Emotionally focused therapy / EFT-A20-5
Readiness and Safety First — Review journal
Review an attempt at readiness and safety first and choose what to keep, change, or leave aside.
10 minutes · Journal prompts · Adults; supported use as appropriate
Fictional example: A fictional person worries that an honest answer could lead to punishment at home.
Use an ordinary or fictional example, with a clinician when appropriate. Joint vulnerability work depends on safety and voluntary participation.
Before looking back
Choose one ordinary attempt or decide to review the fictional example instead. This journal has no scores, required disclosure, or expectation of progress.
Revisit the practice
Privately discuss with a clinician whether fear, coercion, violence, or retaliation makes joint exercises unsuitable; do not share this worksheet with an unsafe partner.
Notice context and impact
Record what actually happened, including an unhelpful or neutral outcome. Note resources, power differences, accessibility, and changed conditions rather than attributing everything to personal effort.
Choose a revision
What assessment or individual support is needed before any joint work? Keep the approach, change one part, ask for support, or set it aside. A mismatch is useful information.
Prompts for this resource
- What I tried, or what happened in the fictional example:
- What I noticed before, during, and after; what remains uncertain:
- What helped, did not help, or was outside my control:
- What assessment or individual support is needed before any joint work? My optional adjustment or support request:
Conceptual background
What is EFT? — International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy
Background on the approach only. Original exercises and wording are by More Than Therapy with AI assistance; the source does not validate or endorse these materials.