Attachment, the Nervous System & Protective Strategies

Sometimes a client's response can seem much bigger than the situation in front of them.

They may become highly anxious, shut down, disconnect, become intensely alert to changes in the relationship or find it difficult to think clearly once they feel threatened.

It can be tempting to focus only on the behaviour we can see.

Attachment-informed practice invites us to become curious about what may be happening underneath it.

This 4-hour live online workshop explores the relationship between attachment, emotional regulation, the nervous system and protective responses, helping therapists understand why experiences that once helped somebody stay safe can continue to shape how they respond in adult relationships and in therapy.

We will look at how early relational experiences contribute to developing capacities for regulation and how experiences of safety, threat and connection can influence the way a person responds to stress.

The workshop explores familiar protective responses such as fight, flight and freeze, while moving beyond simply identifying a nervous-system state. Instead, we will consider what the response may be protecting, what might have activated it and what the client may need from the therapeutic relationship in that moment.

The original workshop material explores how threat can affect memory and the ability to place experiences in the past, including the way traumatic experiences may remain connected with bodily sensations and become reactivated by reminders in the present. It also considers the relationship between attachment experiences, arousal and developing capacities for self-regulation.

Throughout the workshop, we bring these ideas back into the therapy room.

Rather than seeing regulation as something the client simply needs to learn to do by themselves, we will consider the importance of co-regulation, attunement and relational safety.

We will also think about our own role.

Can we notice when a client's nervous system is becoming activated without becoming overly focused on calming them down? Can we remain curious about what their response is communicating? And can the therapeutic relationship become somewhere that difficult emotional experiences can gradually be thought about, felt and integrated?

The final part of the workshop brings together body, emotion, memory and meaning, exploring how therapists can help clients connect present experience with what may have been learned or experienced previously. This reflects the existing training's emphasis on bringing body sensations and thinking together and helping experience become more integrated.

During the workshop we will explore

attachment, early relationships and developing capacities for regulation
how experiences of safety and threat affect emotional arousal
the nervous system and protective responses
fight, flight and freeze
what can happen to thinking and reflection when arousal becomes high
trauma, memory and why the past can sometimes feel present
how attachment experiences may shape responses to stress
co-regulation and the development of self-regulation
the importance of attunement and relational safety
recognising protective responses without pathologising the client
how the therapeutic relationship can support regulation and integration
what all of this means for everyday clinical practice

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is designed for counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists and other mental health practitioners who want to understand more about the relationship between attachment, emotional regulation and protective responses.

It may be particularly useful if you work with clients who:

become quickly overwhelmed
shut down or disconnect when difficult material arises
appear constantly alert to threat
find it hard to regulate strong emotion
experience trauma reminders in the present
struggle to think or reflect once attachment fears are activated
seem to move between heightened arousal and withdrawal

You don't need an extensive knowledge of neuroscience.

The emphasis is on taking useful ideas about attachment, regulation and the nervous system and asking:

What does this help me understand about the person sitting in front of me?

Training details

Format: Live online Duration: 4 hours ACA OPD: 5 points Provider: Optima Attachment Training