Attachment-Based Family Therapy
I offer Attachment Focused Family Therapy (ABFT) to families who are experiencing a crisis or difficulty with a young child or adolescent. Your child may have behavioural struggles, depression, anxiety or have suffered trauma. I understand, that the family is a vital resource for a young person, especially through the changing and often turbulent times of adolescence. Many of the difficulties for adolescents can be alleviated and more readily managed through reinforcing the sense of connection within parent:child relationships and optimising your child's self-control and emotion regulation at a time when it may be most challenging to do so. Male or female, a young person’s parents are best placed for this role of consistently meeting their child’s developmental requirements.
AFFT is an empirically informed model of treatment comprised of three distinct, yet overlapping phases. AFFT rests on the notion that interpersonal struggles within the family often limit an adolescent’s capacity to manage their emotional and behavioural problems. Without a strong foundation of trust and safety however, problem-solving interventions are likely to fail. Therefore, a focus on interpersonal functioning between family members is the first order of business in treatment. As the secure relationship base is strengthened, adolescents can increasingly turn to their parents for support to manage the stressors that can exacerbate emotional and behavioural struggles. Therefore, treatment is focused on these goals.
The primary aim of ABFT is to re-establish or strengthen the family’s capacity to offer (parents) and receive (young person) a secure base of love and protection, through the facilitation of corrective attachment experiences. ABFT is connected strongly to multidimensional family therapy, emotion-focused therapy, contextual family therapy and attachment theory. ABFT rests on the notion that interpersonal problems within the family must be addressed initially and directly, as these themes can often make-or-break a young person's capacity to address the behavioural problems that bring families to therapy. the quality of interpersonal relationships, social experience and life events cancuase, maintain, or buffer against suicide, depression and anxiety for example. Without a strong foundation of trust and safety, problem-solving interventions will be undermined. Therefore, a focus on interpersonal functioning between family members is the first order of therapeutic business in treatment.
Central to the task of adolescence is transforming parent-child relationships to support an appropriate balance of attachment and autonomy. Young people who struggle have typically fallen off this healthy developmental trajectory. Family therapy in such cases, is particularly relevant for young people as they are still depending on their family, thus the family can have a more potent impact than for adults.
ABFT aims to shift the family’s focus of treatment from viewing-the-adolescent-as-the-problem, to enhancement-of-family-relationships-as-the-solution. As interpersonal relationships are strengthened, adolescents begin to perceive and interact with their parents as caring, safe, protective attachment figures. As the secure base is strengthened, adolescents can increasingly turn to their parents for support to manage the stressors that can exacerbate, for example, depression or suicidal thoughts.
AFFT is an empirically informed model of treatment comprised of three distinct, yet overlapping phases. AFFT rests on the notion that interpersonal struggles within the family often limit an adolescent’s capacity to manage their emotional and behavioural problems. Without a strong foundation of trust and safety however, problem-solving interventions are likely to fail. Therefore, a focus on interpersonal functioning between family members is the first order of business in treatment. As the secure relationship base is strengthened, adolescents can increasingly turn to their parents for support to manage the stressors that can exacerbate emotional and behavioural struggles. Therefore, treatment is focused on these goals.
The primary aim of ABFT is to re-establish or strengthen the family’s capacity to offer (parents) and receive (young person) a secure base of love and protection, through the facilitation of corrective attachment experiences. ABFT is connected strongly to multidimensional family therapy, emotion-focused therapy, contextual family therapy and attachment theory. ABFT rests on the notion that interpersonal problems within the family must be addressed initially and directly, as these themes can often make-or-break a young person's capacity to address the behavioural problems that bring families to therapy. the quality of interpersonal relationships, social experience and life events cancuase, maintain, or buffer against suicide, depression and anxiety for example. Without a strong foundation of trust and safety, problem-solving interventions will be undermined. Therefore, a focus on interpersonal functioning between family members is the first order of therapeutic business in treatment.
Central to the task of adolescence is transforming parent-child relationships to support an appropriate balance of attachment and autonomy. Young people who struggle have typically fallen off this healthy developmental trajectory. Family therapy in such cases, is particularly relevant for young people as they are still depending on their family, thus the family can have a more potent impact than for adults.
ABFT aims to shift the family’s focus of treatment from viewing-the-adolescent-as-the-problem, to enhancement-of-family-relationships-as-the-solution. As interpersonal relationships are strengthened, adolescents begin to perceive and interact with their parents as caring, safe, protective attachment figures. As the secure base is strengthened, adolescents can increasingly turn to their parents for support to manage the stressors that can exacerbate, for example, depression or suicidal thoughts.
