course description
Although the critical importance of attachment is no longer a matter of debate, the ability of educators and helping professionals to apply this knowledge has been greatly hampered by the lack of an empirically-supported working model of attachment. This two-day course addresses this gap between science and application. Dr. Neufeld spells out the science of relationship, revealing why it matters so much how and to whom a child attaches. Participants learn how to recognize and resolve the impediments to healthy attachment and how to cultivate a context of connection, even with children who are highly reticent or resistant. Special attention is given to helping restore parents to their rightful position in a child's life. Neufeld discusses common behaviour problems that are rooted in the attachment dynamic and presents strategies that won't harm the relationship. He also expands on how professionals can harness the power of attachment to make their work with children, and the adults responsible for them, easier and more effective.

approach and model
In a world of fragmented knowledge, esoteric terminology, strategies divorced from their philosophical moorings, and a smorgasbord approach to treatment, Dr. Neufeld is a breath of fresh air. His comprehensive model has evolved through years of synthesis and distillation. It is not only brilliant in its simplicity but also universal in its application. Neufeld's unique approach is rooted in depth psychology, grounded in the developmental paradigm, saturated in attachment theory, congruent with current neurological research and honed by thirty-five years of professional practice, parenting and personal reflection. His model is being successfully applied in a wide range of settings including the school system, foster system, correctional system, hospitals, behaviour treatment programs, residential programs, youth programs, individual treatment as well as family counseling and therapy.

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suitability and applicability
Dr. Neufeld's breakthrough model of attachment applies to children of all ages and can be employed in a diverse range of settings. The salience of this model increases with the severity of a child's dysfunction or problems in learning and behaving. Although the focus is on working with children and those responsible for them, the principles and procedures apply to adults as well. Participants regularly include psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, social workers, counselors, therapists, teachers, school administrators, educational specialists, early educators, day-care providers, foster parents, social workers, family workers and youth workers. Professionals interested in honing their skills as parent coaches and consultants will find this course especially relevant. Early educators and day-care providers can apply this model in the interests of prevention and for early intervention.

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course objectives
The overall goal is to equip attendees with a practical working model of attachment that will increase their effectiveness with children as well as enable them in their consultations with parents and teachers.

Participants will be better able to:

• Understand how attachments are meant to develop and how adults can facilitate this development
• Appreciate why children need to attach to the adults responsible for them
• Prevent or reduce attachment incompatibility in children
• Trace the attachment roots of aggression and address the problem without further harm to relationships
• Restore parents and teachers to their rightful place in the lives of their children and students
• Prevent a child's peer attachments from eroding needed attachments with adults
• Unravel the perplexing problem of resistance and oppositionality
• Deal with separation and anxiety problems in children
• Cultivate and maintain a context of connection with children or students
• Create a working village of attachment for a child
• Address behaviour problems without eroding the relationship
• Recognize and address defensive detachment
• Analyze and address dominance problems in children

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outline of the 2-day course

Day One Morning: What is the essence of attachment and how does a child's capacity for relationship develop
- distilling attachment to the essence
- attachment as an overarching theme in science
- attachment as the preeminent need of all living things
- problems with bringing attachment to consciousness
- breaking out of attachment fundamentalism
- problems with medical and reductionistic views of attachment
- a six-stage model of attachment development
- an attachment interpretation of love and affection
- role of the limbic system in attachment
- the vulnerability factor in attachment
- gender differences in the development of attachment
- arrested development in attachment and the implications for adult relationships
- the sexualization of attachment

Day One Afternoon: Why children need to attach to those responsible for them and what keeps this from happening.
- the kind of attachment that is required for parenting and teaching to be effective
- how attachment enables and empowers those responsible for the child
- how parental impotence is epidemic yet misdiagnosed
- role of attachment in emotional health and limbic system functioning
- disordered attachments as a primary cause of children's flight from vulnerability
- role of attachment in the maturational processes in children
- how unrecognized attachment problems are creating widespread developmental arrest
- attachment challenges of hypersensitive children
- problems with time-outs and consequence-based interventions
- the etiological roots of defensive detachment and reactive attachment disorder
- recognizing detachment in its myriad manifestations
- the connection between attentional deficits and attachment problems
- escalating problems of competing attachments in contemporary society
- the true meaning of shyness and why shyness needs to be respected
- the insidious impact of polarized attachments in today's society

Day Two Morning: How to cultivate and preserve healthy attachments between children and the adults responsible for them.
- how to cultivate working relationships with children
- how to coach parents and teachers in cultivating a context of connection
- how to deal with dominance problems in children
- how to assume the alpha position in the attachment
- how to employ match-making and introductions in cultivating connections
- three common discipline practices that undermine relationship
- how to behaviour-proof the relationship with a child
- how to soften a child's defense against relationship

Day Two Afternoon: The role of attachment in problem behaviour and how to address challenging problems without harming the relationship.
- the core role of attachment in aggression
- how to aggression-proof a relationship
- how prevailing practices in treating aggression exacerbate the problem
- an effective relational approach to addressing aggression
- the attachment roots of the bully syndrome
- keys to unmaking the bully
- attachment roots of resistance and oppositionality
- how to counterwill-proof a relationship
- how to address resistance using a relational approach
- the role of attachment in eating problems
- how to address separation and anxiety problems using a relational approach
- ten principles for safe and effective discipline

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