Attachment course

Attachment course

Attachment is not a new concept; it has been extensively researched for many years. Attachment plays a crucial role in a child’s physical, neurological, cognitive, and psychological development. It forms the foundation for the development of trust or mistrust and shapes how a child will interact with the world, learn, and form relationships throughout their life. Promoting secure attachment is especially important as it supports mental processes that enable the child to regulate emotions, reduce fear, attune to others, develop self-understanding and insight, exhibit empathy, and engage in appropriate moral reasoning. Understanding attachment and attachment disorders is critical for both understanding the child and providing effective treatment.

We have designed this course so that you will gain both foundational and advanced knowledge about patterns of attachment as a normative development and attachment disorders as a psychiatric condition. This will be approached in terms of both assessment and intervention. The course specifically focuses on attachment and attachment disorders in children and adolescents. It is aimed at psychologists working in child and adolescent psychiatry and related fields.

Instructors:

For this course, we have invited some experienced international researchers and clinicians. Our instructors are:

• Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg: Professor and psychologist with a research focus on attachment and emotion regulation in parents and children, with a special emphasis on neurobiological processes in parenting and development. She is one of the developers of the attachment-based intervention VIPP-SD for children 0-6 years old and their parents. Marian is currently a full professor at ISPA Lisbon and is affiliated with the Center for Attachment Research, New York, and the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
• Astrid Røsland Seim: Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in Norway and holds a PhD. Her research has primarily focused on attachment disorders among adolescents in the Norwegian population raised in institutional care.
• Leen Van Vlierberghe: Clinical psychologist and PhD at KU Leuven, focusing specifically on attachment-based family therapy during middle childhood.
• Guy Bosmans: Professor of clinical psychology at KU Leuven, specialist in attachment-based family therapy for children and adolescents.

Program:

Day 1: Attachment – Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg

Newest evidence on patterns of attachment from childhood to adolescence and adulthood: normative development, stability of patterns, intergenerational transmission, relation to psychopathology, and genetics. Introduction to assessment instruments and interventions in relation to early childhood.

Day 2: Attachment Disorders – Astrid Røsland Seim

Attachment disorders as a psychiatric diagnosis: distinctions from and correlations with normative patterns of attachment. Introduction to assessment and treatment.

Day 3: Attachment Style and Intervention – Leen Van Vlierberghe and Guy Bosmans

Attachment-informed family therapy during middle childhood and adolescence. Evidence and techniques.