This module addresses the critical importance of positive, consistent and warm relationships on learning and life engagement. Using Gedde’s Triangle (2007) we investigate secure and insecure attachment patterning and the impact that these have on our capacity to focus, engage in learning and to build strong and healthy future relationships with peers and adults.
We provide scripts and practical strategies for working with insecurely attached people (avoidant and ambivalent.) As all sustained positive change requires a network of pro-social support, we also explore practical tools to help clients/students create positive peer relationships in the Power With not Power Over zones.
Attachment Patterns and Engagement
Our enduring sense of self and our confidence to engage with new learning and change are built in the close relationships with our first caregivers.
We discuss the critical importance of our earliest relationships on the development of our internal working models (our perception of the world, our self and our expectations of others.) Using attachment theory, we explore how consistent, responsive and loving care results in non-narrative memories that hold deeply the felt sense that we are inherently good.
Alternatively, inconsistent, non-responsive or caregiver-centred care leads to insecure attachment patterning and a loss of confidence, low self-esteem, feelings of guilt and shame and a general distrust of people and the world.
We use Gedde’s Learning Triangle (2006) to link patterns of attachment to the classroom and life learning. To successfully learn and create change, a student/client needs to feel secure and trust the relationship with the teacher, knowing that they can focus on the task and that the teacher is available for support when required.
Finally, we provide strategies to support the development of positive relationships and trust with clients/students who experience insecure attachment.