Attachment-Focused Trauma Therapy for Adults
AFTT-A
A 2-Part Advanced EMDR Training for Clinicians Working with Adult Attachment Trauma
A 2-Part Advanced EMDR Training for Clinicians Working with Adult Attachment Trauma
Attachment trauma shapes the internal world in ways that standard EMDR approaches don't always reach. Adults who experienced early relational disruption often struggle with fragmented personality structure, difficulty forming safe therapeutic relationships, and limited access to adaptive memory networks needed for effective EMDR reprocessing.
The Attachment-Focused Trauma Therapy for Adults (AFTT-A) training — developed by Debra Wesselmann, MS, LIMHP and Ann E. Potter, Ph.D. — provides clinicians with a structured, experiential approach for working with these clients. Grounded in EMDR's Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model and integrated with attachment theory and internal parts work, AFTT-A equips you to go beyond stabilization and help clients achieve lasting internal change.
This is a 2-part training. Both parts are required for certification; each can be taken independently for continuing education.
What you will learn
Part 1
Reconstruction of Internal Personality Parts & Attachments
This 2-day training teaches clinicians the skills to incorporate EMDR therapy into internal restructuring — creating safety and new attachment experiences for parts of self, building an effective inner resource team, and strengthening the competent adult self.
SKILLS YOU’LL DEVELOP
Creating Safe Place and Higher Power for Adult and Child parts of self
Building and installing an internal Resource Team
Time-orienting younger/other parts of self
Strengthening the Competent Adult through imagery
Generating new attachment experiences between Child and True Parent parts
Providing emotionally corrective experiences within the therapeutic relationship
Integrating AFTT-A strategies and protocols into clinical practice
Part 2
Transitioning & Integrating into EMDR Phases 3-8
This 2-day training teaches clinicians how to bridge the preparation work of Part 1 into active EMDR reprocessing, safely and effectively moving complex clients through Phases 3-8.
SKILLS YOU’LL DEVELOP
Updating the Bonding Contract to support affect regulation during reprocessing
Developing therapeutic stories using the Joan Lovett, MD format
Implementing "contained reprocessing" to prevent overwhelm in complex clients
Applying inverted protocols to enhance safety during trauma work
Using cognitive interweaves that integrate preparation-phase content into desensitization
Getting client permission and structuring the transition to Phases 3-8
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Both parts of the AFTT-A training include extensive experiential practice. Participants have the opportunity to examine and create changes in their own internal parts and attachments through guided experiential sessions, a key feature that distinguishes this training from lecture-only formats.
Attachment-Focused Trauma Therapy
for Adults (AFTT-A)
UPCOMING AFFT-A TRAINING EVENTS
AFTT-A Part 1 — Zoom (Sept 18–19)
A 2-day Zoom training introducing the AFTT-A protocol — including the Parts of Self model and preparation-phase interventions for adult attachment trauma clients. 13 EMDRIA credits. Presented by Debra Wesselmann, MS, LIMHP & Ann E. Potter, Ph.D.