Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

ILCA Workshop: Integrating Emotion-Focused Therapy Principles and Interventions in Working with Older Adults
2026-01-19 - 2026-02-15 | Online
AN ONLINE WORKSHOP FOR HEALTHCARE & OTHER PROFESSIONALS
When: Monday, Jan 19 – Sunday, Feb 15, 2026 (4 weeks) ONLINE weekly at your discretion
Cost: $240 (Students $120) Sufficient Enrolment Decision Deadline: Mon, Jan 12, 2026
This workshop will be offered only if there is sufficient enrolment.
Clinicians and care providers often encounter emotional reactions that are hard to access, regulate, or process. These moments can feel complex and hard to navigate, especially when working with older adults who may have an impaired emotion system.
This science-informed workshop with Dr. Carmine Malfitano offers a clear, practical approach to understanding and working with emotion in therapy. Drawing from the principles of Emotion Focused Therapy and tailored specifically to older adults, the training introduces a foundational framework for identifying and assessing difficult emotional processes, deepening emotional experience, and applying targeted interventions that support movement and change.
Whether you are a therapist or care provider who is looking to strengthen your effectiveness in working with emotion, this four-week course offers both conceptual clarity and practical strategies you can immediately integrate into your work.
Objectives:
Through case presentations and didactic learning, participants will learn how to:

Assess different types of emotional responses in session (e.g., primary adaptive, primary maladaptive, secondary/symptomatic, instrumental) and apply differential interventions for each type.
Use practical empathic attunement skills to help clients access and deepen emotional experience.
Support clients in moving from secondary or symptomatic emotions to core emotional experiences that hold therapeutic potential.
Apply principles of emotion change and tailored interventions based on in-the-moment client needs.
Use targeted techniques to support emotion regulation when clients feel overwhelmed or shut down.

Outline:
Week 1: Emotion Assessment

Affective neuroscience: a bio-evolutionary view of emotion
Identifying and differentiating types of emotional responses (primary adaptive, primary maladaptive, secondary/symptomatic, instrumental)
Matching intervention strategies to emotional response types

Week 2: Empathic Attunement

Practical skills to increase emotional attunement
Increasing client awareness and articulation of emotion
Techniques to support the shift from secondary to primary emotions

Week 3: Principles of Emotion Change

Using ongoing case formulation to guide emotional interventions
Techniques for increasing emotional arousal when clients are disengaged or emotionally flat
Techniques for decreasing emotion arousal when clients are overwhelmed or dysregulated

Week 4: Emotion Transformation

Understanding core emotion change processes in Emotion Focused Therapy
Understanding how chair work and other experiential methods are used to support transformation

Instructor: Carmine Malfitano, PhD, MSW, RSW is a registered social worker with extensive experience in clinical practice, education, and research. He earned his Master of Social Work from the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto in 2014 and completed his PhD in 2021.
He currently serves as the Director of Training and Education at the Centre for Psychology and Emotional Health, where he supports the advancement of Emotion Focused Therapy research, training, clinical practice, and international dissemination. He is also a Clinical Social Work Specialist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and a sessional lecturer at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, where he teaches Emotion Focused Therapy to Master of Social Work students.
Visit the ILCA workshop website for registration information.

FIFSW "Alumni Thrive Series" — Winter 2026
2026-01-21 18:00 - 2026-02-24 18:00 (America/Toronto) | Private: Koffler House, 569 Spadina Cres,, Toronto, ON, M5S 2J7, Canada
We’re excited to invite FIFSW Alumni to register for the complimentary “Alumni Thrive Series” — a set of in-person sessions created exclusively for our alumni community. These interactive gatherings will focus on promoting self-care and professional sustainability for social work professionals and creating opportunities to reconnect with peers and build new connections.
Join us in January and February 2026 for meaningful conversations, practical strategies, and a chance to strengthen the bonds that make our alumni network thrive.
All sessions will take place at the Main Activity Hall in Koffler House located at 569 Spadina Crescent in Toronto. (Koffler House is located on the north-east portion of Spadina Crescent, north of Russell Street and south of Willcocks Street).
Register for sessions in the FIFSW Alumni Thrive Series
About the sessions
Therapeutic Yoga
Wednesday, January 21 @ 6:00 pm
Led by Julia Gibran, FIFSW Alumna, MSW Class of 2018, this class is designed to support wellbeing and reduce stress. It will explore simple seated and standing poses to release tension and help soothe burnout. It will also practice calming breathwork and light tapping techniques to support the nervous system and cultivate a sense of levity, clarity, and calm.
Meditation
Wednesday, January 28 @ 6:00 pm
Led by Dr. Ramona Alaggia, Associate Dean, Research & Professor, FIFSW. This guided meditation session is designed to improve mental clarity and emotional balance.
Flow
Wednesday, February 4 @ 6:00 pm
Wednesday, February 11 @ 6:00 pm
Led by Arafat Opar, fitness and Pilates expert, specializing in core stabilization, body coordination and flexibility, this class is a gentle fusion of continuous rhythmic movement and breath designed to restore balance, enhance flexibility and improve coordination.
Mindful Meditation
Tuesday, February 24 @ 6:00 pm
Led by Dr. Ellen Katz, Professor Emerita, FIFSW, this session introduces relational mindfulness theory and skills for clinicians and clients. Emphasizing the therapeutic relationship and nervous system regulation, it highlights how clinicians can use mindfulness to calm themselves and teach clients to regulate mind, body, and heart. The session explores sensations, emotions, feelings, and thoughts—the four foundations of mindfulness—in relational practice.
Transit options
Public Transit (TTC) Directions: Closest subway stops are Spadina station on the Bloor line, and Queen’s Park station on the University line. Walk south on the east side of Spadina Avenue from Spadina subway station, or Take the College streetcar west from Queen’s Park station, exit at Spadina Avenue, and walk north on the east side of Spadina Avenue.
Parking Options (Pay parking can be found nearby at CAMH)
– east side of Spadina Ave., just north of College St.
– entrance can only be accessed from Spadina Ave. northbound, north of College St.
– this is an indoor lot – not recommended for tall vehicles such as SUVs. At street parking the parking meters allow maximum 3-hour parking.
