Understanding the Four Phases of Integrated Attachment Family Therapy (IAFT)
IAFT helps clinicians uncover the reasons for the misalignment between parent and child so they can guide families toward looking at the source of the issues rather than the superficial behaviors. More importantly, this approach provides concrete tools and interventions that actually address and correct the issues so families can transform into happy and well-functioning environments in which children can grow.
At the core of the IAFT approach is the notion that the parent-child relationship is the key to creating the platform for the child’s healthy emotional development. Treatment must start with the parent, as the parent is the main source of the child’s guidance and comfort, the lens through which they interpret the world. Too often, clinicians shy away from working directly with parents because they come with a host of defenses and dysfunctions that are off-putting and complex. However, creating a strong alliance with the parents and then doing the deep therapeutic work throughout the therapy process is the crucial, and often missing, piece of therapeutic work with children.
IAFT strengthens the attachment relationship through play, parent work, and deliberate dialogue. It involves four phases, each focusing on a different person or dyad within the family structure. Here’s an overview:
Download these free worksheets straight from Integrative Attachment Family Therapy to guide you and your clients' healing and strengthen the parent-child relationship through play, co-regulation, and meaning making.
The key to meaningful change is connection. Integrated Attachment Family Therapy (IAFT), developed by family therapy expert and attachment specialist Dafna Lender, is a powerful intervention approach that addresses a wide array of issues that make their way to a therapist’s office: difficult behaviors on the part of the child, such as frequent arguments and tantrums, disobedience, and indifference, and reactive behaviors on the part of the parents, such as yelling, pleading, threatening, and giving up or giving in. Instead of viewing the child as the problem, IAFT addresses the crux of the issue: a misalignment in the parent-child relationship. In this treatment guide, Dafna walks readers through the IAFT framework, providing therapeutic insight and concrete strategies to help families achieve meaningful and lasting change.
When attachment ruptures permeate a family, children are left feeling confused, hurt, and disconnected from their caregivers…feelings that are most disguised as oppositional behavior. In turn, caregivers become frustrated and discouraged when their child-rearing approaches aren’t working to address what they think are behavior issues…which leaves them both feeling more disconnected than ever. And the cycle continues. This is where you step in. Watch Dafna Lender, therapist and internationally recognized attachment-based trauma expert, for this 3-hour seminar that is overflowing with compelling insight and concrete strategies you can use right away to help families connect and repair.
Dafna Lender, LCSW, is an international trainer and supervisor for practitioners who work with children and families. She is a certified trainer and supervisor/consultant in both Theraplay and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) and an EMDR therapist. Dafna’s expertise is drawn from 25 years of working with families with attachment in many settings: at-risk after school programs, therapeutic foster care, in-home crisis stabilization, residential care and private practice. Dafna’s style, whether as a therapist or teacher, is combining the light-hearted with the profound by bringing a playful, intense and passionate presence to every encounter. Dafna is the author of Integrative Attachment Family Therapy (2023) and co-author of Theraplay® - The Practitioner’s Guide (2020).
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dafna Lender maintains a private practice. She is a published author and receives royalties. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dafna Lender is an author for Psychotherapy Networker.
