The International Attachment Network presents:
Focused Couples Therapy. An Attachment-based Approach
Saturday 12th September 1000 – 1300
The connection between the ability to form and maintain secure relationships, and healthy development and psychological wellbeing is a fundamental tenet of attachment theory, and crucially for attachment-informed psychotherapy observation of our clients’ beliefs, anxieties and behaviours in relationships offers us a vital window into their inner worlds and developmental histories.
In this workshop Nicola shares her integrative model for working with the couple, exploring how it harnesses this attachment information to help the couple and the ‘individual in the couple’ to more comprehensively and succinctly elucidate, understand and articulate their respective needs and expectations of close relationships. She demonstrates how it encourages compassionate acceptance of how their dysfunctional attachment behaviour and beliefs (inner working models) underpinning their stuckness in relationships are in fact adaptively formed defensive attachment strategies, which now in adulthood prevent the attainment of secure relationships.
Nicola Jones offers couples and individual psychotherapists a multi-focal perspective on the couple’s verbal and non-verbal behaviour; an interplay of attachment styles and internal working models, interacting with the other social motivational systems: caregiving, interest sharing, sex, affiliation and ranking. She focuses on how they interact optimally, defensively and hierarchically. Nicola then integrates these insights with perspectives on emotional regulation from polyvagal theory and developmental psychology.
About the Speaker
Nicola Jones, Vice Chair of IAN is a psychotherapist and trainer. She works with couples, individuals and families in her private practice in Bristol, and lectures in couples-based attachment theory and trains individual therapists in couples therapy. Nicola trained with Relate, the Institute of Family Therapy, The Bowlby Centre and has an MA in Gender Studies, SOAS.
Ticket prices are subsidized by IAN and all profits fund the work of the International Attachment Network. It is policy of the International Attachment Network to keep audience size to a minimum so that all attendees may engage directly with the speaker, therefore tickets are limited and early purchase is advised.
IAN members and AGIP members £25 | Non-members £40
Student concession tickets are available at a discounted rate of £15. To purchase a student ticket, please email Monika admin@ian-attachment.org.uk from your student email account.