Developing Secure Attachment: Make Sense of Your Past to Empower Your Future

Lisa Firestone, PhD, instructor

Sparked by Bowlby’s original insights, attachment research has revolutionized our understanding of human development, the internal world, and the consequences of development gone awry. No other empirically-based theory tells us more about how we become who we are – and how to change who we have become.

Research demonstrates that a therapists attachment style is predictive of client outcomes and those therapists with secure attachment have better outcomes. Many psychotherapy outcome research studies are using change in attachment status, to earned secure attachment, as a measure of successful psychotherapy. In addition, what could be more important for you and your clients than understanding the past and how it shapes who you are? We carry around deep wounds, behaviors and beliefs about ourselves and others from our earliest attachments, which unconsciously direct our lives. Research shows that when people fail to make sense of their past, they find themselves reliving and recreating it, essentially re-experiencing old hurts over and over again. Attachment research demonstrates that making sense of the past is the best predictor of your ability to shape your future.

The workshop will provide the tools for you to dig deep and resolve old traumas, big and small, so that they no longer haunt you and strategies to apply these tools with your clients. This workshop will draw upon the latest attachment research and outline the process of writing a coherent narrative. Research in neurobiology shows that when a person writes a coherent narrative they actually rewire their brain to feel more secure within themselves and their relationships. In addition, creating a coherent narrative contributes to developing earned secure attachment. Through guided writing exercises and experiential activities, you will get to know yourself better and gain valuable insight. Additionally, this workshop will provide you with tools to help clients integrate their emotions, heal insecure attachment, and flourish in all their relationships. This workshop will provide you with the tools to help clients have better relationships with their children and romantic partners.

Specific learning objectives:

• 1. Explain how child attachment patterns continue to affect people throughout their lives.
• 2. Describe, using cutting edge neurobiological research, how clients can rewire their brains to feel more   secure.
• 3. Explain how a patient, through the process of psychotherapy, can develop an earned secure attachment in adulthood.
• 4. Apply step by step guidelines for how to help clients develop a coherent narrative for their life.
• 5. Apply techniques to help clients better understand and integrate their emotions.
• 6. Discuss a framework for helping clients resolve childhood traumas.

Program Code: SA16 
6 CE Credits
Location: William James College, Newton

Lisa Firestone, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and Director of Research and Education at The Glendon Association. She is involved in clinical training and research on suicide and violence, resulting in the development of the Firestone Assessment of Self-destructive Thoughts (FAST), the (FASI) and the Firestone Assessment of Violent Thoughts (FAVT), published by PAR Publications. She is co-author of The Self under Siege, Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice, Creating a Life of Meaning and Compassion and Sex and Love in Intimate Relationships. Dr. Firestone is a highly regarded workshop facilitator in the topics of suicide, violence and family relations.