Behind the veil

Behind the veil

A clinical immersion into the withdrawer’s inner world.

 

Emotional withdrawal is one complex clinical challenges in Emotionally Focused Therapy. When a partner closes down, goes into silence, freezes, or repeats « I don’t know, » the therapeutic process can lose its momentum. These moments mark a critical threshold where the attachment system is intensely activated — often invisibly so.
For the therapist, working in this territory can stir clinical uncertainty and a sense of ineffectiveness, sometimes the fear of losing the thread of the session altogether. Withdrawal often disguises itself as disengagement or indifference, and that’s where many therapists get lost.
This 3-hour mini-workshop, drawn from the second part of Giulia Altera’s D.A.R.E. Trilogy, opens up the emotional landscape of withdrawn partners — what lives behind their silence, and what their « I don’t know » is actually saying when words go absent. With extensive clinical video material, participants will explore how to read the silent forms of withdrawal and stay close without pushing — anchored in themselves through the most invisible movements of attachment.
 
Learning goals:
  1. Recognize the  forms of  withdrawal in session.
  2. Understand withdrawal as active attachment activation, particularly when it presents as silence, « I don’t know, » freeze, or apparent indifference.
  3. Read the emotional landscape behind the withdrawer’s silence, attending to what the body and presence are communicating beyond words.
  4. Develop the clinical stance and pacing needed to stay close to a withdrawn partner without pushing.
  5. Remain anchored in the therapist’s self while navigating the threshold of attachment activation.

Methodology :

  • Theoretical presentation
  • Practical exercises
  • Case study (videos)

Pre-requisite : EFCT Externship

 

 

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Date: September 14th, 2026

Schedule: 6-9pm (CET Swiss Time)

Fee: 90 CHF.-

Early Bird (31.7.26): 80.-

EFT-SR Members: 75 CHF.-

 

Trainer

Giulia Altera

ICEEFT certified Therapist, Supervisor and Trainer

Giulia Altera is a clinical and forensic psychologist, psychotherapist, trainer, supervisor, and ICEEFT-certified therapist. She is also an ISST-certified Schema Therapist and has completed advanced training in trauma and dissociation (ISSTD) as well as Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP).

She is the co-founder of the EFT Italia community and the Emotionally Focused Academy (EFA), and serves as Director of EFT North Italy. She teaches Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) across Europe, Brazil, Iran, and North America.

She is the creator of the D.A.R.E. Trilogy, a three-part advanced EFT training series focused on therapeutic impasses related to reactivity, withdrawal, and pursuer softening.

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