Effective Relationship Counseling
About Elisa
Hi! I am Elisa Horton, M.Ed., Ed.S., LMFT, LMHC, NCC , founder of Better Together Counseling located in Palm City, FL. I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT - Florida license MT2182), and Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC - Florida license MH8749), and a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC - #79676). I am a proud graduate of the University of Florida.
I've been studying Emotionally Focused Therapy, EFT (for couples counseling) and Emotionally Focused Family Therapy, EFFT, since 2014. EFT and EFFT were created from the brilliant work of Dr. Sue Johnson who is known as the best couples counselor in the world according to Dr. John Gottman who is one of the top relationship researchers in the world.
I believe in EFT wholeheartedly and have attended a Hold Me Tight couples enhancement workshop with my own husband/partner of over 20 years to get the personal experience of the model.
Emotionally Focused Therapy
What is Emotionally Focused Therapy?
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) was developed by Dr. Sue Johnson and has been researched extensively beginning in the 1980s. Empirical research has shown that EFT is clinically effective in moving 70-75% of couples from distress to recovery and 90% of couples experience significant improvements. This is compared to 23% efficacy for other modes of couples therapy.
*EFT is not for couples who are experiencing domestic violence or other forms of abuse, couples who are dealing with active addictions, couples in which there are active affairs, or couples in which there opposing agendas for therapy (e.g. where one partner is 100% certain they want to end the relationship and the other partner wants to work on the relationship).
Explore what therapy services that we are able to offer.
Building Lasting Connections
What is Building Lasting Connections?
Recently, I attended a Building Lasting Connections (BLC) Facilitator Training to become a Trained Facilitator. BLC is based off of Dr. Sue Johnson's research along with other gold standard modalities/strategies in marriage therapy research. This program is good for pre-marital couples all the way through couples that have been together for a lifetime. It meets the requirements for attendance at a pre-marital course under Florida statues, however you must check with your county to see if I would be considered an approved provider.
I can offer BLC to couples in private sessions (5 segments, 2 hours each) or through a 2 day workshop (recommended).
My Ideal Client
What Does an Ideal Client Look Like?
I truly appreciate working with clients who are motivated and committed to making a change as therapy is not an easy process and requires an active effort on the part of the client (think about it - if change were easy then therapy would likely not be sought). My ideal clients realize that time spent in the office with me is only one part of what makes change happen. Time spent outside of therapy implementing what you've learned in therapy, enhancing and expounding on what you learned in therapy, and engaging in self and relationship care are the other important components.
It's like exercising a muscle - if you only exercise once a week - your results will not be as good as if you exercised multiple times a week. Concerns bringing you into therapy likely didn't develop overnight. Ideal clients also know and understand that lasting changes can take effort, time, and repetition to become trusted natural ways of being.