The Marriage & Family Institute

Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) in Columbus, OH

Therapy to help you understand and transform your emotions so you can feel more in control of your inner world. In-person sessions in Columbus with online EFT therapy across Ohio.

Build Emotional Awareness & Resilience

Transform Past Pain Into Healing

Reconnect With Your True Self

It shouldn’t be so hard…

…to feel in control of your emotions instead of being flooded by them.
…to move forward without the past holding you back.
…to express how you really feel without shame or fear.
…to connect with others without feeling misunderstood or shut down.

When emotions feel too big or confusing, it can leave you stuck—replaying the past, avoiding the present, and feeling disconnected from your needs and relationships.

At The Marriage & Family Institute, we use Emotion-Focused Therapy in Columbus, OH, to help you explore and express what’s underneath the surface—so you can make sense of your feelings, heal old wounds, and start living with more clarity, connection, and compassion.
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Emotion-Focused Therapy In Columbus & Across Ohio

What Is Emotion-Focused Therapy And How Can It Help?

Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) is a research-backed, humanistic approach that centers on emotions as the key to personal healing and relational growth. Instead of suppressing or avoiding emotions, EFT guides you to explore them—gently, safely, and with support.

Through emotional awareness, expression, and transformation, EFT helps you identify stuck emotional patterns, heal unresolved pain, and cultivate more adaptive, empowering emotional responses. Whether you’re navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, or relationship struggles, EFT gives you the emotional insight and tools to move forward.

Emotion-Focused Therapy Can Help With:

Emotion-Focused Therapy in Columbus, OH, supports you in honoring your emotions—not as something to fix or avoid but as meaningful signals that guide your healing, growth, and connection.

Emotion-Focused Therapy in Columbus & Across Ohio

How Emotion-Focused Therapy Can Help

If you’re feeling emotionally stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure how to move forward, Emotion-Focused Therapy in Columbus, OH, offers a compassionate path toward healing and wholeness.

It’s hard to change what you don’t understand. EFT in Columbus, OH, helps you tune into your emotional experiences with greater clarity so you can recognize patterns, name your feelings, and understand where they’re coming from. This awareness is the first step toward healing.

Many of us were never taught how to express emotions in a healthy way. EFT creates a safe space to feel your feelings without judgment. As you learn to express emotions more authentically, you’ll feel less burdened and more at peace.

Old wounds—like childhood neglect, heartbreak, or past trauma—can stay buried in the body and mind. Emotional-Focused Therapy in Columbus, OH, guides you through those deeper layers with care and support, helping you process and transform those experiences into something meaningful and restorative.

When you understand your own emotions, you can better understand the emotions of others. EFT in Columbus, OH, helps improve communication, deepen emotional intimacy, and repair attachment wounds so you can build more secure, fulfilling connections.

When emotions go unprocessed, they can build into chronic stress or persistent sadness. By addressing the root emotional causes, EFT in Columbus, OH, can help you find relief, rebuild motivation, and create a more balanced inner life.

Grief can leave us feeling untethered and alone. EFT in Columbus, OH, gently helps you navigate the waves of loss by making space for sorrow, honoring your relationship with what’s been lost, and supporting emotional healing over time.

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Get started today!

Book an appointment or free consultation online or contact us directly.

Why Us

The Marriage & Family Institute

We understand that while we can't change the difficult situations of the past, we can work together to better understand and overcome the challenges you face today.

With decades of combined experience, we take an integrative, compassionate, and genuine approach to therapy, rooted in the philosophy that all parts of the human person need to be addressed to bring long-lasting and substantial change. We believe in a holistic therapy approach that considers all aspects of your experience — psychological, spiritual, and physical to help you heal from trauma, improve relationships, and live a fulfilling life.

At The Marriage & Family Institute, our mission is to strengthen individuals and families by promoting healthy relationships, building resilience, and fostering secure attachments. We provide evidence-based, compassionate, and comprehensive services to help couples, individuals, and families navigate life’s challenges and achieve a fulfilling life together.

Dr. Sarah Cordonnier, LPCC-S
Founder & Executive Director

Together, we support you in creating a life that feels meaningful and fulfilling.

Compassionate

We create a safe and respectful environment that allows space for deep healing and transformation.

Integrative

We address intergenerational trauma in addition to your psychological, spiritual, & physical well-being to foster lasting change.

Authentic

We believe in being genuine and transparent with ourselves, colleagues, and clients, to support personal & relational growth.

Meet Our Team

Match With An EMDR Therapist

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Our Approach

How Emotion-Focused Therapy Works

Together, we help you slow down and identify what you’re feeling. This foundational step helps make sense of your inner experiences and sets the stage for meaningful change.

We’ll gently guide you into the deeper layers of your emotional world. By learning how to express yourself openly and honestly, you’ll begin to release long-held pain and uncover your core needs.

With your therapist’s support, you’ll work through painful emotions and shift toward new, empowering experiences. The goal is not to eliminate feelings but to learn how to respond to them in ways that lead to growth and healing.

Healing isn’t linear, and we’ll adapt the process to meet you where you are. Whether your focus is trauma, relationships, or self-worth, EFT offers a flexible, personalized path forward.

Emotion-Focused Therapy in Columbus & Across Ohio

Common Questions About Emotion-Focused Therapy

Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) is an evidence-based approach that helps individuals identify, explore, and process their emotions in a healthy and meaningful way. Developed by Dr. Leslie Greenberg, EFT is rooted in the understanding that emotions are central to our behavior, relationships, and personal growth. Rather than avoiding or suppressing emotions, EFT in Columbus, OH, encourages clients to become more emotionally aware, express their feelings authentically, and transform painful emotional experiences into opportunities for healing and change. EFT is commonly used in both individual therapy and couples counseling, particularly to address emotional regulation difficulties, trauma, attachment wounds, and relationship issues.

Emotion-Focused Therapy supports emotional regulation by helping clients understand and work with their emotions instead of pushing them away. Through this process, individuals learn to identify their emotional triggers and better manage intense feelings like anger, sadness, or anxiety. EFT in Columbus, OH, provides a safe space to express emotions and revisit past experiences that may be influencing current reactions. By gently processing these emotions, clients develop a stronger emotional foundation, allowing them to respond to life’s challenges with greater calm, clarity, and confidence.

EFT is highly effective in addressing a wide range of emotional and psychological concerns, including:
Anxiety and stress: EFT in Columbus, OH, helps uncover the emotional roots of anxiety, providing a path to relief through emotional awareness and processing.

  • Depression: By working with underlying emotional patterns, EFT fosters healing and supports a more hopeful, connected emotional state.
  • Trauma and PTSD: EFT in Columbus, OH, offers a compassionate approach to processing painful memories and unresolved trauma, helping individuals reclaim a sense of safety and control.
  • Relationship issues: EFT is widely used in couples therapy to strengthen emotional bonds, improve communication, and address attachment insecurities.
  • Grief and loss: EFT supports individuals through the grieving process by making space for the full range of emotions and facilitating emotional release in a healthy, supportive way.

During an EFT session in Columbus, OH, your therapist will create a safe and supportive environment to help you explore your emotions more deeply. You’ll begin by discussing the challenges that brought you to therapy and how they’re affecting your emotional life. Your EFT therapist in Columbus, OH, will guide you to identify and express feelings—especially those that may have been hidden or suppressed. Through a process of reflection and emotional exploration, you’ll start to process unresolved pain and create new emotional experiences that foster healing. Sessions often involve a mix of gentle conversation, emotional insight, and guided emotional processing.

The timeline for seeing results with EFT varies based on each person’s unique needs, the nature of their concerns, and their level of engagement in the process. Some clients notice a shift within the first few EFT sessions in Columbus, OH, especially in their emotional awareness and ability to express themselves. For deeper issues, such as trauma, attachment wounds, or long-standing emotional patterns, meaningful change may take several months of consistent therapy. EFT is designed to bring about lasting emotional transformation, and while it takes time, the process often leads to profound, long-term healing.

Emotion-Focused Therapy In Columbus & Across Ohio

Positive Outcomes Of Emotion-Focused Therapy

Emotion-Focused Therapy in Columbus, OH, is a powerful path toward deep healing and emotional transformation. While the process takes time, reflection, and courage, many people begin to experience lasting shifts in how they relate to themselves and others, including:

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When we learn to listen to our emotions instead of running from them, we begin to heal.
- Unknown

The Marriage & Family Institute

How To Get Started

To get started with the Marriage & Family Institute, reach out to us! You can book a free consultation or appointment online using the button below. Note: Not all of our therapists are available for online booking. You can also get in touch via the contact form.

*Free 15-minute consultations

Call Us

614-664-7270

Email Us

admin@marriageandfamilyinstitute.net

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Emotion-Focused Therapy In Columbus & Across Ohio

The Marriage & Family Institute

Helping you connect with your emotions, heal from the inside out, and create lasting change.