Continuing Education Workshop Description:

Our earliest relationships shape how we experience connection, intimacy, trust, and emotional safety throughout our lives. Attachment theory offers psychotherapists a valuable framework for understanding how early relational experiences influence present-day patterns of relating to ourselves and others.

This practical continuing education workshop introduces the foundational principles of attachment theory, exploring how attachment patterns develop in childhood and may continue to influence emotional regulation, interpersonal relationships, and responses to stress in adulthood.

Participants will examine secure, anxious, avoidant, and disorganized attachment patterns, with particular attention to how these adaptations manifest in romantic relationships, friendships, family dynamics, and the therapeutic relationship itself. We will also explore the influence of trauma, inconsistent caregiving, and relational disruptions, while emphasizing that attachment patterns are neither fixed nor inherently pathological.

Through clinical examples, experiential exercises, and opportunities for self-reflection, participants will learn practical strategies for recognizing attachment-related dynamics, supporting clients in developing greater relational awareness, and fostering more secure ways of connecting with others.

Continuing Education Workshop Objectives:

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the foundational principles of attachment theory, including the developmental origins and distinguishing characteristics of secure, anxious, avoidant, and disorganized attachment patterns.
2. Identify how early attachment experiences may influence adult relationships, emotional regulation, coping strategies, and expectations of self and others.
3. Recognize attachment-related dynamics within the therapeutic relationship, including patterns involving trust, emotional vulnerability, interpersonal boundaries, and responses to relational stress.
4. Apply attachment-informed interventions to help clients increase relational awareness, strengthen emotional regulation, and develop more secure and adaptive patterns of connection.