Dr. Rebecca Jorgensen – Trainer of Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT): Episode 66

Show Notes

Dr. Rebecca Jorgensen is a therapist and founder of several therapy and training businesses. From her home in Baja, California, Rebecca sees clients for intensive several-day sessions and teaches online courses and supervises other therapists utilizing the EFT method (Emotionally Focused Therapy). In this interview, Rebecca talks about how she has grown her practice and online business, and she offers insights to new therapists.

Interview Highlights

[4:21]  Rebecca says she was a natural listener when she was young. She had a friend who was in an abusive marriage. To help this friend Rebecca started reading up on domestic violence. She decided she needed more education to properly help people, so she went back to school to study psychology. Rebecca was a non-traditional undergrad (married with children) and switched from social science to psychology.

[6:30]  Working with domestic violence victims while in college led Rebecca to work with children.

[6:58]  Rebecca’s first real job was as a school counselor in elementary schools. Unfortunately, the children had to return to their abusive homes, and Rebecca felt like she was spinning her wheels. She opened her own private practice, and was able to contract with local schools to continue working with children.

[9:33]  Rebecca started working with the parents of children she counseled, which is how she became a couples’ therapist. She discovered EFT work, which she studied and started to apply in her work with couples. She trained in EFT with Sue Johnson and went back to school to complete a Ph.D. in psychology. Rebecca says she was on a mission to help children and families from then on.

[11:14]  Rebecca sees 12-15 clients a week. She also conducts group supervision sessions and therapist consultations as well as teaches courses in EFT for therapists online. She sees clients at her home in Mexico. Couples fly in from around the world to see her.

[17:15]  Rebecca does some training for the public. A lot of therapists come to her public workshops for their own relationships. Rebecca has observed that therapists often seem to marry people who are more withdraw math and science-oriented people.

[21:08]  Rebecca hired a virtual assistant to help her create a workable schedule. It took this assistant a year and a half to set up an ideal schedule for Rebecca.

[24:46]  Rebecca says hiring a virtual assistant can seem intimidating at first because you have to train the assistant, but it pays dividends fast in terms of freeing up time.

[28:11]  Rebecca moved from Idaho to San Diego to open a training institute in EFT. She quit her job and dropped her private practice in Idaho and restarted in San Diego. She used business cards, CDs with articles, and brochures to promote her new practice. She gave these materials to doctors, pastors, attorneys, and others in contact with distressed couples. Some of these professionals referred clients to Rebecca and stayed in contact with her.

[33:05]  Rebecca’s advice to new therapists is to have a mentor. Don’t try to do things alone, get help when you need it. Continue to be in community with other therapists.

[34:28]  Rebecca offers a free booklet, “The 5 mistakes therapists make with couples.” Text 33444 to “blooming” to get this download (available in the USA only)

Bio – Psychologist, Dr. Rebecca Jorgensen

Get Dr. Jorgenson’s free gift, 5 Mistakes Therapists Make With Couples and What To Do Instead. If in the USA you can text BLOOMING to 33444. Otherwise .you can get it here: http://www.rebeccajorgensen.com/blooming/

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