Overview of Attachment Based Family Therapy

This workshop reviews the theory, research, and clinical strategies of attachment-based family therapy (ABFT). ABFT is a manualized, empirically-supported family therapy designed to target family and individual processes associated with adolescent depression and suicide. Tested with diverse families, including low-income and minority families, ABFT is a trust-based, emotion-focused, process-oriented brief therapy.

The model is organized by five treatment tasks that provide directionality. Using lecture, discussion and therapy tape review, participants will learn how this model helps families repair interpersonal ruptures that have damaged trust and rebuild emotionally-protective and secure parent–child relationships.

Learning Objectives:

• To explain the theoretical foundation of ABFT that guides therapists in therapy implementation
• To discuss the purpose of the five treatment tasks
• To describe the strategies used in the five treatment tasks

Presenters:

Guy Diamond, PhD is Director/Chair of the Center for Family Intervention Science and ABFT Training Program at Drexel University, Associate Professor at Drexel University, Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and former director of the Couple and Family Therapy PhD Program at Drexel University.

Suzanne Levy, PhD is an internationally renowned licensed clinical psychologist and Co-Developer of ABFT. ABFT is a manualized, empirically informed and supported, family therapy model specifically designed to target family and individual processes associated with adolescent suicide and/or depression. Since 2007, Dr. Levy has been conducting ABFT training workshops and supervision for therapists nationally and internationally. She has presented regionally, nationally, and internationally on ABFT, emotion coaching, child and adolescent therapies, resilience, adolescent depression, adolescent development, and adolescent substance use. Along with her colleagues, Drs. Guy and Gary Diamond, Dr. Levy has written the first book on ABFT, Attachment-Based Family Therapy for Depressed Adolescents published by the American Psychological Association.

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