Full Course Description

Embodied Attachment

Discover body-based interventions to repair attachment wounds and create deeper safety in the therapeutic relationship. You’ll learn to:

Identify how attachment patterns manifest in the nervous system and body
Apply somatic strategies like grounding, breathwork, and movement to enhance regulation
Use body cues to strengthen attunement and connection between child and caregiver
Guide clients in accessing safety through interoception and embodied awareness
Integrate somatic and attachment-focused approaches for lasting relational change
And more!

Program Information

Objectives

Identify how attachment trauma impacts the nervous system and shapes affect regulation in teens and adults.
Select signs of nervous system dysregulation and attachment-related triggers in clinical practice.
Utilize at least three somatic strategies that bypass the language centers of the brain to support clients in moments of activation or shutdown and that promote healing.

Outline

Foundations of Embodied Attachment

Attachment trauma as a body-based experience
Nervous system activation patterns in insecure attachment
Polyvagal hierarchy and physiological states of safety, mobilization, and collapse
Intersections of attachment, affect regulation, and sensory processing
Risks and limitations of the research

Assessing and Recognizing the Body’s Story

Postural and movement indicators of hyperarousal and shutdown
Breath patterns, tone of voice, and micro-expressions as cues for dysregulation
Somatic countertransference and therapist attunement to body cues
Distinguishing trauma-related activation from relational withdrawal

Somatic Strategies for Regulation and Safety

Grounding and orienting exercises for autonomic stabilization
Breathwork and rhythmic movement for downregulation and containment
Sensory-based interventions: weighted input, bilateral tapping, and gentle stretching
Interoceptive awareness practices to restore internal safety and self-trust

Rebuilding Relational Connection Through the Body

Co-regulation techniques within the therapeutic relationship
Dyadic movement and mirroring to strengthen attunement
Integration of somatic and attachment-based frameworks (Polyvagal, AEDP, IFS)
Embodied rituals for trust repair and long-term relational resilience

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 03/26/2026

Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT)

In this session, using real client material, Dr. Leanne Campbell will offer clinical demonstrations, commentary, and a tried-and-true set of five interventions to create predictable, repeatable, and lasting transformation for your clients.

You’ll discover how to:

Cut through complexity by framing distress through the attachment lens
Apply five repeatable interventions that reliably reduce distress and build resilience
Guide clients past fear and shame into deeper trust and emotional safety
Transform therapy impasses into breakthroughs that strengthen self-worth and connection

Program Information

Objectives

At the end of this presentation, you will be able to:

Utilize an attachment lens for understanding and working with your clients.
Select five key interventions to create change in every session.
Identify three strategies to shift your clients out of distress and into growth and resilience.

Outline

Essential Nature EFIT: An Attachment-based Experiential Humanistic Systemic Model
Goals of EFIT
Working with C.A.R.E. (i.e., Attention to Context, Attachment, Relationship/Therapeutic Alliance, Emotion) Throughout the Therapy Process
Three Stages of Therapy and Five Key Moves to Create Change in Every Session
Case Study
Limitations of the Research and Potential Risks

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 03/26/2026

Rewiring Attachment After Trauma

Attachment wounds don’t just live in the past – they shape nervous-system patterns, parts-based protectors, and relational cycles in the room. In this fast-paced, clinician-focuses session, Dr. Frank Anderson shows how to blend attachment science with a trauma-and parts-informed lens to reduce hyper/hypo-arousal, unblend protective parts, and foster earned security. You’ll leave with step-by-step interventions you can use immediately – across individual, couple, and family work.

Program Information

Objectives

Identify two ways trauma disrupts attachment and co-regulation (behavioral and neurobiological).
Choose at least three common protector/manager strategies that maintain insecure cycles.
Apply a brief, three-step protocol to unblend protective parts in session.

Outline

Framing & Goals

“Attachment x Trauma x Pars” quick map
Normalizing clinician counter-activation

What Trauma Does to Attachment

Nervous-system states, memory, and meaning-making
Insecure patterns (avoidant, anxious, disorganized) in clinical presentation

Case Mapping: The Attachment-Parts Cycle

Live diagram: triggers – protective parts – exile pain – relational spiral
Assessment mini-tools: trigger ladder, protector inventory, window-of-tolerance snapshot

Skills Practicum: Repair in Real Time

Three-Step Unblending: Name – Validate Function – Negotiate Space
Co-Regulation Micros: paced breathing + vocal prosody cueing; eyes-open resourcing; orienting
Attachment Repair Moves: rupture acknowledgement, parts-direct compassion, titrated proximity language
Brief demo or role-play + optional dyad practice

Troubleshooting & Special Populations

When protectors won’t step back
Dissociation flags
Working with couples/parents
Cultural attunement cues

Risks and Limitations

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 03/26/2026

Breaking Through Severe Attachment Challenges

Raising a child with severe attachment problems and dysregulation is one of the hardest and loneliest experiences a parent can face. While many therapies claim to work from an attachment perspective, they often offer overly simplistic techniques, place blame on parental deficiencies, and fall short in support families through the realities of daily struggles.

In this workshop, you will learn how to:

Recognize why standard attachment models are not always enough
Apply strategies that combine love and boundaries for real progress
Identify elements that make therapy effective with struggling families
Integrate techniques drawn from 28 years of experience working with severe attachment problems

You’ll leave with a deeper understanding of what truly helps families move toward hope, healing, and lasting change.

Program Information

Objectives

Identify three inherent contradictions in attachment issues that make it hard to parent a child.
Select three techniques for parents to achieve greater states of regulation, calmness and compassion for themselves and their child.
List three techniques for parents to implement affective attunement alongside strong boundaries.

Outline

The False Ideal Parent – Why the concept of being a therapeutic parent has backfired
What does supportive, effective attachment-focused therapy actually mean?
The paradoxes of attachment injuries: inner conflicts within attachment trauma that impede trust, emotional regulation and connection
Redefining attachment focused therapy
- Focus on realistic parenting (rather than an ideal parent)
- Taking “The Long View” of child development
- Support for parent detachment – letting go of validation-seeking, outcomes and control
- The importance of community and a spiritual approach to parenting
- Focus in therapy on radical empathy with strong boundaries, for both child and parent
Limitations of the research and potential risks

Target Audience

Case Managers
Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
School Administrators
Social Workers

Copyright : 03/26/2026

Healing the Disconnect: Working with Low and High Affect in At-Risk Youth

Clinicians working with at-risk youth often face a wide spectrum of affect dysregulation – from emotional shutdown and detachment to explosive reactivity. In this training, Dr. Eboni Webb offers an attachment-based framework, case examples, and practical strategies to help you accurately assess, differentiate, and intervene with these complex presentations.

You’ll discover how to:

Recognize early affective patterns linked to trauma, neurodivergence, and emerging personality traits
Apply attachment-based strategies that promote safety, regulation, and attunement
Confidently navigate misdiagnosis risks and treatment challenges in at-risk youth

Program Information

Objectives

Identify early affective symptoms in youth that may signal emerging borderline personality traits, sociopathy, or neurodivergent presentations.
Choose attachment-based strategies to engage and regulate youth across the affect spectrum, with attention to trauma-informed care and clinical risk factors.
Evaluate the role of neurodivergence in affect dysregulation and integrate this understanding into clinical assessment and treatment planning for at-risk youth.

Outline

Understanding the Affect Spectrum in At-Risk Youth

Define low affect (e.g., emotional detachment, flat affect) and high affect (e.g., emotional volatility, impulsivity)
Explore how these presentations show up in clinical settings
Clinical takeaway: Improve recognition of affective dysregulation beyond behavioral symptoms

Early Indicators of Emerging Personality Disorders

High affect; borderline traits (e.g., fear of abandonment, emotional instability)
Low affect: sociopathy traits (e.g., lack of empathy, manipulative behavior)
Clinical takeaway: Differentiate between trauma responses, personality pathology, and neurodivergence

Anxiety and Depression as Common Denominators

How internalizing disorders manifest across the affect spectrum
The role of chronic anxiety and depression in masking or amplifying personality traits
Clinical takeaway: Recognize underlying mood disorders that complicate diagnosis and treatment

The Role of Neurodivergence in Affect Regulation

How ADHD, autism, and sensory processing differences influence affective expression
Misdiagnosis and overlap with personality traits
Clinical takeaway: integrate neurodivergent-informed assessment into treatment planning

Attachment-Based Strategies for Engagement and Regulation

Building relational safety with youth across the affect spectrum
Techniques for co-regulation, emotional literacy, and attunement
Clinical takeaway: Apply practical tools to foster connection and reduce dysregulation

Risks and Limitations

Limited longitudinal research on early personality disorder diagnosis in youth
Ethical considerations in labeling and treatment
Importance of cultural and developmental context
Clinical takeaway: Use caution and clinical judgment when interpreting affective symptoms

Target Audience

Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Juvenile Justice Staff
Teachers/School-Based Personnel
School Administrators
Addiction Professionals
Case Managers
Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Speech-Language Pathologists

Copyright : 03/26/2026

A Light in Dark Places: The Power of Earned Security in Attachment

Earned Security is often overlooked in attachment training – yet it holds powerful potential for healing and transformation. This workshop explores how individuals with insecure beginnings can develop secure functioning across the lifespan through resilience, insight, and corrective relational experiences.

You’ll discover how to:

Recognize the markers of earned security
Integrate this understanding into assessment and treatment planning
Support clients in strengthening secure patterns within therapy and personal relationships
Apply practical strategies and clinical tools through real case examples

By the end, you’ll be equipped to honor the challenges of insecure attachment while celebrating the hope and possibility of earning security.

Program Information

Objectives

Define earned security and describe how it differs from secure and insecure attachment patterns.
Select therapeutic interventions that support the development of earned security across the lifespan.
Integrate case examples and evidence-informed practices to strengthen attachment security within treatment planning.

Outline

The Overlooked Key: Understanding Earned Security

Define earned security and how it differs from secure and insecure attachment
Explore research highlighting the resilience and growth potential in earned security
Understand the importance of outside adult relationships, and how this creates security in insecure attachment
Risks and limitations of research and techniques

Shifting Family and Couple Dynamics: Applying Earned Security in Systems Work

Explore how earned security impacts parenting, co-parenting, and couple relationships
Integrate earned security concepts into family-based treatment plans

Building Secure Foundations: Strategies for Fostering Earned Security

Leverage therapeutic alliance as a corrective relational experience
Introduce mindfulness, reflection, and expressive arts approaches to strengthen secure functioning

Case in Point: Real-World Applications and Clinical Stories

Examine case examples illustrating the journey toward earned security
Practice applying strategies in small-group discussion or role play

Hope in Action: Honoring the Possibility of Change

Reframe insecure attachment histories with a strengths-based lens
Emphasize resilience, growth, and healing as attainable outcomes

Risks and Limitations of Research and Techniques

Information from this program may not be applicable to professionals outside of mental health disciplines

Target Audience

Addiction Professionals
Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses (APRN)
Psychologists
Social Workers

Copyright : 03/27/2026

Creative Repair: Expressive Arts to Transform Attachment Trauma

Human connection is a fundamental and vital need for well-being.

Substantiative research across various disciplines affirms the foundational importance of human connection for individual health, happiness, and resilience. Despite this inherent need, countless individuals experience profound disconnection, a state that can arise from formative circumstances or the gradual erosion of relationships.

At the core genuine connection is a felt sense. It is a nonverbal and energetic experience of being noticed in the world.

Expressive arts offer a secure and accessible modality to facilitate and restore this essential sense of belonging throughout the human lifespan.

Program Information

Objectives

Determine 4 ways that expressive arts assist with the healing process across the lifespan.
Distinguish between the scope of practice of talk therapy vs. expressive arts.
Design a treatment plan to include expressive arts in either their personal work with clients or as a treatment team with adjunct professionals.
Apply expressive arts strategies as part of clinical tools through real case examples.

Outline

Expressive Arts: A Pathway to Process Complex Trauma & Build a Stronger Connection to Self

Case Study of Adult client working with attachment wounds from childhood now affecting adult life
The dance of creating boundaries without creating rejection
Healthy expressions of anger and rage
Building a relationship with self

The Perseverance to Create Genuine Connection

Case Study – Teenage client with strong adoptive family support, but difficulty building trust.
- Unique ways to approach “therapy” to support slowly building trust
- Activities that foster belonging and trust.
- How expressive arts guided our relationship

Expressive Arts as a Pathway to Belonging

A collection of case examples for children
- Creative modalities to provide a safe, accessible way to restore connection.
  - Arts-based practices support emotional expression and relational healing.
  - A handful of my favorite moments with children.

Copyright : 03/27/2026

The Neurobiology of Attachment and Personality

In this session, Dr. Dan Siegel will explore how the science of attachment and the merging understanding of personality development reveal pathways toward deeper connection, resilience, and healing. Drawing from the field of interpersonal neurobiology, Dr. Siegel will illuminate how relationships:

Shape the brain
Influence our sense of self
Open the door to integrative growth in both personal and professional life

Program Information

Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Summarize the neurobiological foundations of attachment and how these processes influence personality development across the lifespan.
Choose integrative strategies grounded in interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB) to support secure attachment, relational healing, and growth in clinical practice.
Identify risks and limitations associated with current research and clinical applications of attachment- and personality-informed interventions.

Outline

The Neurobiology of Attachment

How early relationships shape the developing brain and influence attachment patterns
The role of implicit memory, stress reactivity, and right-brain-to-right brain

communication

Clinical Takeaways:

Recognize how early relational experiences contribute to current functioning

Use attachment-informed assessment strategies to guide treatment

Personality as Patterns of Developmental Pathways

Personality as recurring patterns of emotion, thought, and behavior
New research on neuroplasticity and integrative growth
Introduction to Siegel’s PDP framework as an update to personality science
Clinical Takeaways:
- Use PDP lens to identify clients’ adaptive and maladaptive patterns
- Introduce reflective practices that move from rigidity/chaos to integration

Pathways to Healing and Connection

Practical strategies for fostering secure attachment in therapy
How therapeutic presence activates integration and resilience
Cultivating relational repair through attunement, resonance, and MWe (interpersonal connectedness)
Clinical Takeaways:
- Apply mindfulness and presence-based practices in sessions
- Use “narrative integration” techniques to help clients make sense of attachment-based wounds

Risks and Limitations of Research and Clinical Applications

Variability in research designs and generalizability of attachment studies
Cultural considerations in applying attachment and personality frameworks
Ethical cautions: avoid over-pathologizing personally patterns; stay aware of research limitations
Clinical Takeaways:
- Apply with cultural humility and avoid reductionist labeling
- Stay updated with evolving research and evidence-based practice guidelines

Q&A

Target Audience

Addiction Professionals
Case Managers
Dieticians
Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Nursing Home/Assisted Living Administrators
Occupational Therapists
Occupational Therapy Assistants
Physical Therapists
Physical Therapist Assistants
Psychologists
School Administrators
Social Workers
Speech-language Pathologists
Teachers/School-Based Personnel

Copyright : 03/27/2026

Transforming Attachment Wounds with Attachment

Attachment trauma leaves clients needing the very connection they most fear. In this training, you’ll see how to go beyond understanding attachment patterns to actually use attachment to heal attachment – undoing aloneness, fostering safety, and rewiring relational experience in real time.

You’ll discover how to:

Apply Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), interventions that transform attachment trauma through corrective relational experiences
Utilize receptive affective experiences to help clients fully take in empathy and care
Work with the here-and-now therapeutic relationship to deepen change
Consolidate breakthroughs through relational metaprocessing for lasting transformation

Program Information

Objectives

Select three core AEDP interventions that use attachment to heal attachment trauma in clinical practice.
Utilize receptive affective experiences to enhance the effectiveness of therapeutic empathy and overcome blocks to receiving care.
Choose relational processing techniques to work with here-and-now therapeutic relationship dynamics.

Outline

Opening: The Relational Paradox in Attachment Trauma: Connection as Both Wound and Cure

Why patients need what they most fear
Why patients fear what they most need
How AEDP differs from other attachment-informed therapies: using attachment as the cure rather than just understanding it as the problem

At the Heart of AEDP: Undoing Aloneness

“Unwilled and unwanted aloneness” in the face of overwhelming emotional experiences as the root mechanism of attachment trauma
- Undoing aloneness as a foundational aspect of experiential work to transform attachment trauma
- The basics of AEDP and its healing orientation
- Clinical takeaway:
  - Interventions to undo aloneness
  - Co-creating safety allows deeper work

Dyadic Affect Regulation to Regulate Dysregulated Experience

AEDP’s Deliberately Affirmative Stance; How to use the power of the therapeutic relationship to regulate the nervous system and help make previously unbearable emotions bearable
Dyadic affect regulation mottos: “It takes two to tango” and “You can’t do attachment therapy with a still face”
Clinical takeaways:
- Specific co-regulation techniques for different attachment patterns
- How to track your own nervous system while regulating your client’s

The Power of work with Receptive Affective Experiences

Why empathy offered isn’t’ enough – it must be received
What are receptive affective experiences?
Examples of receptive affective experiences: feeling seen, feeling felt, feeling loved
“Existing in the heart and mind of the other” as antidote to shame
Clinical takeaways:
- How to identify when receptive affective experiences are blocked
- Step-by-step interventions for helping clients take in care and empathy
- How to work with your clients’ experience of your empathy, care and presence

Experiential Work with Relational Experience

Making the implicit explicit: Processing the here-and-now therapeutic relationship
The intervention: “What is your experience of me right now?”
Clinical takeaways:
- Processing patients’ moment-to-moment relational experience
- When and how to use judicious self-disclosure
- Specific language for different attachment patterns

Relational Metaprocessing: Consolidating Transformation

Processing the experience of transformation itself
Identifying the affects of transformation and working to consolidate, deepen and expand
Activating “non-finite positive spirals” of healing
Clinical takeaways:
- How corrective experiences become lasting change
- Techniques for deepening and integrating relational breakthroughs
- Supporting patients in taking new relational experiences into their lives

Clinical Video: AEDP in Clinical Action Transforming Attachment Trauma

Clinical vignettes from real sessions with real clients
Real life use of undoing aloneness, dyadic affect regulation, work with receptive affective experiences and relational processing and metaprocesing

Risks and Limitations

Risks: AEDP’s relational focus may be re-traumatizing for patients with histories of relational trauma, if not accompanied by close moment-to-moment tracking and titrated interventions by well trained clinicians
Limitations: AEDP therapy is not indicated for patients with impulse control difficulties, active suicidality, or with psychotic or bipolar disorders
Research limitations: While AEDP shows strong effectiveness across diagnostic categories with maintained gains at follow-up, research is still emerging on optimal matching of specific interventions to specific attachment patterns

Q&A

Target Audience

Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Social Workers
Addiction Professionals
Nurses
Dieticians
Case Managers

Copyright : 03/27/2026

Tailoring AEDP to Attachment Patterns

The therapeutic relationship is one of the strongest predictors of healing, yet often described as a “non-specific factor.” This training shows you how to work with precision – identifying insecure attachment patterns and tailoring interventions that transform defenses, regulate anxiety, and repair relational wounds. Through structured frameworks, video examples, and practical tools, you’ll gain confidence in navigating avoidant, ambivalent/resistant, and disorganized attachment presentations with clarity and skill.

You’ll discover how to:

Identify clinical markers of insecure attachment and intervene with specificity
Work relationally to establish safety and undo aloneness in therapy
Navigate defenses and anxiety tied to avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized patterns
Apply precise interventions that promote healing and relational transformation

Program Information

Objectives

Evaluate clients for clinical indicators of avoidant, ambivalent/resistant, and disorganized attachment patterns.
Choose one specific intervention for each pattern: avoidant, ambivalent/resistant and disorganized attachment.
Integrate attachment-informed relational techniques to enhance safety, emotional regulation, and therapeutic alliance across diverse client presentations.

Outline

Key Features of Tailoring Treatment

The AEDP therapist stance
Explicit relational work to establish safety and undo aloneness
Precise experiential work to navigate defenses and anxiety
Exclusion criteria in the AEDP outcome studies will address limitations of techniques

The Secure Pattern of Attachment

Caregiver state of mind
Characteristic caregiver behavioral hallmarks
Response to arousal of the nervous system
Nervous system activation
Characteristic defenses and anxiety
Self-other relational patterning

The Avoidant Attachment Pattern

Caregiver state of mind
Characteristic caregiver behavioral hallmarks
Response to arousal of the nervous system
Nervous system activation
Characteristic defenses and anxiety
Self-other relational patterning

Goals for Treating the Avoidant Pattern

Relational adaptive action tendencies

Interventions for Treating the Avoidant Pattern

Working with defenses
Working with anxiety
Therapist common reactivities
Therapist metaskills

Video Illustrations

Open Discussion/Q&A

The Ambivalent/Resistant Attachment Pattern

Caregiver state of mind
Characteristic caregiver behavioral hallmarks
Response to arousal of the nervous system
Nervous system activation
Characteristics defenses and anxiety
Self-other relational patterning

Goals for Treating the Ambivalent/Resistant Pattern

Self adaptive action tendencies

Interventions for Treating the Ambivalent/Resistant Pattern

Working with defenses
Working with anxiety
Therapist common reactivities
Therapist metaskills

Video Illustration

Open Discussion/Q&A

The Disorganized Attachment Pattern

Caregiver state of mind
Characteristic caregiver behavioral hallmarks
Response to arousal of the nervous system
Nervous system activation
Characteristic defenses and anxiety
Self-other relational patterning

Goals for Treating the Disorganized Pattern

Self, relational, categorical emotion adaptive action tendencies

Interventions for Treating the Disorganized Pattern

Working with defenses
Working with anxiety
Therapist common reactivities
Therapist metaskills

Video Illustration

Open Discussion/Q&A

Target Audience

Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Social Workers
Addiction Professionals
Nurses
Dieticians
Case Managers

Womb to World: Nurturing Attachment through Infant Play Therapy

Discover playful, evidence-based methods to foster secure attachment beginning in utero and continuing through infancy and toddlerhood. You’ll learn to:

Identify how prenatal attachment shapes postnatal bonding and regulation
Strengthen parental attunement, self-regulation, and confidence in caregiving
Apply Infant Play Therapy tools—lullabies, musical play, storytelling, touch
Translate attachment theory into daily bonding practices that build resilience and prevent trauma

Program Information

Objectives

Identify at least three ways prenatal attachment experiences influence postnatal bonding and emotional development, using current research and attachment theory.
Recall at least four (4) Infant Play Therapy interventions (e.g., lullabies, musical play, storytelling, or nurturing touch) that support parent–infant bonding and help prevent relational trauma.
Analyze at least two (2) research studies that support the neuroscience of prenatal and post-natal bonding and attachment.

Outline

Recognize the Roots of Attachment

How prenatal experiences shape brain development
The link between prenatal bonding and postnatal regulation resilience
Differentiate of terms: Attachment and bonding
Prevention-focused interventions

Strengthen Parent Attunement

Supports for parents who feel disconnected or uncertain
Tools to build parental self-regulation and sensitivity
Interventions to guide parents in reading their baby’s earliest signals
Understand early relational repair as trauma prevention

Playful, Hands-On Interventions

Culturally sensitive activities: lullabies, musical play, storytelling, touch
Strategies for diverse family needs
From theory to daily bonding practices

Risks and Limitations

Limited research in prenatal bonding
The contraindications of pre-natal interventions
Ethical integration within your scope of practice

Target Audience

Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Social Workers
Addiction Professionals
Nurses
Dieticians
Case Managers

Attachment in a Digital World: Connection, Play, and Protection in Emerging Technologies

As digital platforms, video games, immersive technologies, and artificial intelligence become woven into daily life, they are reshaping how children, families, and communities build and sustain attachment. This training examines how attachment develops and is expressed in digital spaces, highlighting the role of shared play and co-experiences. You’ll explore both the opportunities for connection, creativity, and resilience, as well as the risks and safeguards needed for healthy engagement.

You’ll learn how to:

Foster secure attachment through digital play and co-experiences
Recognize risks and set safeguards for healthy technology use
Integrate current research into practical strategies for families
Use technology as a tool for connection, not disconnection

Program Information

Objectives

Identify at least three ways attachment develops and is expressed in digital environments, including the role of co-play, video games, and shared digital experiences.
Evaluate digital tools and environments using evidence-informed frameworks (e.g., RITEC-8) to determine their potential impact on attachment, safety, and relational well-being.
Integrate digital age attachment concepts into clinical practice by mapping traditional attachment needs onto modern technologies—co play, gaming platforms, immersive environments, and AI—to strengthen connection and relational safety.

Outline

Redefining Attachment for the Digital Age

Understand how attachment patterns (secure, insecure, disorganized) manifest in today’s digital contexts.
Explore digital spaces—video games, immersive worlds, and AI—as new environments for attachment expression.
Clinical Takeaway: Recognize technology as part of the modern attachment ecosystem, not separate from it.
Risks & Limitations: Current research is emerging; most findings are correlational and context-dependent. Individual differences and family culture significantly mediate outcomes.

Harnessing Co-Play to Strengthen Connection

Define co-play and differentiate it from solitary or parallel digital engagement.
Examine research linking co-play to improved attunement, communication, and prosocial outcomes.
Identify ways to integrate shared digital experiences into therapy, family sessions, or parent guidance.
Clinical Takeaway: Use co-play as a tool to model co-regulation, build trust, and deepen relational attunement.
Risks & Limitations: Co-play must be authentic and child-led; forced participation or lack of parental engagement can reduce benefits.

Applying the RITEC-8 Framework to Digital Well-Being

Introduce RITEC-8 (Safety, Inclusion, Autonomy, Emotions, Competence, Social Connection, Creativity, Identity).
Learn how to evaluate games and digital environments for attachment-friendly design.
Explore child-centered findings on what makes digital play meaningful and emotionally safe.
Clinical Takeaway: Use RITEC-8 as a practical assessment and conversation tool with families.
Risks & Limitations: Framework use requires adaptation; not all platforms disclose design data, and practitioner bias may shape evaluation.

Using Video Games, Immersive Tech, and AI as Attachment Spaces

Identify features of video games and immersive tech that foster exploration, competence, and collaboration.
Examine AI’s dual role: scaffolding relational depth (e.g., SEL prompts) vs. risking over-reliance or substitution.
Explore evidence-informed applications in therapy, education, and parent coaching.
Clinical Takeaway: Leverage technology to enhance presence, empathy, and shared meaning while maintaining healthy boundaries.
Risks & Limitations: Overuse, ethical concerns, and limited longitudinal data on AI and immersive tech warrant cautious, reflective integration.

Safeguarding Attachment: Ethics, Balance, and Digital Hygiene

Develop emotional and relational safeguards (balance, co-regulation, modeling).
Apply digital hygiene principles to support privacy, safety, and appropriate use.
Draw on cybertrauma and digital ethics frameworks to set realistic boundaries and expectations.
Clinical Takeaway: Integrate emotional, relational, and technical safeguards into family and clinical practice.
Risks & Limitations: Safeguard strategies must be individualized; overly rigid restrictions may harm autonomy and trust.

Translating Insight into Practice

Map attachment needs (secure base, safe haven, exploration, attunement) onto digital contexts.
Create individualized digital engagement plans for families and clients.
Clinical Takeaway: Transform digital tools into secure bases by fostering intentional, balanced, and shared use.
Risks & Limitations: Strategies should be developmentally appropriate; one-size-fits-all approaches may not meet diverse needs.

Closing: Technology as a Bridge, Not a Barrier

Revisit the central question: How can technology support connection?
Summarize key takeaways: co-play, evaluation, safeguards, and reflective practice.
Clinical Takeaway: With guidance and intentional use, digital tools can enhance—not replace—secure relationships.
Risks & Limitations: Continuous practitioner reflection and updated knowledge are needed as technologies evolve.

Target Audience

Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Social Workers
Addiction Professionals
Nurses
Dieticians
Case Managers

Boldly Showing Up - Attachment, Shame, and Vulnerability Through a Culturally-Safe Lens

The way in which you perceive yourself and the world around you are shaped through the intersectionality of your cultural lens – gender, sexuality, family, race, and ethnicity…

In family culture and environmental cultures, it’s often difficult for us to explore our authentic self…permission for individuation to happen. This can create unhealthy shame shields to protect against vulnerability and emotional safety, leaving healthy attachment at risk.

Carmen will teach us the impact of the intersectionality of historical narratives, shame, vulnerability, culture, and the effects of these on developing secure attachment. Moving clients out of shame-based models of engaging and helping them embrace vulnerability and leaning into relationships.

Program Information

Objectives

Demonstrate how emotional literacy can increase communication and attachment within families.
Analyze how shame, vulnerability and legacy burdens impacts family connections.
Evaluate the impact of culture and the role of the therapist within the therapeutic setting.
Analyze the value of looking beyond the presenting problem to explore the authentic self.

Outline

Looking Beyond Presenting Problem with a Culturally Safe Lens

Increasing intersectionality in the therapy room
Authentic self of the clinician within the therapeutic system

The Belief Structures of Shame and Vulnerability

How shame shields are developed
The effects of vulnerability and attachment

Intersectionality of Historical Family and Society Narratives

The impact of family narratives on attachment
How cultural beliefs and narratives affect attachment

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Other Mental Health Professionals