The Attachment Network
Many Meaningful Moments
Here we are at our second Annual General Meeting and our little engine just keeps plugging along. We are now given charitable status with Canada Revenue Agency which means that when we wish to produce some training or DVD we can apply for grants to help us along. This was a major accomplishment that will free us up to create new initiatives in the coming year.
We hosted two major events since last spring. We had Dr. Gabor Mate here in May and we were pleased to see many new faces in the audience who have not previously come to our events, including several physicians and psychologists. Dr. Mate describes attachment as his "dirty little secret" in that it is the quiet underpinning of all his books that describe the problems people have when their attachments are disrupted or damaged. He spoke without notes for over 6 hours and I have never attended a lecture where the audience sat as riveted as they did that day. Dr. Mate travels around Canada often with different groups and I encourage people to get a chance to listen to him in person and certainly to read his books.
In the fall, 16 practitioners completed the training in the Circle of Security Intervention model and were blessed to have both Dr. Bob Marvin and Dr. Bill Whelan here to facilitate the training. Dr. Whelan held a two day workshop where he discussed the Circle of Security model and how helping a child to regulate their emotions by being a co regulator with the child is in fact, helping the child to heal. He showed many video clips of parent and child to demonstrate. Day one was for those fostering or adopting children while day two was intended for those clinicians who support children in care. It reminded us that attachment breaks down over a series of moments, not necessarily big events per se, and it will be repaired also in a series of moments. Just as how we react to a child when their attachment system is activated can break down their security, how we react at those same moments is the way to precipitate healing, whether you are a biological parent, foster parent or even group home worker to that child.
I want to acknowledge the wonderful Board of Directors of our Network. Yvette Savard-Preston, who with Laurie Marcella saw to it that the enthusiasm around attachment in Winnipeg was captured and harnessed and steered into a group that keeps the learning going and growing. There is Marge Chomoway who has served as our treasurer since inauguration and Shawna Matthes who is currently our treasurer. Julia Wellwood, who puts together the newsletter and report and with her colleague, Karen Johnston, have both been on the board since we began. We also thank Irmie Nickel, Gerry Brown, Dave Berry, Patti Sutherland and Leslie Johnston. We are continuing to look for new Board members. The criteria are simple: be enthusiastic about attachment, be willing to do some work and be prepared to have fun!
Regretfully, we are saying good-bye to Yvette and Irmie. Irmie has been invaluable in bringing her experience as an administrator and previous board experience to bear in helping us shape the board. Yvette, as mentioned, has been instrumental in getting us up and running and keeping us moving in strategic directions. Yvette’s work has changed and while she remains committed to the cause, she can no longer serve on the board. My time as chairperson is also over and I will remain on as past chair.
The board has wisely chosen Leslie Johnston to be chair. Leslie has been on our board for a few years and is a foster care worker with Winnipeg CFS. I am confident that under her leadership we will continue to grow and remain a respected source of information in our community and beyond.
Kristin Hreno surveyed our members this winter on what we are doing right and not so right in our workshops/trainings and our board will digest this valuable information at our strategic planning meeting. We already are looking to implement brown bag lunches for those in and around Winnipeg where folks can gather and discuss or learn about how attachment can be used in specific ways or with specific populations. As usual, check our website for more information.
I again want to acknowledge Guy Dugas of spright.ca who has graciously helped us with our website and our mailing lists as well as with our recent workshop. I also want to thank Dana Hay and Carmen Neufeld of Planners Plus who we have partnered with over the years on our workshops. Leslie has found Michelle Trudeau to do our books for us and as our financial transactions become more complex it is a relief to know that someone as competent as Michelle is overlooking things for us. The DVD committee under Laurie’s leadership has again taken on the challenge to produce a useful tool for practitioners and parents alike around toddler years.
We struggle with how to be useful to those beyond the city of Winnipeg, but just by being on line, we have heard from many people all over Canada and the USA. It continues to encourage us when we hear of pockets of the globe have latched onto some useful attachment information and are making improvements to the families of the people they serve. Here in our community, we are aware of the challenges the social climate creates for our clients and we want to continue to work with new graduates, with foster parents, adopting parents, biological parents, and workers in many different levels of intervention to help them understand the behaviours of a child and to re-examine those behaviours as needs the child has and to respond appropriately and predictably. I thank those people who attend our Network meetings and who communicate with us on line for their creativity and contributions. We have had and will continue to have, many meaningful moments!
Cheers,
Joanne Brown
Board Of Directors (2009/2010)
- JOANNE BROWN, Chair
Social Worker/Counsellor, Obawaanaan Counselling Parents in the Community, New Directions - SHAWNA MATTHES, Outgoing Treasurer
Therapist, Families Affected by Sexual Assault (FASA), New Directions - MARGE CHOMOWAY
Foster Care Social Worker. Winnipeg Child and Family Services - LESLIE JOHNSTON, Incoming Chair
Social Worker, Foster Home Development Program - WPG CFS - JULIA WELLWOOD
FASD Specialist, FASD Outreach Program, Dept. of Family Services - KAREN JOHNSTON, Incoming Treasurer
Behavioural specialist, FASD Outreach Program - GERRY BROWN
Supervisor, Child and Family Services. Eastman Region - DAVE BERRY
Assistant Director, Aulneau Renewal Centre - PATTI SUTHERLAND
Social Worker and Play Therapist, Elizabeth Hill Counselling Centre - IRMIE NICKEL
Executive Director, Aulneau Renewal Centre - LAURIE MARCELLA, Retired
Healthy Start for Mom & Me Parent/Infant Program Coordinator
Board Activities At A Glance
We have had an action-packed year in which we were able to reach some goals that were several years in the making. We are also at an exciting point in our history and development as a network for evaluating our work and setting goals in place for the future.
- Met our mandate to hold 3 Network meetings and monthly Board meetings
- Published our Newsletter
- Held a Brown Bag Lunch for community consultation
- Conducted a survey for feedback regarding our activities
- Held a Strategic Planning Day
- Acquired Charitable Status which allows us to independently apply for grants
- Secured funding for resource development (Tuning in to your Toddler DVD)
- Held two conferences, with Dr. Gabor Mate in the spring and Dr. Bill Whelan in the fall
- Held Phase Two of the Circle of Security training (with 7 trainees to date achieving reliability status)
Strengthening Our Organization
submitted by Julia Wellwood
Last year we were excited to report a number of organizational structures that were new to the network and now it’s time to reflect on how they have strengthened our organization. The by-laws have guided our activities to ensure that we have due process for all of our functions and accountability. Positions on the board are for two-year terms, with half of the positions at a time due for election at the annual AGM. This has strengthened the stability of the board by ensuring that knowledge and expertise gained from board experience is balanced with new energy.
We also decided to reflect the fact that we are a network, with representation from a variety of organizations in the community, and have therefore chosen to hold our meetings at the offices of network members on a rotating basis. This has strengthened access to the network as well as our visibility in the community.
The Network actively seeks and welcomes feedback regarding its activities. This year we added a more formalized approach by holding a public forum (brown bag lunch), and by conducting a survey through the website. Both processes were valuable and the information was brought to our Strategic Planning Day held in April. Solid feedback helps to ensure that the goals and direction set by the board are well targeted to meet the needs as identified by the community.
Education
Training Committee Report
submitted by Joanne Brown
It was the culmination of many years of hard work. When Dr. Sonya Vellet was teaching the first Modified Interaction Guidance training here in 2004, she attended a workshop on the Circle of Security and shared the information. It piqued our interest and in 2007, we were able to have Dr. Bob Marvin of Virginia and Dr. Neil Boris of Tulane present to over 300 excited people on the Circle of Security. It led to people asking "Where can I get more of this?"
Bob Marvin and 16 happy COS trainees
Last year Dr. Marvin’s colleague, Dr. Bill Whelan trained 17 practitioners from 9 different agencies in the assessment phase of this intervention, using the Strange Situation. Currently we have 7 (and counting) people who have passed their reliability tests and are certified to assess dyads.
This fall, we had both Dr. Marvin and Dr. Whelan here to teach the now 16 of us in the intervention protocol of the model. While the Circle of Security graphic is appealing in its simplicity, I can assure you the intervention is challenging to calibrate but is going to yield wonderful results. We were able to make this training happen with a grant from the Winnipeg Foundation ($15,000) and from money generated by workshops hosted by the Attachment Network of Manitoba. The board believes that investing this money to build the capacity of workers across many different settings is the right thing to do to ensure properly trained workers. Those who will receive certification in the intervention do so by consultation with Drs. Marvin and Whelan, and at a cost born by the practitioners themselves.
Dr. Bob Marvin
One participant in the training remarked, "I have an MSW and have worked clinically for over 25 years and yet this is the first time I have ever had sustained, rich and focused training in therapy. This was truly a gift". We echoed the comment.
We are exploring also taking training in the COS parent education model which would enable practitioners to deliver parent education courses with a COS perspective. This would be a wonderful addition to our community as people are always looking for meaningful and relevant parenting information. The Circle of Security is easy to understand and conceptualize for most parents.
Special thanks to the Board of the Winnipeg Foundation for their continued and generous support to trainings and resources created by the Attachment Network. They have responded supportively and enthusiastically each time we have sought dollars. Their contributions are hard at work!
Education
Resource Development Committee Report
submitted by Laurie Marcella
This past year was dedicated to the search for the funding to produce our Tuning in to Your Toddler DVD. We applied far and wide but it was two of our local funding agencies that came to our assistance. Our committee is so grateful to The Winnipeg Foundation and the Children’s Hospital Foundation for granting us the funds to produce our DVD. The Attachment Network also granted money to this project.
The Committee is selecting families and has contracted the services of Jamie Koshyk, Janet Jamison and Christopher Basarowich who produced our Listening to Baby DVD, to begin production this spring. If all goes as planned, by next spring we should have our DVD to present to the Network.
Dissemination of Information
Newsletter and Website Committee Report
submitted by Julia Wellwood
The website (attachmentnetwork.ca) continues to be our primary mode of disseminating information about network activities. It has proven to be an effective and efficient means of communication with our membership using our email list. You can have your name added by contacting us at attachmentnetwork@shaw.ca. Visitors to the website can also access our store and purchase the DVD or they can take the link from there to www.amazon.ca and a selection of books on attachment. When purchases are made using this link, The Attachment Network will receive a percentage of the sales. The website was also used for conference registration and payments. We are very grateful for the excellent service of our webmaster, Guy Dugas of spright.ca, who is so generous with his time as he navigates us through the web world!
With respect to the newsletter, I invite submissions at any time of the year. It is my hope that the next issue will include articles and stories from the far reaches of the province and will truly reflect that we are the Attachment Network of Manitoba!
All respondents loved the use of the baby’s voice to imagine the world from a baby’s perspective but teens reacted with particular interest. One facilitator of a teen group reported that she intended to use only a few of the scenes in a particular group session only to be over-ruled by the participants who insisted on seeing all of them! Another reported that a teen was just amazed at the feeling expressed by the baby gazing into his mother’s eyes. She had no idea a baby could feel this way.
Thanks to the Network and especially to the Listening to Baby sub-committee for producing such a useful tool to demonstrate the importance of understanding and sensitive responding to what is in the hearts and minds of babies.
Networking
by Joanne Brown
A funny thing happens when you are on the web! We’ve heard from workers in Newfoundland using our DVD, a psychologist in Argentina who uses attachment in her clinical work, and a dietician in Hartford, CT who uses attachment as a means to facilitate secure caregiving around mealtimes. The latter, Charlie Slaughter, has gone on to link up with dieticians at Healthy Start for Mom and Me here in Manitoba and has permitted us to reprint his article in our newsletter!
In the Year Ahead...
- Production and launch of Toddler DVD
- Continuation of focused brown bag lunches to facilitate further learning
- Possible development of an attachment chat room concept to hopefully link practitioners beyond the city of Winnipeg
- Certification of Circle of Security practitioners
- Formalization of workshops and Speakers Bureau by the network
- Annual Attachment Conference
