Attachment and Relational Trauma Treatment Specialists: Evidence-based Skills to Repair Trauma and Attachment Wounds

Course overview

Research has demonstrated that having a secure and loving attachment bond with caregivers can protect a child from the devastating effects of adverse childhood experiences such as abuse, family dysfunction, and parental pathology. But what happens if those caregivers who are supposed to be attuned and protective are in fact abusive and abandoning? This advanced training for psychologists, licensed mental health professionals, and medical personnel will review the research and evidence-based treatment protocols at the intersection of adverse childhood experiences and attachment, namely attachment trauma. It will look at how these early experiences render an individual at risk for struggles with many issues, especially emotion regulation, development of a sense of self, and struggles with relationships with others via a lack of mentalization. Each speaker will present the treatment interventions they utilize with clients struggling with the most common and debilitating symptoms that accompany attachment trauma. Five core, evidence-based, transdiagnostic treatment modules adapted from the Unified Protocol and Cognitive Behavior Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP) will be reviewed in depth, as will the integrative Self-Trauma Model that incorporates trauma-based treatments such as EMDR, State of Mind or Parts therapy, as well as Attachment-based treatments. Specific treatment options for willing Christian clients will be included.