Kim Barthel believes attachment theory is more than psychology, it’s a roadmap for safety, trust, and human connection. In every helping profession, whether you’re a therapist, teacher, social worker, nurse, or educator, we meet children and adults whose stories are written in the language of relationship.
Beneath behaviour and beyond diagnosis, there’s always a nervous system asking:
Am I seen?
Am I safe?
Am I understood?
Am I supported?
What Is Attachment Theory and Why Does It Matter?
Attachment theory explains how our earliest relationships teach the brain and nervous system what safety feels like. From birth, we’re wired to connect. The way caregivers respond to our needs shapes how our brains develop for trust, emotion regulation, and intimacy later in life.
Early attachment experiences, for example, how we are held, soothed, or misunderstood, shape how we relate to others, regulate emotions, manage stress, and interpret the world. These patterns become the scaffolding of our emotional lives.
Yet attachment is adaptive, not fixed. The strategies we develop to stay safe, whether through avoidance, seeking closeness, or oscillating between both, were once brilliant responses to our early complex environments.
Recognising this adaptability helps us move beyond labels and pathology, opening the door to greater compassion for both those we support and for ourselves.
The Attachment Matters Workshop with Kim Barthel (Sydney, November 20–21)
Join internationally renowned occupational therapist and presenter Kim Barthel for a transformative two-day workshop in Sydney that blends science, neurobiology, and the art of connection.
Drawing from contemporary neuroscience and the evolving field of attachment theory, Kim’s Attachment Matters Workshop explores the neurobiology of safety and connection through four powerful modules.
Participants will examine the interplay between the brain, body, and relationships from the limbic system and vagus nerve to the lived experience of co-regulation.
Through interactive discussion, reflective practice, and real-life examples, you’ll explore:
1. How the autonomic nervous system shapes behaviour and communication;
2. The spectrum of attachment adaptations – avoidant, connection-seeking, and disorganised and how they present in daily practice;
3. Ways to recognise your own attachment patterns and how they influence professional relationships
4. Practical strategies for fostering co-regulation, trust, and emotional safety
You’ll leave with more than theory, you’ll leave with a clear understanding of what it means to be a regulated, grounded presence in another person’s world.
Understanding Behaviour Through a Neurobiological Lens
When we understand attachment through the lens of neurobiology, our responses become more attuned. We begin to see behaviour not as opposition or defiance, but as communication.
This shift deepens empathy and effectiveness. It invites us to slow down, notice, and respond to the relational undercurrent beneath every interaction. For some people it may be averted eyes, a tight jaw or a change in their voice. It’s about noticing the body language, tone, or subtle shifts that tell a story words can’t.
For many health, medical, and educational professionals, training focuses on what we do using our professional techniques and interventions. Kim’s Attachment Matters Workshop shifts that focus toward who we are when we do it.
Professional Growth Meets Personal Insight
While Attachment Matters enhances professional skill, its impact is profoundly personal. Understanding attachment inevitably leads us to look inward, inviting reflection on how our own experiences shape the way we connect, comfort, or withdraw.
This self-awareness fosters authenticity, empathy, and resilience which are essential qualities for sustaining a long, fulfilling career in the helping professions.
Science Meets Humanity
For those who work with children, families, or communities, Attachment Matters offers a framework that transcends disciplines. It bridges science and humanity, head and heart, theory and presence.
It’s about understanding others and ourselves through a lens of safety, curiosity, and connection.
Who This Workshop Is For
This two-day professional development workshop is ideal for therapists, educators, health professionals, and anyone seeking to:
· Build skills in relational attunement
· Recognise and respond to subtle emotional and physiological cues
· Create environments of trust, safety, and connection
· Deepen both professional practice and personal insight
Buy your Ticket for our Kim Barthel Sydney Workshop
Join us on November 20–21 in Sydney for Attachment Matters with Kim Barthel.
Because when we understand attachment, we don’t just change our practice, we change the way we connect. And that changes everything.