The Pre-Conference 6-8 July 2026
at the TH Köln , Ubierring 48, 50678 Köln
At the Pre-Conference, we run ourselves warm. Participants can expect a good and inspiring time. There are two rooms parallel: one Workshop room and one room for the Encounter.
We like to introduce you the two Workshop lecturers:
Pre-Conference Workshop lecturer WS1; 6-7 July
William R. Miller, Ph.D.
USA
Workshop 1: Motivational Interviewing in a Changing World: An Experiential Workshop,
Short description
Introductory experiential workshop for practitioners on the person-centered clinical method of motivational interviewing for evoking and strengthening clients’ own motivations for change and growth.
Description
This 5-hour workshop for helping professionals will offer an experiential introduction to the clinical method of motivational interviewing (MI) that grew from the work of Carl Rogers. MI is a particular person-centered way of talking with people about change and growth in order to strengthen their own motivation and commitment. The component skills of MI closely mirror the characteristics of more effective psychotherapists regardless of theoretical orientation. Following in Rogers’s pioneering tradition of clinical science, the processes, outcomes, and training of MI have been developed and tested through extensive research including over 2,500 controlled trials. This workshop particularly focuses on MI’s unique directional skills for evoking clients’ motivations for change. Like Rogers’s own work, MI is now being broadly applied in many helping professions including counseling and psychotherapy, health care, social work, corrections, spiritual care, leadership, and education.
Short Bio
William R. (Bill) Miller first described motivational interviewing in a 1983 journal article, and with Dr. Steve Rollnick has subsequently co-authored four editions of the primary textbook. He is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico where he served as Director of Clinical Training. Fundamentally interested in the psychology of change, he founded a private practice group, directed a large public treatment program, co-founded an addiction research center, and served as principal investigator for numerous clinical research grants. His books have been translated into 28 languages, and the Institute for Scientific Information has listed him among the world’s most-cited scientists.
Pre-Conference Workshop lecturer WS2; 7-8 July
Prof. Robert Elliott
USA
Workshop 2: Emotion Focused Therapy in a Changing World: A Person-Centered-Friendly Introduction
Short description
Overviews of EFT generally emphasize differences between EFT and PCT. This hands-on workshop takes the opposite approach of focusing on common elements, offering a PCT-friendly introduction to EFT.
Keywords: Person-centered therapy, Emotion-focused therapy, Focusing, Empathic attunement
Description
Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) has inherited the rich tradition of Rogers’ Person-Centered Therapy (PCT) and Gendlin’s Focusing-oriented therapy, along with influences from gestalt and existential approaches. Overviews of EFT generally emphasize what distinguishes EFT from PCT. However, in this workshop I am going to take the opposite approach of focusing on common elements, which are often obscured by differences in terminology. After outlining the shared history and neohumanistic values of EFT I will provide translations and bridges between EFT and PCT theory and practice, including emotions as expressions of and vehicles for the growth tendency, emotion response types as forms of incongruence; shared forms of empathic response, the central role of therapist empathic attunement with the client, the attention given to supporting client personal agency and authentic relating between client and therapist. After this, we will move on to a description of PCT versions of key EFT tasks, with skill practice on two of these: (a) EFT-style deep empathic immersion via evocative reflections and empathic affirmation responses; and (b) speaking your truth in imagination to important others. I conclude with a discussion of issues in learning EFT, including strategies for dealing with its complexity of language and practices.
Short Bio
Robert Elliott (preferred pronouns: they/them) is professor emeritus of counselling at the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, Scotland) and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Toledo (Ohio). Their main interests are practice, supervision, training, and research on EFT and related therapies. Their books include Learning emotion-focused psychotherapy (2004/2025) and Emotion-Focused Counselling in Action (2021), as well as 200 journal articles and book chapters. Robert is past president of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, and previously co-edited the journals Psychotherapy Research, and Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies. They have received the Distinguished Research Career Award of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, and the Carl Rogers Award from the Division of Humanistic Psychology of the American Psychological Association. They now live in Northern California, where they continue to enjoy developing, writing about and running EFT training, as well as walking, running, science fiction, poetry, and all kinds of music.