How Emotionally Focused Therapy Helps Couples Rebuild Trust

Looking for a therapist who blends warmth, skill, and real structure to help couples reconnect? We sit down with Lisa M. Stanton, a licensed marriage and family therapist with nearly three decades of experience, to unpack how Emotionally Focused Therapy helps partners move from friction to trust. Lisa explains the EFT roadmap—naming the negative cycle, finding the softer feelings beneath the fight, and building a secure bond that can handle stress. You’ll hear how she personalizes the work with longer 75–90 minute sessions, recommended reading from Sue Johnson, and simple steps couples can practice between appointments.

We also trace Lisa’s path from higher education into clinical work, revealing why she gravitated toward helping people one-on-one and what years of supervision taught her about change. She clarifies licensure differences—LMFT, LCSW, LPCC—and why credentials and ethics oversight by the Board of Behavioral Sciences protect clients. If you’ve wondered whether a caring faith leader is enough, or when it’s time to seek clinical expertise, her guidance is both respectful and clear. And for anyone searching for help, Lisa shares practical tips for finding a therapist through Psychology Today, Network Therapy, insurance panels, and word of mouth.

This conversation is grounded and human. Lisa talks about staying responsive to clients between sessions, protecting time for family and fitness, and how a steady, conversational style lowers defenses so real growth can happen. If your relationship feels stuck in the same argument, or you’re curious whether EFT could help you reconnect, this episode offers a compassionate, evidence-based starting point. If you find value here, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a quick review to help more neighbors find trusted local experts.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, a place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Rachel Fife.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Well, welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Now, if you are looking for a therapist to help resolve problems, uh personal growth, and even in creating satisfying relationships, well, this therapist is closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Lisa M. Stanton, licensed marriage and family therapist. Lisa, how is it going?

SPEAKER_01 0:37

It's going well. It's going great. Um I just uh I'm happy to be on uh this podcast with you, Rachel. Um, wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Well, we're really excited to learn about your practice. So tell us all about it.

Lisa’s Background And EFT Approach

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Well, uh, first of all, I've been I've been practicing 27 years. Uh, love what I do. Uh so I was licensed in um uh in 07, 2007, and I became two years after that a clinical supervisor. So I supervise pre-licensed uh therapists for many years. I don't do that anymore. Uh my specialty is couples, working with couples, and I use a very unique and uh successful approach to working with couples, and it's it is very effective. It's called emotionally focused therapy or EFT that was developed by this wonderful psychologist who is unfortunately no longer with us, named Sue Johnson. She's written several books, Hold Me Tight, Love Sense, that I advise my client, my couples, to read and in between sessions, so that that can supplement the therapy and help them get a closer connection. Wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Well, how did you get into this business?

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Well, that's interesting because I have two master's degrees, but the second one is in this particular field in psychology from Chapman. So I was um I was in the field of student financial aid for 15 years before I did this, and I just always gravitated more towards helping the students I worked with than doing the administrative work. Also, I've been a member of a gym for since 1982, and I've had people that I've talked to in the gym come come over to me and talk to me and tell me their issues, what's bothering them, their personal situation. So I felt very comfortable with that uh camaraderie and with helping people. So I decided to go back and get a second master's, which I did at Chapman University and graduated in 1999, and uh then I've been doing this ever since then.

Licensure Myths And Ethical Care

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Wonderful. Now, what do you think are maybe some myths or misconceptions in your industry?

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Um I think sometimes people don't understand the difference between our licenses, and there's not much of it, but there are some differences. I think it is important for people to be licensed, and people can get help in a lot of different places. I know a lot of people get help in there uh where they worship, you know, where they go to worship, you know, from either a pastor or a rabbi or wherever they go. Um, and that's fine. I mean, anyone who can help is great, but we have special training. I have many years of education, training, and experience to do what I'm doing. So I think it's really important whether they go to a licensed marriage and family therapist or a licensed clinical social worker, and there's a new license, licensed uh professional counselor. The person has to be licensed so that the client or the person is getting the best help that they can get, and it's ethical and it's you know it's uh tied to the Board of Behavioral Sciences, which monitors all of our licenses.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Wow. So now we know marketing is really the heart of every business. So how are you finding your patients?

SPEAKER_01 4:25

I have been um on Psychology Today, uh, the Therapist Finder, I believe it is. It's a website, so they go on it and it's also a magazine. It's a very popular one, psychology today. So if they can go on Psychology Today website and go to the Therapist Finder, and I have uh I have a profile there and a video. I think I sent you the video so you'd have an idea of what I'm like in person. So I market through that. I market through uh Network Therapy, which is another organization that reaches out to people where people can find therapists, um, insurance companies. I'm tied uh linked to a few insurance companies, so that's they find me that way, word of mouth. I get a lot of repeat uh clients coming in, you know, who I haven't seen in a while because they remember that I helped them in the past. Uh they refer family members, they refer friends. So I had there's a lot of different ways that people can find out about me. Uh even if you found me. So even if they're looking for a therapist, they can Google that and uh I'll probably come up online.

Work-Life Balance And Personal Passions

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Have you ever thought of doing your own podcast?

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Yes, I have. And uh yes, and I would love to do that. I have to be careful how much at my age. So I'm getting into, even though I may not look at the Twilight Years. So I'm kind of winding down my practice. I still see people and I think I'm reasonable for this area as far as my fee. Uh, and I do take some insurance programs. Um, but I I don't, I want to make sure I have enough time for me, for my family, my friends, and what I love to do most, which is go to the gym and live. I'm into weightlifting. I've been weightlifting for 45 years. I can want to continue that. I have two mini schnauzers and I walk one mini schnauzer four times a week. So I have a lot, I have a son who is disabled. So that's been uh he's been a large part of my life. And I've served for 12 years on the State Council of Developmental Disabilities in California in the Orange County office. So I've got a lot of things going on, and that's fine. I'm just hesitant, I'm just you know, reluctant to take on one more thing that I have to think about and do.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

So well, that's fine. So now you kind of already said what my next question was going to be outside of work. What do you like to do? And you just kind of already shared that with us. Anything else you want to add to that?

Therapy Style And Session Structure

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Um, yeah, I loved, I love people. I mean, I love working with people, I love helping people, talking to people, uh, not all people, obviously, but the ones I feel a good vibe from, the ones I feel connection from. And uh, and that's my clients too. I mean, I have a very good connection with my clients, and it's more like a conversation, so they don't feel like they're being like my son, the word term my son used, therapized. They don't feel like they're in therapy, they feel like they're just with an old friend having a conversation, but getting a lot of help and feeling a lot better after the session. So that's my goal in life is helping people.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Wonderful. Well, Lisa, you know, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Lisa Stanton, licensed marriage and family therapist.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

I think they should remember that I'm real, I'm authentic, I come across um in a very helpful uh way. I uh respect them and I um and I work with them. I'm available during the week for consultation and I don't charge extra for that uh for you know text messages. I uh also um if they want to uh yeah, if they want to talk to me or text me during the week, that's that's part of the therapy. And I do nine 75 to 90 minute sessions, which no other therapist I know does. So I give couples need more time because there's so much going on with uh you know with couples, whether they're married or not, whether they're gay or straight, doesn't matter. Um, but there's a lot going on. So I give them that extra time, 75 to 90 minutes, and they really appreciate it, and it works.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

Wonderful.

How To Reach Lisa And Closing

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Well, how can our listeners learn more about Lisa M. Stanton? Uh have them go to my website, Lisa Mstanton.com, uh, or shoot me an email, uh Lisa at LisaMstanton.com, and uh I'll get back to them. I'm also very responsive, so I don't keep people waiting. I get back to people as soon as possible, usually the same day, whether they're new potential clients or people current clients. So I'm I consider myself to be very responsive. So anyway, any of those ways, I will respond to you and you will get the help you need if you're open to it.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

Wonderful. Well, Lisa, I really appreciate you being on the show, and we wish you and your practice all the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Oh, thank you so much, Rachel. It's been a pleasure meeting you and being on your show, and um, you know, I'm looking forward to getting some new clients. That would be great.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnporangecounty.com. That's gmporgecounty.com or call 714 941 862.