Virtual - Join from Home
6 hours of pre-recorded lectures & 6 hours of live practical sessions
Register today and receive a FREE Bonus Resource:
Behavior Management From an Attachment Perspective:
A Resource You’ll Use Again and Again
One of the most common questions therapists ask is:
“What do I tell parents to do at home?”
While IAFT helps you understand and shift the parent-child relationship, this bonus resource provides practical guidance for helping parents respond to challenging behaviors through an attachment lens. You’ll gain concrete strategies, real-life examples, and tools you can immediately share with families who are struggling with power struggles, dysregulation, aggression, and disconnection.
Find the bonus in your portal after registration.
The Integrative Attachment Family Therapy (IAFT) Training Course, developed by family therapy expert and attachment specialist Dafna Lender, is a powerful intervention approach that addresses a wide array of issues that make their way to a therapist’s office: difficult behaviors on the part of the child, such as frequent arguments and tantrums, disobedience, and indifference; and reactive behaviors on the part of the parents, such as yelling, pleading, threatening, and giving up or giving in.
Instead of viewing the child as the problem, IAFT addresses the crux of the issue: a misalignment in the parent-child relationship. Dafna walks students through the IAFT framework, providing therapeutic insight and concrete strategies to help families achieve meaningful and lasting change.
Learn through clinical case analysis, role-playing, and practical exercises you can integrate into your practice and use on your own.
This program is offered at the introductory level. It is suitable for graduate-level learning and accessible to anyone interested in the subject.
In preparation for the training, participants are encouraged to purchase and read the book Integrative Attachment Family Therapy: A Clinical Guide to Heal and Strengthen the Parent-Child Relationship through Play, Co-regulation, and Meaning-Making.
About Dafna Lender
Dafna is a family therapy expert and attachment specialist. Dafna is an international trainer and supervisor for practitioners who work with children and families.
She is a certified trainer and supervisor/consultant in both Theraplay and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP), as well as an EMDR therapist. Dafna’s expertise is drawn from 28 years of working with families in many settings: at-risk after school programs, therapeutic foster care, in-home crisis stabilization, residential care and private practice.
Dafna is author of Integrative Attachment Family Therapy (2023) and the co-author of Theraplay the Practitioner’s Guide (2020). She trains therapists worldwide in 4 languages: English, Hebrew, French and Spanish.
Live session dates and times
- Live Sessions are from 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time (and are recorded)
♦ Module 1: Foundations of Attachment Family Therapy
In Module 1, we will practice exercises to maximize your social engagement system and participate in experiential exercises to learn about your internal regulation system.
Key Learning Objectives:
- Use body language and nervous system awareness to build trust and safety
- Regulate your own responses to clients using polyvagal theory and guided imagery
- Understand nervous system mismatches through real client case videos
- Create polyvagal maps for yourself and your clients
♦ Module 2: Attachment-Based Activities for Attunement, Trust & Regulation
In Module 2, we will learn how interpersonal play between parent and child builds trust, safety and connection. We will practice activities from the 4 Dimensions.
Key Learning Objectives:
- Learn about the 4 dimensions of Theraplay
- Learn which type of child behaviors need which of the Theraplay dimension
- Learn activities to use in sessions with your child and parent clients
- Learn how different play activities support specific child needs
Sample Activities:
- Balloon Between Two Bodies
- Weather Report
- Mirroring Game
- Blow Me Over
- Imaginary Ball Toss
♦ Module 3: Facilitating Parent-Child Dialogues for Connection & Understanding
In Module 3, we will learn how to help caregiver and child create safe dialogues. We will practice PACE for when a child is angry/defensive and when a child is passive/withdrawn/depressed.
Key Learning Objectives:
- Use the PACE model (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, Empathy)
- Support verbal and non-verbal communication between caregiver and child
- Create emotionally safe interactions
- Identify and repair patterns of toxic shame
♦ Module 4: Understanding Difficult Behaviors & Supporting Parents
In Module 4, we will: practice responding to defensive parents to help uncover non-conscious fears and facilitate mentalization skills. We will practice role play for parents who make blaming statements.
Key Learning Objectives:
- Uncover core beliefs behind children’s behaviors
- Respond to defensive parent statements with curiosity and care
- Practice coaching parents live in session
- Support parent mentalization and reduce criticism or blame
Common Parent Defenses Addressed:
- Understanding parents who are resentful, withdrawn, critical
Overall Course Learning Objectives:
- Describe the principles of Attachment Theory
- List the areas of functioning that are affected by Complex Trauma
- Describe the intervention of PACE
- List 2 playful responses in a PACE dialogue
- List 2 accepting responses in a PACE dialogue
- List 2 empathic responses in a PACE dialogue
- List 2 curious responses in a PACE dialogue
- List 2 interventions for facilitating direct parent-child communication
- List 3 steps in preparing parents for working in an attachment-based model
- Explain the condition of Blocked Care
- List 2 possible reasons for a parent’s persistent defensive statements
- List 2 techniques for regulating a parent’s emotions in a session
- List 2 components of voice prosody
- Describe the social engagement system
What participants say...
Reserve your place
Registration closes Monday, June 29th
The first Live Session with Dafna is Tuesday, June 30.
Integrative Attachment Family Therapy Training Course
$225.00
Your ticket includes:
- 12 hours of training
- 3 Weekly sessions
- Earn a certificate of completion
Integrative Attachment Family Therapy Training Course With CE
$275.00
Your ticket includes:
- 12 hours of training
- 3 Weekly sessions
- Earn up to 12 CE Credits
