Understanding Attachment in Families

This four part webinar series provides an introduction to attachment theory and how it can be applied to the family treatment of children and adolescents with serious social and emotional issues. The first module describes the role of an attachment focus in the operationalized version of ESFT and identifies clinical competencies involved in helping caregivers become a more reliable source of emotional support to their children. The second module describes the nature of attachment problems. In the third module, the attachment system and how it creates an internal working model is explained. The fourth module focuses on the nature of secure attachments, with a particular emphasis on how the concepts of attunement and intersubjectivity can be utilized to deepen therapeutic relationships.

This is a Beginning Level course. The target audience is all behavioral health professionals working with children and adolescents.

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the attachment system and how it creates an internal working model
2. Explain the reasons working with attachment is critical in the treatment of children with SED and their families.
3. Describe the features of a secure and insecure attachment patterns in families.
4. Describe the concepts of affect attunement and miscuing emotional needs.

This course uses an online distance-learning self-paced format. It includes recorded audio, recorded video-based webinars, and selected readings. There are post-tests to ensure comprehension of the material. Participants can communicate with the instructors via the online moodle interface. Real-time communication with the instructor in our online, self-paced distance learning courses is not possible. However, participants can send an email to the instructor via the online moodle interface within the course and expect to receive a response within 48 hours. All course content, including post-tests, should take approximately six hours to complete.

Course Outline

Unit 1: The Role of an Attachment Focus in Family Based Treatment (90 minutes)
- Readings on communal rituals, attachment process in family therapy, and the influence of attachment on treatment
- Webinar: The Role of Attachment in Family Based Treatment

Unit 2: The Nature of Attachment Problems (60 minutes)
- Webinar: Differentiating Attachment Problems from Attachment Disorder

Unit 3: Attachment and the Attachment System (90 minutes)
- Webinar: Defining Attachment and It’s Relationship to the Internal Working Model Video on the Strange Situation experiment
- Reading on attachment patterns from Setting the Stage for Change

Unit 4: What Secure Attachments Can Teach Us About Treatment (90 minutes)
- Reading on attachment-focused parenting
- Video on attachment theory
- Webinar: Applying the concepts of affect attunement and miscuing to Treatment

Frequently Asked Questions
Visit our Self-Paced, Online Continuing Education Policies & FAQs for additional information regarding the CFBT online learning center, accommodations for disabilities, reporting problems with the course, instructions for viewing webinars, etc.

Tailoring Supervision to the Individual Therapist

The focus of supervision needs to be informed by an assessment of the therapist’s skill set, while the supervisor’s approach to supervision needs to be informed by an understanding of the person of the therapist. This course presents a framework for thinking about the latter, exploring the influence of therapists’ learning preferences, approach to handling emotional intensity, therapists’ personal context (e.g. gender, race, life stage, values), and stage of professional development as a clinician.

This is a Beginning Level course. The target audience is all behavioral health supervisors of therapists working with children and adolescents.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify two general learning styles and how they can affect response to supervision.
2. Describe how the therapist’s personal context and approach to handling emotional intensity can affect response to families and to supervision.
3. Identify four stages of professional development and how this affects the learning needs of therapists.

Relational Treatment Planning

Treatment planning in ESFT is more than pro forma paperwork separated from the actual on-the-ground treatment. It is, in fact, an intervention that can be a major determinant of treatment outcomes. If done well, the treatment planning process shifts the viewing of problems and their solutions to a more relational perspective, setting the stage for highly focused, meaningful, productive work with motivated family members. This course describes procedures for making this happen. Basic principles related to relational treatment planning are described.

This is a Beginning Level course. The target audience is all behavioral health professionals working with children and adolescents.

Learning Objectives

1. Conceptualize the treatment planning process as an interventional “process”
2. Identify the cornerstones of effective treatment planning with children and families
3. Describe the elements of a family friendly and clinically relevant treatment plan

Supervising Two-Person Teams

One of the unique features of Pennsylvania’s Family Based Mental Health Services program is that it is team delivered. This adds another level of complexity to supervision. Not only must the focus be maintained on individual therapists’ development within the team, but also on development of the team itself. This course identifies the stages of team development and the most common team-based challenges supervisors face. The role of the supervisor in supervising two-person teams at each stage of development is highlighted, as well as supervisory strategies for addressing issues that arise.

This is a Beginning Level course. The target audience is all behavioral health supervisors of therapists working with children and adolescents.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify principles of team development.
2. Describe predictable challenges in team development.
3. Describe strategies for using challenges in team formation to facilitate growth and development.

The Working Context of Family Based Supervision

This course serves as an introduction to clinical supervision in agencies, with a specific focus on supervising therapists who work in the community, such as in Pennsylvania’s Family-Based Mental Health Services program. The expectations of the many stakeholders invested in treatment services are clarified – these expectations form the context of supervision. This course also clarifies the three major components (or roles) involved in overseeing treatment services, reviews the various ways that agencies have structured these roles, and highlights the strengths and challenges associated with each structure. Lastly, the common challenges of supervision in agencies are presented, along with tips for coping.

This is a Beginning Level course. The target audience is all behavioral health supervisors of therapists working with children and adolescents.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the different types and tasks of family-based supervision.
2. Describe the expectations of different stakeholders in family-based supervision.
3. Identify strategies FB supervisors can use for managing the multiple challenges of FB supervision.