Presented by
Canadian Association of Psychoanalytic Child Therapists
and
Toronto Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis

A 4-Part Online Weekly Seminar Series with presenters Miriam Steele, Ph.D. and Howard Steele, Ph.D.

ABOUT THE SERIES
Over four Fridays with Professors Miriam Steele & Howard Steele attendees will hear and see a contemporary and historical account of attachment theory, arguably the most powerful available evidence- based account of children’s social and emotional development, with lifespan and intergenerational implications. The Steeles benefitted from having ongoing direct contact over 3-4 years with John Bowlby in London (UK) where Miriam and Howard studied and worked (at University College London) 1986-2004. Miriam trained as a psychoanalyst @ the Anna Freud Center, and is a member of the New York Psychoanalytic Society. Howard is currently a candidate in psychoanalytic training at the William Alanson White Institute in New York City. Since 2004, the Steeles have been based in New York City at The New School for Social Research, where they have helped develop a multi-family intervention (GABI or Group Attachment-Based Intervention) aiming to prevent child maltreatment and promote secure parent-toddler attachments. The Steeles’ work is heavily influenced by sensitivity to the adverse consequences of exposure to trauma and loss and other forms of Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs, with attention to sources of resilience and recovery, including ‘reflective-functioning’. The four- session workshop will provide a thorough introduction to the clinical applications of attachment theory and research, including how to identify unresolved loss or unresolved trauma in speech and behavior. Finally, there will be one lecture entirely devoted to our research including the Mirror Interview, highlighting links among body image, body satisfaction, and alienation from one’s body, and attachment.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Miriam Steele, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology, at the New School for Social Research where she co-directs (with Dr. H. Steele) the Center for Attachment Research. Dr.Miriam Steele is also an Anna Freud Center trained psychoanalyst. Miriam initiated the London Parent-Child Project, a major longitudinal study of intergenerational patterns of attachment whose outcomes included the development of the Reflective Functioning concept and manual. Dr. M. Steele has also carried out longitudinal attachment research in the context of child maltreatment and adoption. Miriam, with Anne Murphy and Howard Steele, has pioneered the development and delivery of the Group Attachment-Based Intervention (GABI) aimed at preventing child maltreatment, and promoting secure child-parent attachments.

Howard Steele, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology, at the New School for Social Research. At the New School, Dr.
Steele co-directs (with Dr. M. Steele) the Center for Attachment Research, www.center-for-attachment.com Howard undertakes a wide range of research centrally focused on the role of attachment security/insecurity across the lifespan and across generations. Howard Steele is also senior and founding editor of the international journal, Attachment and Human Development, and founding president of the Society for Emotion and Attachment Studies, www.seasintnational.org

Both Miriam Steele & Howard Steele were among the 2017 Bowlby-Ainsworth Awardees so recognized by the Center for Mental Health Promotion. Howard Steele and Miriam Steele are co-editors of the 2008 book, Clinical Applications of the Adult Attachment Interview, and the 2018 Handbook of Attachment-Based Interventions, both published by the Guilford Press, New York. The Steeles are members of the Adult Attachment Interview Trainers’ Consortium (mainattachment.org)

SPECIFIC WEEKLY TOPICS
September 22, 2023
Intro to attachment theory/research/clinical work — This first lecture from Howard Steele will cover the basic tenets of attachment theory and research and demonstrate its clinical relevance and underlying empirical research base. The Strange Situation Procedure will be described (with video illustrations). Attachment measures in pre- school and middle childhood. Doll play in early childhood (aged 3-8) is an immediate and long-term reflection of mental health. Filling in the ‘lifespan perspective’ this lecture will also highlight the Friends and Family Interview, a widely used and previously validated interview method assessing attachment in 9-15-year-old youth: The FFI measures the extent to which the youth understand mixed or blended emotions, are able to tolerate uncertainty and psychic pain, and show evidence of emerging reflective functioning, so vital to mental health

September 29, 2023
This second lecture from Howard Steele will introduce The Adult Attachment Interview will be presented with reference to the intergenerational patterns of attachment and clinical contexts using the powerful interview. This presentation will have a special focus on identifying aspects of unresolved loss or unresolved trauma and will show how we have integrated the Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire into our clinically informed research.

October 13, 2023
This 3rd lecture to be delivered by Miriam Steele will cover reflective functioning and mentalization-based treatments, including our Group Attachment-Based Intervention (GABI). This session will illustrate the long-term lifespan and intergenerational validity of the RF concept across different developmental time points and demonstrate its utility as an antidote to trauma and the basis for therapeutic action. This session will include a case presentation with a young adolescent with a focus on how to promote reflective functioning in a clinical context.

October 20, 2023
This final lecture from Miriam Steele will focus on Attachment, trauma and the body. A central area of psychodynamically-informed research at the New School’s Center for Attachment Research involves the use of the innovative ‘Mirror Interview’ (Kernberg, Normadin, & Buh-Nielsen, 2006). This unique empirical assessment of aspects of body representations including body esteem, levels of coherence and reflective functioning, verbal and non-verbal expressions of affect has been used in various contexts including the exploration of the intergenerational transmission of body representations from mothers to daughters, to adolescents with personality disorders. This presentation will introduce the Mirror Interview and describe the clinical implications of charting the intersection between body and attachments representations.

Background readings on these topics will be provided prior to the workshop to all registrants. Register early to receive reading materials sooner!

Certificate of Attendance
A certificate of attendance will be issued upon completion of all four seminars.