Professor Jeanne Watson is one of the developers of emotion focused psychotherapy, the process experiential approach (EFT). She is one of the founders of the International Society for Emotion Focused Psychotherapy (isEFT), along with Drs. Leslie Greenberg, Rhonda Goldman and Robert Elliott.

Currently, Professor Watson teaches Clinical and Counselling Psychology in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, at the Ontario Institute of Education at the University of Toronto, Canada. As a major exponent of humanistic-experiential psychotherapy, Prof. Watson has made important contributions to the development of Emotion Focused Psychotherapy through her contributions to theory, research and practice. Dr. Watson conducts research on the process and outcome of Emotion Focused Psychotherapy, with a landmark study that compared emotion focused psychotherapy with cognitive behavioral psychotherapy in the treatment of depression. She has co-authored and co-edited a total of 9 books and more than 80 articles and chapters on the theory and practice of Emotion Focused Psychotherapy, with special emphasis on the role of the therapeutic relationship conditions, the alliance, therapist empathy, emotional expression, depression and generalized anxiety disorder. Her most recent book is entitled Emotion Focused Psychotherapy for GAD (2017) co-authored with Dr. Leslie Greenberg.

Prof. Watson received the Outstanding Early Career Achievement Award from the International Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR) in 2002 and the Distinguished Research Career Award in 2020 in recognition of her contributions to research. She was a member of the SPR executive committee from 2012-2016 serving as President of the Society from 2014-2015 and is a Fellow of the American Psychology Association.

Prof. Watson has taught workshops in EFT in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America and has been nominated by her students for supervision and teaching awards. Her workshops are consistently met with high praise, particularly for her warm and engaging style of teaching.