Hello All,

I've been poking around this forum to see what advice I might find for some of the questions I have for myself as someone just embarking on the EFT Practitioner journey. I would love to hear any insights you've gleaned, especially after reading Gill's post on the need for mentorship.

I have a few major mental blocks in my way that I feel could limit my effectiveness as a practitioner and keep me grounded before I even take off. Since I'm not working as a practitioner exclusively yet I want to get them out of the way so I have a clear(er) path to the kind of practice I want. Specifically I would like to focus on clients with childhood traumas and PTSD, as well as personality disorders such as Borderline as they are so tied up with childhood trauma. I have personally overcome that past myself so I feel a keen desire to help others trapped in that hell and offer them a less painful shortcut out than the years and years of therapy I went through. So, here they are:

1) Since I'm not even eligible to take the EFT Cert-I exam yet, I have nothing to wave under my clients' noses to demonstrate my qualifications. I've gone through the Foundational DVDs many times and have a decent understanding of how to apply the concepts, but feel I can't say much more to the public than "Trust me; I've done this before and I've watched the DVDs". I live in a college town so everyone I've talked to so far assumes I have some sort of academic background underpinning the use of EFT and gives me the skeptical eyebrow raise when I say I don't, and one isn't required to be an EFT Practitioner. I do have a bachelor's, but not in psychology or anything remotely related. I feel so awkward saying that the training comes from DVDs; even though I know how quality they are, I have a hard time conveying that when promoting myself.

2) I've only worked with two clients so far, one of which was my mother, and I really foundered at opening the session. Both sessions went very well luckily, but I really felt like I was faking it till I made it! My opening statements were the hardest because I had a tough time speaking intelligently about EFT and why it was legit and would work. I knew what I wanted to say but had a hard time getting the ball rolling. A big fear here is that my clients will ask me a technical question of some sort that I won't be able to answer, and my credibility will be damaged and they will discount the method because I'm not knowledgeable enough. I'm educating myself with every spare moment but my ads will be starting in a month and I expect a client load to come in and feel an urgency to be ready.

3) I'm really struggling with the "who am I to think I can help people? I don't have a degree, nothing; what the heck do I know?" The thing is, I've come through an incredible journey personally so I know I have benefits to being a practitioner that I couldn't learn in a more traditional program. But the cultural stigma of needing a traditional education to be taken seriously is really tripping me up. 

In reading my list, the most common theme I see here is not feeling able to communicate what EFT is, why it's effective, and why my skills are adequate even though I'm far from done with my training. Did any of you struggle with that? How do you deal with the expectant silence on the other end of the line while the client waits for you to wow them with your skills and abilities? Any and all thoughts you have to share are extremely welcomed!

Carla

Hi Carla,

welcome to EFT! Good for you that you have discovered your passion and want to move forward so powerfully!

We all have been where you are: Enthusiastic, passionate, enough insights but just beginning to gain experience.

Here are just some thoughts, and I know that others will have many more ideas:

First of all: Don't rush! You ahve all  the time in the world! Work only with what and who you are comfortable with. This is gently flowing work andyo will develop your own art quickly. Don't put pressure on your self. You don't have to heal the planet in one day - even though - why not??? *smile*

As long as you don't  claim what you are not, nobody will feel threatened by you. So if you say that you have been introduced to a fascinating new technique which seems to balance the human energy field in relation to negative emotions, and that it  is actually very simple to get rid of unwanted feelings or responses to the past, you are not claiming that you are certified or  even have an academic level of  background. You just state it as it is and you will receive interest and curiosity.

Then you can work with more people, continue your own work, have fun with it all, feel the gratitude build up within yourself for all the new doors that are opening, et  voila: you're  on your way :-)

You might have a hard time speaking about it intelligently because you dont have enough background in this field. So don't even try. It is very appropriate to say: There are currently hundreds of  thousants of practitioners worldwide who are applying this technique worldwide. It is still not completely understood why it works, but they see sonsistent, positive results with very minimal, if any negative side effects. There are teams of researchers at several universities and organizations who are doing studies right now to understand the process more.

Just go with what you know, get comfortable, allow yourself the time to learn and grow and you will find a way to incorporate this into your life in a way that works for you.

Everybody can help others, with or  without a degree. The difference between a healer and a  person who is not a healer is, in my belief, not the general ability, but how much we enjoy, have fun with, feel passionate about what we are doing.

Hope this gives you some encouragement!

Blessings

Ingrid

...oh, and I forgot:

see if you can find a high quality workshop in your area, or a good teleclass or tele class series. You gain enormous experience watching other practitioners and trainers do and explain EFT, see and experience it first hand and share with others.

The DVDs are, in my belief, a must, but the life exposure is also essential.

Keep going!

Ingrid

Carla,

I am in a similar situation to yours, and was suffering with self doubt and feelings of inadequacy, but was also determined to start work on building an EFT practice. 

Someone on the forums tipped me off to Jan Luther's website at http://www.janluther.com/ .  She has a special section called Start your EFT Practice, and when you sign up for her newsletter, you get her ebook, Clearing Your Top 10 Fears to Starting an EFT/Couching Practice.  The ebook is great, and really helped me to begin dealing with my negative feelings. 

I have a marquee screensaver, and scrolling across my screen is a quote from Jan's book -- "If you are feeling a tug to do EFT...do what is yours to do and believe that solutions to the earthly/physical things will take care of themselves."

Good luck with getting your practice up and going.

Everone has to start from somewhere. Instead of starting with the "deep stuff", why not offer an EFT gathering for students on limits to achieving goals (good grades) or stress reduction. You may do the first few pro bono or by donation. In the meantime find someone to receive EFT sessions from or echange sessions with. To start right off the bat with heavy subjects such as childhood traumas & PTSD. Whew, even w/experience personally in these areas I would tread carefully & slowly. Make sure you are coming from a place of resolve and resolution. You might investigate a referral network of therapists to refer to. This can be invaluable. This doesn't mean you can't work w/difficult cases but you do it in conjunction with a qualified therapist.

Keep tapping

  I wasn't planning to work in trauma/PTSD right away. That's just an eventual goal. And working with students is something I'm planning to offer as the new semester is starting soon and I know what a world of difference it would've made for me when I was a student! I'm working on the networking with therapists as well. I know a few I'm going to ask; I've already broached the subject casually with one and I'm finding that this one at least is a bit bemused at the idea of EFT. But there are certainly others to ask, and I will.

Pat, thanks for suggesting Jan's website. I've actually read her ebook already and done a lot of the tapping exercises and found them very helpful. I think this process of starting the practice is such a profoundly life changing experience, there's no wonder it dredges up a lot to work on oneself. How is your practice going? Do you have any advice aside from what you've already shared? How long have you been in business? Congratulations too!

I really appreciate everyone's feedback. I see a wealth of opportunities before me to work with people at a level I feel comfortably able to handle, and just need to let them unfold and relax. I'm realizing that I don't have to be an EFT Master my first day of practice to be helpful to my clients, and I do believe I am attracting the clients who are needing the help I'm able to provide at the time. I also realized that with the people I've worked with so far, even if I'm not the most skilled EFT practitioner out there yet, just the help I was able to give made such a difference to them. 

In reading over my initial post and my setup phrases, I see that my confidence issues really have nothing to do with any hard facts about the situation. Growing up, it was my mom, my older sister, and me. My sister was the "pretty" one and I was the "smart" one, but neither my mom nor my sister liked that I was smarter than them. They were very threatened by it and I was made fun of constantly. In fits of rage my mother would say things like "whoever told you you were a genius lied to you", then later gush to her friends how well I did in school or whatever.

It was assumed and expected that I would be a doctor or some such academically rigorous professional. I haven't pursued my education passed a bachelors, mostly because my passion doesn't lie anywhere near a traditional career. In starting an EFT practice, I'm hitting up against my family's glass ceiling and I think that's where the confidence issues are coming from. My mother is now a very supportive figure in my life, but she still has her own confidence issues and is very worried that I won't be able to support myself. I hear a lot of internal messages like "who are you to think YOU can do that? Why do you think you can succeed at something as stupid as that?" Not that my mom says that now, that's just the sort of thing I heard growing up. 

I'm changing everything about my life, and the EFT practice is just a part of that. I left a three year, abusive, unhealthy relationship, as well as my soul-crushing state job and am living my life from a standpoint of what makes me happy and fulfills my desire to live a vibrant life. I feel like the character Truman from "The Truman Show" must've felt when he crashed his sailboat into what looked like the sky but was really just a man-made TV set. What had appeared to him his whole life to be unattainable (who can touch the sky?) was really just an artificial barrier that he could walk through at will. Nothing held him back from what was beyond that false barrier other than his own ignorance and fear. 

I've been tapping on all of this, and see that I am competent to start this practice, and will only get better as I develop my skills and understanding of EFT. Thank you all for your input!

Hi Carla,

The very BEST healer I ever heard of didnt have any degrees - in fact he didnt go to college.  He didnt have any certificates or 50 clients to showcase.  

In fact, rumour has it he was born in a stable.

With Love

Philip.

Carla,

It's great to have your enthusiastic energy here.  Welcome to the world of EFT practioners.

In addition to the DVD's, I found a couple of things invaluable:

1. The newsletter - both current and back copies.  Altogether there are thousands of stories with excellent tips.  I have integrated many helpful tiips from these stories into my EFT coaching practice.
2. These forums are a fantastic resource.  I'd encourage you to start posting.  A good place to start as a new practioner is when someone brand new to EFT asks a question.  You have something to offer them and the best way to learn something is to teach someone else.  The nice thing about the forums is that your feedback becomes part of a collective of people's thoughts.  And, by reading how a number of practioners approach the same issue, you start to understand how different people practice. 
   
3. Working with an experienced EFT practioner on my own issues.  

Take care,

Paul