{"id":846,"date":"2025-09-06T15:32:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T13:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mentalia.pl\/english\/?p=846"},"modified":"2025-09-06T15:35:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T13:35:24","slug":"giulia-altera-dont-bleed-in-front-of-sharks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mentalia.pl\/english\/blog\/2025\/09\/06\/giulia-altera-dont-bleed-in-front-of-sharks\/","title":{"rendered":"The beginning of the training trilogy by Giulia Altera \u2013 \u201cDon\u2019t Bleed in Front of Sharks\u201d\u00a0\ud83e\udd88"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The beginning of the training trilogy by Giulia Altera \u2013 \u201cDon\u2019t Bleed in Front of Sharks\u201d\u00a0\ud83e\udd88<\/h1><\/div>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\t\t
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Thanks to the generosity of EFT Balkans, on September 5\u20136, 2025, Barbara S\u0142awik had the opportunity to take part in a unique two-day workshop, \u201cDon\u2019t Bleed in Front of Sharks\u201d<\/em>, dedicated to working with escalation and emotional reactivity in couple therapy within the EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) approach. Each of us, as couple therapists, needs such experiences \u2013 to recharge our batteries <\/strong>\ud83d\udd0b<\/strong>, broaden our perspective \ud83c\udf0d, and strengthen our ability to remain present in the most demanding moments with clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The training focused on what happens in a relationship when, instead of closeness, anger, withdrawal, or irony appear, and a partner turns from a safe haven into a \u201cshark.\u201d What lies beneath these reactive emotions \u2013 anger, aggression, withdrawal, silence \u2013 and beneath their \u201carmor\u201d: fear of rejection \ud83d\udc94, longing for closeness \ud83e\udd1d, or the pain of hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants learned how to recognize and navigate reactivity cycles, how to work with both active and passive defenses, how to slow the process down \ud83d\udd4a\ufe0f and open space for authentic emotions \u2013 so that step by step the couple can be guided toward the first zone of safety and de-escalation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The workshop also explored working with different strategies of the\u00a0Pursuer<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0Withdrawer<\/strong>\u00a0(more details\u00a0\ud83d\udc49HERE<\/a>), the challenges of emotionally engaging enactments \u2013 creating new emotional experiences in session \u2013 and reflections on how to stay within the \u201cwindow of tolerance,\u201d both for clients and for the therapist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great deal of attention was devoted to the therapist\u2019s stance \u2013 not only their words, but also tone of voice \ud83c\udfb6, breath \ud83c\udf2c\ufe0f, gestures, and self-regulation. The therapist\u2019s presence becomes the anchor <\/strong>\u2693 in the storm<\/strong>, giving the couple the sense that even in the hardest moments, it is possible to pause and meet in a new way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A huge strength of the workshop was also Giulia Altera herself<\/strong> \u2013 an EFT trainer from Italy \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9, who shares her knowledge, passion, and rich clinical examples in an exceptionally accessible way. Learning from her is a true pleasure \u2013 she combines deep therapeutic wisdom, humor, and great authenticity. This makes even the most complex topics feel close and practical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barbara returns from this training with new inspirations \u2728 and fresh energy \u26a1 for her work with clients and supervisees. As she emphasizes, such experiences are not only an investment in therapeutic skills, but also in inner balance \ud83e\uddd8\u200d\u2640\ufe0f and the ability to accompany clients in the most intense moments of their emotional journeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The beginning of the training trilogy by Giulia Altera \u2013 \u201cDon\u2019t Bleed in Front of Sharks\u201d\u00a0\ud83e\udd88 . Thanks to the generosity of EFT Balkans, on September 5\u20136, 2025, Barbara S\u0142awik had the opportunity to take part in a unique two-day workshop, \u201cDon\u2019t Bleed in Front of Sharks\u201d, dedicated to working with escalation and emotional reactivity in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalia.pl\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalia.pl\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalia.pl\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalia.pl\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalia.pl\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mentalia.pl\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852,"href":"https:\/\/mentalia.pl\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions\/852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalia.pl\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mentalia.pl\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalia.pl\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mentalia.pl\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}