Clinical Interventions for Healing Early Attachment Wounds and Embracing Secure Relationships

Presented by Diane Poole Heller, PhD on 10-30-2020 at 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. Eastern) to noon Pacific (3 p.m. Eastern)

Healing childhood wounds is key for enjoying fulfilling relationships as an adult. In this 2-hour continuing education webinar, Dr. Diane Poole Heller--an expert in the field of applied Adult Attachment Theory, trauma resolution, and integrative healing techniques--will blend lecture and experiential exercises to support learning from the inside out. She will focus on how mental health professionals can help clients attain deeper connection, meaning, and safety in adult relationships by working to heal early Attachment wounds or disruptions.

Attendees will be introduced to the fundamental patterns of Attachment Adaptations--Secure, Ambivalent/ Preoccupied, Avoidant/Dismissive and Disorganized/Unresolved Trauma--as well as how they impact adult relationships. Dr. Diane Poole Heller’s groundbreaking approach can help mental health professionals learn what the hallmarks are for identifying each style, as well as what is needed to enhance secure attachment in the people they treat.

As clinicians use this material to explore their clients’ and their own attachment histories, they will discover how to heal this important part of the human journey, overcome the grip of past wounds, and have healthy intimacy in relationships.

This introductory web conference is designed to help clinicians:

  1. Identify how dynamics between early childhood “family of origin” attachment patterns may play out in adult relationships.
  2. Define the distinctions between Secure, Avoidant, Ambivalent, and Disorganized Attachment styles.
  3. Apply specific Corrective Experiences to aid in resolving each insecure attachment pattern to enhance an embodied recovery of Secure Attachment.
  4. Explain unconscious dynamics and survival instincts that block our capacity for intimacy and how to overcome them.
  5. Describe and practice concrete Secure Attachment Skills (SAS) to enhance healthy functioning.

Statement of program material's accuracy, utility, and risks: The course material is drawn from AAI research and the work of Dan Siegel, David Wallin, Alan Schore, Stephen Porges, and John Bowlby. It is very useful for clinicians to help clients recover from deprivation, inconsistency, or lack of safety in early parent/child relationships to free them toward more secure attachment capacity and fulfillment. There may be risk when moving people into deep attachment wounds too quickly or without enough attention to resource, containment, and safety.

Declaration identifying any potential conflict of interest and/or commercial support: None.

If you have any questions or would like information regarding disability accommodations, please contact us here.

Continuing Education (CE) Information

2 CE contact hours will be provided by GoodTherapy for attending this web conference in its entirety. To receive CE credit hours for an archived recording, you will need to complete a survey as well as a 15-question exam, verifying that you listened to or watched the event in its entirety. Archived CE events are generally considered "homestudy" by licensing boards.

GoodTherapy is an NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEPTM) and may offer NBCC-approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements.

GoodTherapy.org, provider #1352, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. GoodTherapy.org maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 3/30/2022 – 3/30/2025. Social workers completing this course receive 2 clinical continuing education credits.

GoodTherapy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. GoodTherapy maintains responsibility for this program and its content. 

GoodTherapy, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0395. GoodTherapy, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0022 and for licensed mental health counselors #MHC-0031.

To receive CE credit hours for an archived event, you will need to complete a survey as well as a 12 or 15-question exam, verifying that you listened to or watched the event in its entirety. Archived CE events generally are considered "homestudy" by licensing boards.

Registration Information

Premium and Pro Membership with GoodTherapy includes access to this web conference at no additional cost, as well as other member benefits such as a profile listing in GoodTherapy's Therapist Directory. Not yet a member? Sign up for a Premium or Pro Membership, here.

Just want CE credits? Sign up for a monthly or annual CE Subscription with GoodTherapy to get unlimited access to our CE Program, including this event, other live CE web conferences, and hundreds of hours of homestudy courses.

Mental health professionals who are not members can access the homestudy recording for $14.95. Sign up here to purchase this CE course and earn a CE certificate.

If the event is canceled by GoodTherapy, registrants who purchased the event will be notified and the charge for the event will be refunded

If you have any questions or would like information regarding disability accommodations, please contact us.

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Meet the Presenter

Diane Poole Heller, PhD

Diane Poole Heller, PhD

Diane Poole Heller, PhD is an internationally-recognized speaker, author, and expert in the field of child and adult attachment theory as well as trauma resolution. Her expertise in trauma healing has benefitted survivors and families of 9/11 and the Columbine shootings, making her a highly sought-after consultant, speaker, and presenter for organizations worldwide.

In 2019, Dr. Heller joined Rosie Perez on stage at the Rubin Museum of Art to discuss childhood trauma, its impact on adult relationships, and managing PTSD. Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC) awarded Diane with a Lifetime Humanitarian Award in 2019.

Dr. Heller developed her signature series on adult attachment called DARe (Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning experience) which is also internationally recognized as SATe (Somatic Attachment Training experience). Her work with adult attachment has forged a path for adults with childhood attachment injuries to develop Secure Attachment Skills (SAS) that lead to more connected and fulfilling adult relationships. She believes that by healing ourselves we heal our families, our communities, and the world as a whole.

In 1989, Dr. Heller began working with Dr. Peter Levine, founder of SETI (Somatic Experiencing® Trauma Institute). As Senior Faculty for SETI, she taught Somatic Experiencing® trauma work internationally for over 25 years.

Dr. Heller's book, Crash Course, on auto accident trauma resolution, is used worldwide as a resource for healing a variety of overwhelming life events. Her film, “Surviving Columbine,” produced with Cherokee Studios, aired on CNN and supported community healing in the aftermath of the Columbine high school shootings. Sounds True recently published Dr. Heller’s audiobook: Healing Your Attachment Wounds: How to Create Deep and Lasting Relationships and her newest book, The Power of Attachment: How to Create Deep and Lasting Intimate Relationships. She has also authored numerous articles in the trauma resolution attachment field.

Learn more about Dr. Heller at dianepooleheller.com.

Continuing Education Provider Approvals

  • aceGoodTherapy.org is Approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. GoodTherapy.org maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
  • Logo GoodTherapy.org has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6380. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. GoodTherapy.org is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
  • aceGoodTherapy.org, provider #1352, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. GoodTherapy.org maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 03/30/2019 - 03/30/2022.
  • GoodTherapy.org, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0395.
  • GoodTherapy.org, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0022 and for licensed mental health counselors #MHC-0031.

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