So far, 2015 has been another attachment-focused year for Shalem’s clinical services.

No matter what our age, we need to know that we are loved and valued by the ones closest to us. The Theory of Attachment helps us understand this need, and attachment-based therapies help families and couples create healthy relationships that meet this need.

Shalem’s counselling clinic provides individual, couple, family and group therapy based on this understanding that we all need healthy attachments in order to thrive personally and in our relationships.

For example, Betty has finished running a Nurturing Attachment Support Group, based on Kim Golding’s work. This group was run in partnership with Hamilton Children’s Aid Society, serving adoptive families. The focus was on teaching adoptive parents the skills they need to build strong bonds with their children. Betty reports that is was a very enriching experience for both families and leaders! This group will be offered again, beginning October 1st.

Betty has also just completed her certification as a Supervising Consultant with Dan Hughes’ Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy. This attachment-based model also seeks to help parents and children rebuild strong attachment relationships when they have been broken. Betty’s certification builds our capacity for training other professionals in this type of attachment work.

Shalem’s counsellors continue to train in Emotionally Focused Therapy, an attachment-based therapy for couples. Developed by Sue Johnson and described in her book Hold Me Tight, this model helps couples understand the attachment longings and needs that trigger so much of the relationship conflict they experience.

Since this model has been found to be so effective, Shalem plans to offer a Hold Me Tight Couples’ workshop later this year. Run as a weekend retreat for couples, the program follows Sue Johnson’s book, and seeks to equip couples to have conversations about their own attachment needs. This workshop will take place at Meadowlands CRC in Ancaster, Ontario during the weekend of November 13-15, 2015. To register, click this link.

Attachment health also spilled over into our newsletter, the Shalem Digest. Susan wrote an outstanding article discussing couple distress, and how couples can reconnect.  We’re again receiving strong feedback from the community about its use as a resource for couples.