About Us

The Beginning of Louisiana EFT Community

Our Louisiana EFT Community was born after the flood waters from Hurricane Katrina receded. In an attempt to help provide evidence-based therapy services to her beloved. devastated New Orleans and surrounding Louisiana communities, Parker Sternbergh, LCSW, working with Tulane University's Porter Cason Institute, connected in with EFT Trainer George Faller from New York to schedule an EFT introductory training in 2012. Because of George's experience with community trauma after 9-11, he was the perfect EFT Trainer for our traumatized Louisiana community.

In 2013, EFT trainer George Faller, LMFT and EFT supervisors Karen Giunta, LMFT, and Dr. Jodi Ames-Frankel, along with now EFT trainers Ryan Rana and Kenny Sanderfer, led the first Louisiana EFT Externship hosted by Tulane University. The original training group consisted of local therapists from New Orleans and Baton Rouge, along with a wonderful group of therapists from Arkansas.

Since 2013, Tulane University and LA EFT Community have held yearly EFT trainings, including Externship, Core Skills, and Master Classes. We have many therapists who have pursued EFT certification as therapists and/or supervisors. Louisiana's first ICEEFT EFT Certified Therapist was Dr. Dee Adams.

From 2013 to 2015, EFT continued to grow in Louisiana, and we eventually created a Steering Committee of dedicated practitioners that generously gave of their time and finances to spread EFT across the state. The original founding members of the LA EFT Community were Parker Sternberg, LCSW, Tanya Radecker, PhD, LPC-S, NCC, RN, Steve Bordelon, LCSW, Michele Louviere, LMFT, Dee Adams, PhD, LPC, LMFT, Carol Peirce, LPC, Patt Aptaker, PhD, and Lew Eaton, LPC.

In 2015, Dr. Tanya Radecker became the first ICEEFT EFT Certified Supervisor allowing us to transition to an official ICEEFT Affiliated EFT Community. In 2015, the LA EFT Community pursued a non-profit status and developed a Board of Directors. We are grateful to Dr. Tanya Radecker, Dr. Patt Aptaker, Hellen Cappo, and Steve Bordelon for their service on the LA EFT Board, as well as Advisory Board Members, Michele Louviere, Debra Wray, Michael Cascio, and Anna Gray Baker. As of 2022, the current LA EFT Community Board Members are Michele Louviere, Anne Hays, and Giselle Armantrout.

Over the years, the LA EFT Community has developed multiple peer groups that meet both in person and on-line. We have a strong training facilitation team that sacrificially serves to help others learn EFT. In 2020, our EFT trainings had to transition to an on-line platform. We have a resilient community that was able to survive and thrive during this challenging season. In 2021, our LA EFT Community Board adopted ICEEFT's stance on diversity. In March 2023, at our first live training since 2019, EFT and Sex Master Class, our community hosted a social that celebrated our 10 year anniversary! In October 2023, our LA EFT Community will host its first live Externship since 2019.

In 2023, we have added a partnership with the Alabama EFT Community. This sister community is led by Alefyah Taqui, LCSW, who has been a prominent leader in our LA EFT Community. For more information about the Alabama EFT Community, please go to www.alabamaeft.com.

Our LA EFT Community continues to closely partner with Parker Sternberg and Tulane University's Porter Cason Institute. Words could not express our gratitude to Parker, Dr. Sue Johnson for her creation of EFT, and our beloved EFT Trainer, George Faller! They, along with an amazing group of therapists have created a special EFT Community that has trained and equipped hundreds of therapists in our state and beyond!

LA EFT Community Mission Statement

The Louisiana EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) Community exists to:

Support one another as EFT practitioners in the on-going learning and refinement of EFT skills, and
Reach the Louisiana mental health community through ongoing EFT learning opportunities about this evidence-based approach that helps heal and repair relationships.
Provide support for clinicians who assist individuals, couples and families in healthier, healing relationships.

We support ICEEFT's Stance on Diversity

We aim to cultivate a climate of inclusion, an environment where all can feel safe, valued, cared for, and given an opportunity to form meaningful connections with each other. In all facets of our work we strive to embody what we hope to see in the world — a just, loving humanity and community in which people are free to be themselves fully — where people can embrace their most basic universal human attachment needs without fear of persecution or marginalization as a result of religion, race, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, class, mental health, physical character or ability. These values are inherent in the attachment science and humanistic approach to intervention that all our work is based on.

Specifically, humanistic approaches such as EFT are collaborative and respectful. We create a safe place for people and treat them as persons, not problems or types. Our approach is non-pathologizing in practice.

Our values are inclusive and egalitarian while viewing human connection as sacred — something to be honoured and cultivated.

Our scientific and theoretical base outlines key universals, emotion and attachment, while respecting individual differences.