Description
How do we help couples experience more connection and security using attachment theory? This course will specifically focus on the application of attachment theory to couples work. We will discuss structure of early sessions; co-regulation; breaks and effective repair; experiential interventions; “holding both” and more!
Learning Objectives:
- Accurately assess maladaptive attachment strategies that are rooted in early experience. Help couples understand their own and their partner’s attachment adaptations.
- Create experiential interventions, both in and out of session, that help couples move toward deeper relationship security and connection.
Agenda:
(5 min) Welcome and Introduction to the Speakers
(20-30 min) Nuances of adult attachment adaptations
(30-40 min) Experiential Interventions (In and Out of Session)
- Structure of Early Sessions
- Attachment Focused Family of Origin Questions
- “Holding Both”
- Identifying Attachment Dance
(10-15 min) Understanding Co-regulation with Couples
(30-40 min) Attachment based conflict interventions & Rupture and repair
(10 min) Questions/discussion
Presenter Bio:
Janelle Althen is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has been working with couples and families since 1994. Janelle attended the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver (MSW 1995), and completed a 2-year post- graduate program in marriage and family therapy at Denver Family Institute (1996). Janelle discovered the power of attachment research and its clinical application early on in her career and has gone on to create curriculum and teach attachment work with couples and family systems at a graduate and post-graduate level for over 15 years. In response to the lack of attachment-based/trauma-informed family therapy centers in Denver, Janelle and Eli Harwood established The Pass Center, in 2012. Pass Center provides attachment and trauma-informed, systemic, and strength-based therapy to families and couples, and offers education to parents and professionals. In desire to reach more families and couples with this healing information, Janelle and Eli then established “The Attachment Labs Coaching” in 2023 to help add more support to folks outside of Colorado State. Janelle loves being a parent to both biological and adoptive children who are now in their 20’s.
Eli Harwood is a licensed therapist, author of the book “Securely Attached: Transform Your Attachment Patterns into Loving, Lasting Relationships”, and an educator who has more than 17 years of experience helping people process relational traumas and develop secure attachment relationships with their children and partners. Eli is a former DFI faculty, having taught the course “Trauma from a Systemic Lens and Approach”. Eli has three children, one husband, two cats, and an extraordinary number of plant babies. Eli is also prone to running her mouth on the internet to help educate as many people as possible about cultivating secure attachment relationships. You can find her anywhere that people social media with the handle @attachmentnerd
(NBCC and AASECT CEs are available. This program meets the requirements of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists [AASECT] and is approved for 2 CE credits. These CE credits may be applied toward AASECT certification and renewal of certification.)
