Gail Palmer

Gail Palmer is a recognized leader and contributor to the practice of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for families. Over the past 35 years, she has worked closely with Dr. Susan Johnson, creator of Emotionally Focused Therapy. Gail is an ICEEFT certified therapist, supervisor and trainer and educates mental health professionals in EFT worldwide. She holds a Masters degree in Social Work and is a Registered Marriage and Family Therapist in Canada. Gail is Co-Director of the International Center of Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy and one of the Founding Members of the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute. She is the Director of Education for ICEEFT, chair of the ICEEFT certification team and is responsible for mentoring and training EFT trainers across the world. Gail has taught in several universities as a sessional lecturer, including Carleton University, and St. Paul’s University in Ottawa, Sir Wilfid University, Waterloo and Oxford University, Oxford, England. Gail has a particular interest in applying the EFT model with work with families. For over twenty years, Gail has been one of the lead EFT trainers who have developed and expanded on Sue Johnson’s EFFT method and is co-author of the seminal 2018 text, Emotionally Focused Family Therapy: Restoring Connection and Promoting Resilience and Becoming an Emotionally Focused Therapist: The Workbook. Gail has presented on Emotionally Focused Family Therapy internationally, has published several chapters and articles on EFFT and has been involved as a supervisor in EFFT research. Professionally, Gail’s primary passion is to help therapists who are both new to EFT and trained in EFT, to bring the powerful interventions and skills of this model to the family therapy room.