The Healing Power of Attachment-Based Family Therapy

 Earn 3 CE Contact Hours

Working with adolescents and young adults in family therapy can feel like navigating a maze, so many voices, so many needs, and often, so much resistance. How do we reignite the caregiving instincts in parents worn down by frustration and fatigue? How do we rekindle the buried longing for connection and security in adolescents? Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT) offers a powerful, evidence-based framework for moving beyond surface-level conflicts to address deeper wounds—those rooted in broken trust, painful memories, and disrupted attachment. In this workshop, you’ll learn practical strategies to transform therapy into a safe space where adolescents can once again turn to parents for support and protection, and parents can become a secure base on their child’s journey toward emotional well-being and independence. You’ll also learn:

• How attachment ruptures interface with depression, suicidality, trauma, and eating disorders
• A semi-structured approach for guiding clients through healing conversations
• How to help families confront and repair relational ruptures
• How to leverage emotions to facilitate deeper trauma work and relationship repair

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Explain the theoretical foundation of ABFT that guides therapists in therapy implementation.
• Describe how to put attachment ruptures at the center of the clinical conversation.
• Communicate how to use emotions to facilitate deeper trauma work and relationship repair.

Who Should Attend:

Mental health professionals, therapists, social workers, counselors, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, and clinical trainees who work with adolescents, young adults, and their families. This workshop is especially valuable for clinicians interested in attachment-based, trauma-informed, and family-centered approaches to helping families repair relational ruptures, strengthen emotional bonds, and support youth struggling with depression, suicidality, trauma, and other emotional challenges.

Meet the Presenters:

Guy Diamond, PhD, Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, led a psychotherapy research center for 25 years. He has 150+ publications and grant-funded work on family-based treatments and suicide screening. He co-founded the ABFT International Training Institute and practices in Philadelphia.

Suzanne Levy, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and expert in adolescent mental health and family therapy. She is co-developer of ABFT, CEO and co-founder of the ABFT International Training Institute, and co-author of Attachment-Based Family Therapy for Depressed Adolescents.