The Wider Community
Creating space for conversation, curiosity and connection
Understanding Ourselves Through Our Relationships
Have you ever wondered why your closest relationships can sometimes feel so complicated? Why certain conversations with a partner, friend or family member bring up strong emotions, or why a comment from your line manager can affect you more deeply than you expected?
Perhaps you find yourself repeating familiar patterns in relationships, or simply want to understand why we connect, disconnect and sometimes struggle to find our way back to one another.
Attachment theory offers a way of exploring these questions.
At the International Attachment Network, we believe these conversations belong beyond the consulting room, classroom or conference. Our Wider Community is a welcoming space to explore attachment, relationships and what it means to be human.
You don't need to be an attachment expert. You just need to be curious..
The IAN Connection Café
A monthly in-person space to meet, think and connect
What if we had more opportunities to talk openly and thoughtfully about the relationships that shape our lives?
The IAN Connection Café is a monthly, salon-style gathering where people come together to explore attachment, relationships and the everyday experiences of being human.
Each café begins with an idea to get us thinking. It might be a short talk, an interview, a piece of research or a question that opens up conversation.
But the heart of the café is what happens next: listening, reflecting, exchanging perspectives and connecting with others.
It isn't a lecture, a training session or a therapy group. It's a welcoming space to be curious together.
Come along, enjoy a cup of tea or coffee, and join the conversation.
Why a Connection Café?
Attachment happens between us.
While books, research and therapy can deepen our understanding, there is something different about thinking together — hearing another person's perspective, having our assumptions challenged, recognising something of ourselves in someone else's experience, or discovering a question we hadn't thought to ask.
The Connection Café is an invitation to be curious and explore some of the questions that sit at the heart of attachment:
How do we connect?
What helps us feel safe with one another?
What happens when relationships become difficult?
How do our earliest experiences continue to shape us?
And how might understanding attachment help us relate differently?
There may not always be simple answers. The value is in having a place where we can explore the questions together.
Join the conversation online A monthly space to meet, think and connect
You can still be part of the IAN Connection Café wherever you live.
Watch a recording of our monthly café, then join a facilitated online gathering where we explore the theme together in smaller breakout rooms.
It's an opportunity to hear different perspectives, reflect on your own experiences and connect with others who share your curiosity about relationships.
You are always welcome to listen rather than speak. Member discounts apply.
Continuing the conversation beyond therapy
For some people, an interest in attachment grows through their own therapeutic journey. Therapy can open up new ways of understanding ourselves, our relationships and the patterns we carry with us and those conversations do not necessarily end when therapy does.
The IAN Connection Café offers a different kind of space in which that curiosity can continue. It is not therapy, or a substitute for therapeutic support, but an opportunity to keep thinking, learning and connecting with others in a wider community.
You may want to deepen your understanding of attachment, hear how others think about relationships, encounter new ideas, or simply remain connected to conversations that have become meaningful to you.
There is no expectation to share personal experiences. You are welcome to participate in whatever way feels comfortable — to contribute, ask questions, listen and reflect.
Everyone is welcome
You might already know a great deal about attachment, or this might be the beginning of your interest.
You might come through your own experience of therapy, as a parent or carer (we also have dedicated IAN Nurturing Connections Café for parents, teachers and carers), through study or professional work, or simply because you are curious about attachment and relationships.
The IAN Connection Café is about bringing different people and perspectives into the same conversation.
Come as you are. Bring your curiosity.
Join the conversation.
Keep Exploring with IAN’s Wider Community Membership
Curiosity about attachment doesn't have to end when the café finishes.
Our Wider Community Membership offers opportunities to continue learning, reflecting and connecting throughout the year.
As a member, you can enjoy access to our monthly Connection Café recordings, explore a growing collection of accessible resources, connect with others interested in understanding relationships, and receive 10% off selected public IAN talks, events and cafés.