For mental health professionals, navigating ruptures in the therapeutic alliance can be difficult. In order to aid practitioners through this therapeutic impasse, the development of an alliance rupture repair model in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) was achieved by conducting a preliminary task analysis. A rational model of alliance rupture repair in EFT was formulated from data analysis of a thought experiment with four experienced certified EFT therapists. The rational model was then compared with the empirical analysis of alliance rupture repair sequences during EFT sessions with a certified EFT therapist. The final rational-empirical model and treatment implications are discussed.