E4. The Changing Family Landscape in Egypt with Eman Onsy The Family Express

Welcome back for the next journey of The Family Express Podcast with Kathryn de Bruin, LMFT and Ronda Evans, LMFT where our destination is resilient and connected families.

This episode’s adventure takes us to Egypt. Join us for a conversation about the changes in families and family therapy in Egypt with our guest Eman Onsy. She is the current director and co-founder of the Egypt Emotionally Focused Therapy Community and is a Certified EFT therapist.

All Aboard !

Eman tells us that Emotionally Focused Family Therapy is a culturally appropriate model for Egyptian families because of the humanistic foundation, and the focus on attachment and relationships. Eman reframes parental buy-in to a larger, macro shift about the changes in stigma about therapy: as the stigma lessens parents engage more in therapy, and as more people become professionals in the field of therapy, therapy becomes more accessible. 

We hear from Eman’s personal experience about the changing family landscape in Egypt. She describes that in the modern age of social media, she cannot rely on the same family rules and expectations from her upbringing. Now in the role of the parent, she is inviting conversation and a shift in the definition and demonstration of respect. Eman gives a real life example of this and she says how “slowing down” is a key reminder to process and digest the emotional experiences that come up in their interactions. Eman offers us a special and highly relevant Islamic quote to this conversation, “raise your kids not for your generation, but for the coming generations.”

Eman ends by emphasizing how counselors are not authoritative experts, but rather bring their real genuine self into the therapy room and in this way the therapist models this different approach of humanistic, attachment-based, emotionally focused, “here and now” therapy, and this itself acts as a parallel process for the parents shifting their approach with their children and teens.

Timestamps
2:15    ICEEFT will formally introduce EFFT to Egypt in January 2024. 
Our own Kathryn de Bruin will provide this training!
3:59    EFFT is culturally appropriate for Egyptian families.
8:15    Eman reframes parental buy-in to changes in stigma about therapy,
and to improved accessibility to trained helping professionals
15:52   How has the parenting landscape changed in Egypt
18:28    “Raise your kids not for your generation, but for the coming generations” 
- an Islamic quote
20:12    Ronda and Kathryn summarize Eman’s perspective of how Egyptian counselors are helping families make these shifts: by tapping into the built-in magic of attachment and that every parent wants to feel like a successful parent

Thank you for listening! Join us for the next adventure in two weeks.

Kathryn and Ronda are both licensed marriage and family therapists. Kathryn is an ICEEFT Certified EFT Trainer, Supervisor and Therapist. Ronda is an ICEEFT Certified Supervisor and Therapist. They are both AAMFT Approved Supervisors.

Thank you for listening!

Kathryn and Ronda are both licensed marriage and family therapists. Kathryn is an ICEEFT Certified EFT Trainer, Supervisor and Therapist. Ronda is an ICEEFT Certified Supervisor and Therapist. They are both AAMFT Approved Supervisors.

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You can follow Eman
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