The Misattuned Family: Techniques for Reparative Work in Family Trauma

Too many children feel hurt, angry, and disconnected from their parents; and too many parents feel discouraged that their child-rearing approaches aren’t working.  

Many parent-child therapies focus on improving behaviours without looking at the core issues underneath—attachment and trauma.  

This recording offers an approach that focuses on the physiologic, nonverbal connection between parent and child to improve the relationship. Using two attachment-based modalities—Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy and Theraplay—learn how to enhance regulation, connection, and joy between parents and children as well as guide parents to do reparative work around family trauma. Discover how to: 

• Get to the heart of a child’s deeper thoughts, feelings, wishes, and beliefs without relying on the child’s ability to verbalize feelings 
• Facilitate active dialogue between parents and children that’s both safe and gets to their core issues 
• Practice scenarios for optimal arousal, affect regulation, and de-escalating child-parent dysregulation 
• Learn gentle ways to intervene and redirect a misattuned or critical parent 

Dafna Lender, LCSW, a certified trainer and consultant in both Theraplay® and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy.