Dyadic Developmental Practice Level One

Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) was created by US clinical Psychologist Dan Hughes as an intervention model for families with adopted or fostered children who had experienced neglect and abuse in their birth families & suffered from significant developmental trauma. DDP is based on and brings together attachment theory, what we understand about developmental trauma, the neurobiology of trauma, attachment and caregiving, intersubjectivity theory and child development. It focuses on facilitating the child’s readiness & ability to establish a secure attachment with their caregivers and is family-based. It is called Dyadic Developmental Practice to focus attention on the importance of reciprocity in parenting, caregiving and therapy, but also to draw attention to the fact that abuse, neglect and trauma can seriously impact on the child’s developmental age and stage.

It is an approach that:

• Integrates current research in the areas of trauma neurobiology, early child development & attachment theory, to produce a therapeutic & parenting approach that assists professionals to understand & support children with trauma-attachment problems, and their families.
• Communicates Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity & Empathy (PACE) in order to help the child regulate their feelings of fear, shame or anger associated with past experiences, and to create together a new autobiographical narrative to integrate into their life story.
• Recognises and guides the vital roles which adoptive parents, foster carers and residential workers play in the recovery of traumatised, attachment-resistant children.
• Provides a set of practice principles that enrich parenting and inform the professional networks that support the child outside of the home e.g. in residential settings and at school.

By the end of this course participants will understand:

• The impact of secure developmental attachment on neurological, affective, cognitive, and behavioural development.
• How developmental trauma (abuse and neglect) create insecure and disorganised attachment patterns which impede normal development.
• Principles of psychotherapy, effective communication and parenting that facilitate the development of attachment security.
• Specific strategies of parenting and communication that facilitate the development of a secure attachment and help children integrate past trauma andabusive experiences.
• How the caregiver’s attachment history and attachment patterns can be important factors when providing care for children who have experienced developmental trauma.

This training will be of interest to therapists and other professionals whose work involves supporting families, parents and caregivers (adoptive parents, foster parents, kinship carers or residential carers), whose children have experienced developmental trauma and show attachment and relationship difficulties with their caregivers. DDP principles and interventions will be presented via lecture format, formal discussion, case examples, videotape of therapy sessions, role-play, and hand-outs. This Level One (Introductory) 28-hour (4-day) intensive training course is a pre-requisite to becoming a certified DDP practitioner and is strictly limited to only 24 participants. We expect it will be fully subscribed and encourage you to register early to avoid disappointment.

Sian Phillips is a Psychologist in private practice in Kingston, Ontario. Since gaining her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto she has specialised in the assessment of childhood trauma and attachment difficulties, working with children and caregivers for the last 20 years. Sian is a former international board member of the Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Institute, and as a certified DDP practitioner she accredits and trains professionals in the approach. Information on recommended pre-reading will be supplied following registration and certification will be provided upon completion. Level 2 DDP training requires at least 6 months to pass following the completion of Level 1.