Events

Deepening the Attachment Narrative: Integrating Attachment-Based Family Therapy and Schema Therapy

Speaker:

Paul DelGrosso, LICSW LCSW-C

90 minute webinar recorded on May 12, 2026 - recording available at ABFT International (follow link)

Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT) helps youth and caregivers repair ruptured relationships by addressing intrapsychic processes (Tasks 2 and 3) to prepare family members for new, more productive interpersonal conversations (Tasks 4 and 5). These conversations not only help family members work through relational trauma, but also create corrective attachment experiences where parents care, and children seek care. ABFT draws on multiple psychotherapy strategies, including psychoeducation, mentalization, exposure, and enactment.

Schema Therapy (ST) offers powerful experiential techniques that help clients access vulnerable emotions central to ABFT.  ST is an integrative emotion-focused, experiential therapy that addresses self-defeating life patterns (schemas) that develop in childhood in reaction to emotional needs not being met, elaborate over life, and become ingrained in adulthood.  When core emotional needs are consistently not met in childhood, dysfunctional ways of coping emerge (modes) that, over time, correlate with specific schema activation (schema-modes). When family members attempt to engage while in reactive mode states (mode clashes) relational engagement becomes difficult. 

ABFT provides an essential frame to help caregivers and youth recognize and modify schema-mode activation in their family relationships. ST expands the language of ABFT to include a conceptualization of what underpins attachment-ruptures and how they can be expressed in therapy.  ST also provides specific techniques to help reduce resistance and help youth or caregivers explore episodic memories of attachment ruptures uncovering vulnerable emotions.

This webinar presents core ST concepts, explain the rationale for integrating  ST with ABFT, demonstrate how to apply specific ST techniques to augment the goals of Task 2 and 3 in ABFT, (through live role plays), and answer questions from attendees.

Deepening Parental Empathy for the Youth’s Experience: Integrating ABFT and Schema Therapy in Task 3

Speaker: Paul DelGrosso LICSW LCSW-C

Tuesday, September 22, 2026 from 2:00 - 3:30PM EST/NYC

Many therapists encounter parents in Task 3 of ABFT who struggle to move beyond defensive detachment, minimization, or rigid beliefs, making it difficult to access empathy for their adolescent's attachment-related experience. When these barriers remain unresolved, attachment-focused repair can stall.

This webinar offers practical strategies for integrating Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT) and Schema Therapy (ST) to help parents soften defensive modes, access underlying vulnerability, and develop deeper emotional understanding of their youth's experience. Building on concepts introduced in Deepening the Attachment Narrative: Integrating ABFT and Schema Therapy  (May 2026), this training stands alone and is relevant for both new and returning participants.

The webinar begins with a brief overview of the clinical rationale for integrating ABFT and Schema Therapy, including how selected ST interventions can be woven across the five tasks of ABFT to help therapists identify modes, access vulnerability, and prepare families for meaningful attachment repair. The primary focus, however, is Task 3 and the unique challenges that arise when parents struggle to respond empathically to their youth's attachment needs.

Participants will observe two live demonstrations illustrating how therapists can use integrated ABFT-ST interventions to:

• Recognize and work with parental modes that block emotional engagement

• Reduce defensiveness and rigid belief systems

• Access underlying vulnerability and attachment-related emotions

• Foster greater parental empathy and readiness for attachment repair

The webinar concludes with a discussion of the clinical decision-making behind the demonstrations, the rationale for integration, and opportunities for participant questions and application to clinical practice.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify at least 2 factors that support integrating ABFT with ST components

• Explain at least 2 circumstances in ABFT Task 3 where applying ST components is indicated

• Describe how to apply at least 1 ST element during ABFT Task 3 to help a parent access vulnerability and increase empathy for their youth’s experience 

More info a link to registration coming soon!