Focus on Trauma (Kathryn Rheem, Jen Olden, Leanne Campbell) (6 hours)

  • EFT Café: Teaching the Experiencing Scale (Kathryn Rheem & Jen Olden) (4.5 hours)

  • EFT Café: Stage One (Kathryn Rheem & Jen Olden) (4.5 hours)

  • EFT Café: Behind the Mirror (end of Stage Two) (Kathryn Rheem & Jen Olden) (6 hours)

  • EFT Community Builder Workshop (Sharon Chatkupt Lee, Kristina Jackson, & Rachel Thomas) (9 hours)

  • Tango x EFT Steps and Stages (Kathryn DeBruin & Robin Scott) (1 hour)

  • EFIT for Supervisors/Supervisors-in-Training (Sue Johnson, Lorrie Brubacher, Marlene Best, Rachel Thomas, Lisa Palmer-Olsen, Leanne Campbell) (6 hours)

  • EFT Supervisor Consortium - monthly trainings for EFT Supervisors/Supervisors-in-Training (1 hour each month since November 2020 through the present)

  • Moving Through the Tango with Racial and Cultural Attunement (Sharon Chatkupt Lee & James Hawkins) (6 hours)

  • EFT Supervision Course (George Faller, Marlene Best, & Lisa Palmer-Olsen) (6 hours)

  • Utilizing EFT with Asian-American Couples (Kathryn de Bruin & Ji-Hye Jean) (1 hour)

  • Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy and Trauma (Leanne Campbell) (12 hours)

  • EFT Level Up Group (for Supervisors and Supervisors-in-Training) (James McCracken & Rachel Thomas) (1 1/2 hours monthly from August 2020 to July 2021)

  • Attachment and EFT in African Contexts (Ronald Asiimwe, Peter Muhwati, & Elmien Lesch) (1 1/2 hours)

  • Working with Trauma in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFCT) (Leanne Campbell) (12 hours)

  • Teaching the EFT Tango (for EFT Supervisors) (Jamie Bachman & Sarah Ackerman) (6 hours)

  • Fighting for Connection: EFT with Interpersonal Partner Violence (Lieven Migerode & Jef Slootmaeckers) (13 hours)

  • Perspectives on Emotionally Focused Therapy in Middle Eastern Cultures (panel of speakers; hosted by Kathryn de Bruin) (2 1/2 hours)

  • Sex as a Safe Adventure: Connecting Sexually and Emotionally Through EFT (Zoya Simakhodskaya & Michael Moran) (13 hours)

  • Embodied EFT Supervision: Strategies for Equity, Clarity, and Transformation (Sharon Chatkupt Lee) (10 hours)

  • EFT Supervision Course Reboot (Lisa Palmer-Olsen, George Faller, James Hawkins, Jim Furrow, Marlene Best, Feion Villodas, James McCracken, Jay M. Seiff-Haron, Nalini Calamur, Nancy Brittain, Rachel Thomas, Suzanne Barron, Ali Barbosa, Lorrie Brubacher, Helene Igwebuike, Ting Liu, Dmitrij Samoilow, Zoya Simakhodskaya) (6 hours)

  • Working with ADHD-Impacted Relationships Through the Emotionally Focused Therapy Lens (Alexine Thompson-de Benoit & Ben Kneubuhler) (8 hours)

  • Transforming Shattered Bonds with EFT’s Attachment Injury Resolution Model (AIRM) (Lorrie Brubacher) (12 hours)

  • Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) - Level 1 (Elana Katz and Paul Guillory) (12 hours)

  • Queering EFT - LGBTQ+ folx and Emotionally Focused Therapy (Sandra Taylor & Robert Allan) (8 hours)

  • Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) - Level 2 (Ali Barbosa and Lorrie Brubacher) (14 hours)

  • Safer Together: Working with Trauma and Dissociation in EFT Couples Therapy (Jamie Bachman) (6 hours)

  • Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) - Level 2 (Gail Palmer and Jim Furrow) (12 hours)

I share these topics in an effort of transparency (something important in EFT!) so you know what you can expect of me, the kinds of topics we could work on together, and the EFT training I have beyond Externship and Core Skills.

Besides being a certified EFT therapist (licensed psychologist) with a primarily couples-only practice (and a few Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) clients), I love teaching and providing supervision, have trained therapists for over 25 years at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and did my doctoral dissertation on assessing counseling skill knowledge. This stuff is in my bones and I love it! :> I am also an EFT community builder with the lovely Central PA EFT Community and I have been thrilled to invest my heart and soul since 2019 in partnering together with many local therapists to grow this beautiful community. Personally, I have been married for over 30 years (with three kids) and experientially understand the journey of connection and attachment over time.

In terms of my cultural background, I am multicultural at heart, having grown up among people from all over the world. I have also lived in China and Kenya and have been transformed in connection with my siblings from around the world. I additionally feel comfortable with spirituality and name that to let you know that if faith is important to you and you would like that integrated in our journey, I will respectfully make space for that part of you. And if it is not a big part of your world, no worries, I will follow your lead on that.

I am also a cisgender, heterosexual, white woman who has made it a point in my life to come with an open, curious heart to step into the felt-experiences of and learn from people from a wide range of life realities. I welcome supervisees from all walks of life and orientations, and provide safe, inclusive space to bring your whole self in all of your many-splendored facets.

In journeying with you, I will be delighted to be curious with you about your own cultural, etc., background and how those parts of you play into who you are as an EFT therapist journeying with clients who bring their own unique experiences, identities, and perspectives.

If you are interested in exploring supervision with me and would like to get a sense of me, see the video samples below. I provide supervision remotely through Zoom Pro.

Jill Fischer, L.C.S.W., an EFT therapist, supervisor, and former trainer, has described me this way:

 
“Elisa Seibert is a skilled EFT clinician with a solid understanding of the model. Her warmth and sensitivity create a safe environment in which to explore, stumble, and be vulnerable, so key to the EFT learning process. I highly recommend Elisa as an EFT supervisor—you will be in excellent hands!”
 

You can find additional testimonials from folks who have experienced my EFT on the home page. If these fit with what you are wanting for your EFT journey, let me know! I’d love to have the honor of walking alongside you!

Warmly,

Elisa (she/her)

If you are wanting to get a sense of me as a person and supervisor, feel free to view the two videos below. More are available on the Learn EFT page as well (mid-way down, in the Videos section).

 
 

Fun Facts:

  • To renew, I love to grab a camera and walk outside in nature! There is something exhilarating about trying to capture the beauty of the great outdoors. (Some of the photography on this site is mine! :>)

  • My family and I have raised Monarch butterflies every year for the past decade. I love these beautiful creatures, their courage, how hard they work to survive, and their delicate nature. It is a joy to hold one (carefully!) and photograph its early hours of discovery outside its chrysalis.

  • Walking with friends is my favorite way to exercise! I get three needs met at the same time: support/connection with trusted friends (leaning in!), exercise, and time in nature!

  • I love hiking outdoors with my very best friend, my wonderful husband of 30+ years, who has experientially taught me what secure attachment is all about.

  • Hiking in tall mountains amidst wildflowers and snow pack is my favorite!

  • I find it life-giving to walk for hours in the early morning along the sandy beaches of Lake Erie at Presque Isle State Park, hunting for beach-glass and listening to the soothing sound of the waves.

  • If I can’t manage to do the above activities, I like to sew, play piano, and spend time with family playing games and reading books aloud together.

 

Remembering Dr. Sue Johnson …

Dr. Elisa Joy Seibert with Dr. Jim Coan and Dr. Sue Johnson at the Creating Connections Conference in Washington, D.C., 2016.

I am posting this on 4/24/24. Today we in the global EFT Community learned of Sue Johnson’s death yesterday after a 3 year battle with cancer. She was a pioneer and a visionary who transformed not only the world of couples therapy but also the lives of so many of us who have walked into her Emotionally Focused Therapy.  It is hard to fathom a world where she is not with us actively, and she also taught us that attachment lives beyond the grave.  She additionally ingeniously created webs of connection in the EFT world so the model will live on long after her.  We EFTers (through supervisor communities and local and global EFT Communities) are part of that beautiful web and tapestry.  I, for one, just wish we would have had her with us a bit longer. :<  She will be sorely missed.