Frequently Asked Questions

Peer Consultation - What’s the Point? 

Learning the EFT model takes time. It takes attending trainings, and most find that it takes a community in which you can discuss the model in light of your own lived experiences with actual cases. This is where the Peer Group shines. Most of us rely on brief informal peer consultation if we are lucky to have a professional network. Some of us in agency settings may have case management team meetings. To the extent that we can budget it, we meet with EFT supervisors, but none of these may allow enough time, refection, or focused attention to meet our needs when it comes to the personal and clinical journeys in EFT.

What Makes it Work?

A truly inspiring article on this topic by Miu, Joseph, Hakim et al (2022)*, identified key factors in creating a successful Peer Consultation Group:

Key Clinical Considerations

• See peer consultation as an enriching necessity rather than a luxury or burden.
• Accommodate busy schedules with transition time before next meeting.
• Choose an egalitarian, small, closed, peer consultation group with shared goals of forming acommunity of trust and support.
• Reinforce mutual self-care and compassion in the peer consultation group.

Miu, A.S., Joseph, A., Hakim, E. et al. Peer Consultation: An Enriching Necessity Rather Than a Luxury for Psychologists During and Beyond the Pandemic. J Health Serv Psychol 48, 13–19 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42843-021-00052-3

Link: https://rdcu.be/eEa5v

How Do I Fit It Into My Life?

We honor that you may have to move professional or personal obligations to make a time work to meet with a Peer Consultation Group. We have found that this is an investment in your practice that is well worth this level of commitment. With this in mind we offer near term groups and groups that will form up in a few months. Knowing a group will be starting in a few months from now can give you the time you need to negotiate with clients or family to make this Peer Consultation Group a part of your life.

How Many to Make it Work?

We have found that a minimum of 4 people can make a Peer Group work, if the commitment is high among all members. From time-to-time just three may be able to meet, but that still feels like a group. With more than four people in a meeting the check-in time and clinical discussion time combined becomes unwieldy. We group people by similar levels of expertise.

What’s the Deal With 1.5 Hours? And Every-Other Week?

These groups are successful when they are built on the ethic of mutual support and avoid one-upping clinical evaluations. With one and a half hours, four people can accomplish the 15 min or so of personal check-in and description of their clinical need for discussion in that day’s group. These first 15 min builds social capital and creates the necessary ‘safe space’ for folks to discuss the truly challenging elements of their work in EFT. It also helps the group hold the entirety of the work they want to accomplish in their meeting. The rest of the time is spent on discussing cases, and watching tape. Mastering EFT is easiest when we have the time to watch our tapes with EFT friends who can see what we’re doing right, help us to acknowledge our capacities and encourage us to try something new or different to address a challenge. One and a half hours are ideal to build connection, show tape, discuss tape and discuss new interventions. It’s a rich and focused span of time. To learn a language, a sport or an instrument, anything that’s at its basic level is a neurological challenge, we need frequency to actually get good at it. The same is true of EFT in all its forms. This is why we recommend an every-other-week schedule with your Peer Consultation Group. When it comes to certification, this is especially true. It’s tough to feel you can get anything out of a group that meets just once a month, for all the effort you put in to scheduling and setting the time aside, it just won’t deliver the way a more frequent meeting will.

What Can I Expect Next?

If you indicate an interest in a particular Peer Group we will let you know the names and emailsof your fellow group members and give you all an invitation to an orientation session to set you up for a successful group experience. Edith Bross Johns, of the EFT-MA community is dedicated to orienting new Peer Consultation Groups. She runs the initial orientation session and shares the Key Factors for Success as gleaned from the research and personal experience.

What About the Worst Case Scenario?

If your group isn’t viable for any reason, just re-submit your name for one of the next groups forming.