This article explores interactional chair work achievement, which is one type of therapeutic intervention for examining client emotions in Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT). During this intervention, therapists guide clients to speak with either a conflicted self-aspect (two-chair work) or with a non-present significant other to handle unresolved feelings or ‘unfinished business’ (empty-chair work). Using conversation analytic methods, he paper explores ten video-taped EFT sessions that incorporate chair work. It was found that chair work entry is often achieved via four distinct interlocking interactional phases: 1) Formulating the client's trouble; 2) Recruiting participation in chair work; 3) Readjusting the participation frame; 4) Making contact. It is shown how each phase orients to particular interactional interests that often pertain to managing epistemic and/or deontic authority and also to accommodating the participants into entering a new participation frame. Albeit gaining client confirmation and compliance was at times promptly attained within these phases, clients also often slowed their affiliative uptake of the therapist's prior action. In these cases therapists perform additional interactional work to get chair work entry back on track.