Trauma, Attachment, and the Therapeutic Relationship

A Nervous System–Informed Approach

A Training for Therapists and Healing Practitioners – Led by Melanie Reese, LMFT, CCTP

Investment: $180 (+tax)

Date: December 4, 2026
Time: 9:30 am to 1:00 pm (CST with breaks)
Continuing Education Credit: 3 credit hours
Questions: melanie@groundworktraumaeducation.com

COURSE OVERVIEW

Offered by Groundwork Trauma Education, this training explores the intersection of trauma, attachment, and the therapeutic relationship through a nervous system–informed lens. Attachment wounds and trauma often show up not only in clients’ histories, but also in the relational field of therapy itself. This course focuses on helping clinicians recognize, track, and respond to attachment driven activation as it unfolds moment by moment in session.

Participants will learn how trauma shapes attachment strategies, how these strategies manifest somatically and relationally, and how the therapist’s presence and regulation directly influence safety and repair. Emphasis is placed on attunement, pacing, co regulation, and ethical relational boundaries that support secure connection and trauma healing.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

• How trauma and attachment interact within the nervous system
• Recognizing attachment strategies and relational patterns in session
• Tracking shifts in connection, distance, protest, and shutdown
• Understanding reenactment and relational triggers in trauma therapy
• Using therapist regulation and countertransference as clinical information
• Supporting co regulation, safety, and repair in the therapeutic relationship
• Navigating rupture and repair without over functioning or withdrawal
• Ethical boundaries and relational clarity in attachment based trauma work

WHO IS THIS TRAINING FOR

This workshop is designed for:

• Licensed mental health professionals working with trauma and relational wounds
• Therapists interested in attachment informed trauma therapy
• Clinicians working with clients who experience relational instability or attachment injury
• Practitioners seeking to strengthen attunement and relational presence
• Therapists wanting practical tools for working with attachment activation in session

This is an educational training. It is not a certification program and does not replace required modality specific training or supervision.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

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

1. 1. Describe how trauma impacts attachment patterns and relational behavior.

   2. Identify nervous system cues associated with attachment activation in therapy.

   3. Apply attunement and co regulation strategies within the therapeutic relationship.

   4. Recognize and respond to rupture and repair processes in trauma therapy.

   5. Explain ethical considerations related to relational dynamics and attachment based work.