Foster Care Training

This workshop will introduce the concept of pathological mourning and demonstrate the intersections of attachment trauma and pathological mourning with adolescents. The training begins with the presentation a case of a 17-year-old girl presenting with difficulties with emotion regulation, depression, and social anxiety beginning in early childhood. This will be followed by a discussion of attachment theory constructs, highlighted by the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System. A specific focus will be paid to the concept of pathological mourning and the implications it has on the ability for one to grieve early attachment trauma in order to achieve emotional and behavioral regulation. The workshop then returns to the case example and focuses on how attachment information can lead to a better understanding of the present difficulties. More specifically, the workshop examines specific stories highlighting the teen’s attachment. This training also explores how an extended inquiry of stories can help to initiate a discussion and allow youth to begin seeing difficulties in a new light, providing an opportunity to begin weaving a new, more compassionate, life story.