Emotionally Focused Therapy · Los Angeles & Online California
Emotionally Focused Therapy in Los Angeles — sometimes emotions feel too big to carry alone
Maybe you’ve tried to hold it all together — staying strong for others, pushing through the overwhelm, trying to make sense of the same painful patterns. But somewhere inside, it feels like something is missing.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) offers a path forward that you can walk with confidence.
Whether you’re seeking support as an individual or as a couple, EFT helps you tune into your emotional world with gentleness, curiosity, and care. We don’t talk about fixing what’s “wrong.”
Instead, we help you to reconnect — to yourself, to your needs, and to the people you care about.
What Is Emotionally Focused Therapy?
About EFT
A humanistic, evidence-based approach rooted in attachment theory
EFT is a humanistic, evidence-based therapy rooted in attachment theory and the belief that emotions are central to how we make sense of our world. Developed by Dr. Sue Johnson in the 1980s, EFT began as a couples therapy model and has since expanded to support individuals and families as well.
The heart of EFT is about creating secure, nurturing emotional bonds. For individuals, that might mean healing old attachment wounds or learning how to respond differently to stress and disconnection. For couples, it means moving out of conflict cycles and toward a deeper, more secure connection.
Rather than analyzing and intellectualizing problems from the outside, EFT gently guides you into the heart of your emotional experience. From there, real, lasting change becomes possible.
Who EFT Helps
EFT for Individuals and Couples
At Grayslate, we offer Emotionally Focused Therapy for both individuals and couples — it’s the main modality we utilize because it’s so effective! While the process is always tailored to your specific needs, here are some ways EFT can support:
Individuals
- → Managing anxiety, overwhelm, or emotional shutdown
- → Healing from trauma or relational wounds
- → Navigating identity, belonging, or cultural pressures
- → Understanding emotional triggers and patterns
Couples
- → Breaking free from painful communication cycles
- → Rebuilding trust after betrayal or disconnection
- → Deepening emotional intimacy and safety
- → Navigating big life transitions together
You don’t have to choose between your healing and your relationships. EFT supports both.
Our Approach
A Trauma-Informed, Culturally Responsive Approach
No two people carry emotions the same way. Your cultural background, lived experience, and nervous system all shape how you respond to the world and how the world responds to you.
That’s why EFT in Los Angeles at Grayslate is offered through a trauma-informed and culturally attuned lens. We honor your pace, your voice, and your values. We understand that emotional safety means different things for different people, and we hold space for all of it.
Here, therapy is not just about intellectual insight or warm fuzzy feelings. It’s more about reclaiming your emotional truth in a way that feels safe and empowering.
Your Therapists
Meet Our EFT Therapists
At Grayslate, every clinician holds advanced training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). Our team centers emotional safety and identity-affirming support, especially for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and neurodiverse clients. Our office is based in Atwater Village, Los Angeles — serving clients in-person and online across California.
Grazel Garcia, LMFT
Founder & EFT supervisor-in-training. Bilingual Filipino-American, certified in EFT and trauma (Brainspotting). Therapy rooted in grief, identity, and relational healing across diverse relationship structures.
Dr. Tyler Howard, PsyD
Licensed psychologist and neuropsych testing director. EFT-informed psychotherapy for LGBTQIA+ and neurodiverse individuals and couples. Integrates psychodynamic, interpersonal, and CBT approaches.
Samantha Lam, AMFT
Trained in both EFIT and EFCT. Trauma-informed support with Brainspotting and Havening. Multicultural, neurodiverse-affirming lens — helping clients map emotional patterns and nurture new pathways.
Arami James, AMFT
Creativity and somatic mindfulness in EFT-informed work with individuals, couples, and families. First-gen Paraguayan-American. Supports reproductive/fertility transitions and queer neurodiverse populations.
Tiffany Cuevas, AMFT
EFT-trained therapist emphasizing attachment, emotional processing, and relational trauma. Latinx and theology-informed background. Supports healing across identity, grief, anxiety, and complex relationship dynamics.
Sarah Liang, AMFT, APCC
Neurodiverse and queer-affirming therapist specializing in EFCT. Relational, systems-informed approach tailoring evidence and attachment-based practices to each client’s unique needs.
Proud Members Of
Professional EFT Organizations
The Process
What Does EFT Look Like in Practice?
While every journey is unique, EFT often follows a gentle, structured flow:
- 01Understanding Your Emotional Map: We begin by exploring the patterns that keep showing up in your inner world or your relationships. This phase is about building safety and clarity.
- 02Exploring & Shifting Emotional Responses: With compassion and care, we help you tune into your deeper emotional needs and the ways they may have been shaped by past pain or unmet longing.
- 03Creating New Experiences of Connection: Whether with yourself or your partner, this stage helps you build more secure, responsive ways of relating.
Through this process, old emotional patterns start to soften. And something new begins to take root: emotional resilience, clarity, connection.
Why EFT
Why Choose EFT?
EFT is one of the most researched and effective therapies for emotional and relational healing. It offers:
- →A clear map for healing attachment wounds
- →Emotion regulation tools experienced in the present moment
- →A deep sense of emotional safety
- →Lasting changes, not just surface-level fixes
EFT doesn’t ask you to be someone you’re not. It invites you to be more fully who you are — and to feel safe doing so.
Is Emotionally Focused Therapy Right for You?
At this point you might be wondering if EFT is the right fit. There’s no checklist to complete, no emotional test to pass. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, shut down, too sensitive, or not enough, EFT is for you.
Therapy doesn’t have to be clinical or cold. It can be warm, attuned, and deeply human. That’s what EFT offers.
Book Your Consultation
You don’t have to walk through the hard parts of life alone
Whether you’re looking for individual support or hoping to heal and strengthen your relationship, we’re here to help. Book your consultation today and take the first step toward emotional clarity, healing, and connection.