IAFT LEVEL 1 CERTIFICATE – ONLINE AND LIVE

Integrative Attachment Family Therapy – LEVEL 1

For the first time in French, the basic training in the IAFT model
developed by Dafna Lender

4 pre-recorded modules
3 live sessions with Dafna Lender

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October 8, 15, and 22, 2025, from 6 to 8 p.m. (Paris time)

All live sessions will also be available for replay

The training that every professional working
with parents and children should take

I met Dafna Lender in Boston at the trauma conference organized by Bessel van der Kolk’s Trauma Research Foundation. We got along immediately. Dafna speaks remarkable French, thanks to her experience as an au pair in France and because her partner is French. Aside from that, what struck me was her passion for her work and the clarity with which she embodies her therapeutic vision. She deeply understands—and this is evident in her manner and is also the foundation of her IAFT model—that you cannot support children without involving their parents.
To create secure attachment, you must first secure the parental figures and work with them on their own attachment wounds. This is exactly what I felt in the sessions I observed and in my interview with her: her welcoming attitude, her sensitivity in reading family dynamics, and her ability to work in the present moment with whatever emerges, while supporting profound transformation.
I am delighted that this program is now being offered by Quantum Way, in the two languages dear to us, English and French, and who knows, perhaps in other languages too.
I look forward to seeing you there and training with you.
Ready to join us?

– A word from Florence

Dafna Lender’s IAFT model: desynchronization in the parent-child relationship

Integrative Attachment Family Therapy (IAFT) was developed by Dafna Lender, an expert in family therapy and attachment specialist.

Training in the IAFT model offers a structured and effective therapeutic approach to treating a wide range of issues frequently encountered in family therapy:

  • Difficult child behaviors: opposition, tantrums, withdrawal, indifference
  • Inappropriate parental reactions: shouting, threats, begging, discouragement.

Rather than viewing the child as the source of the problem, the IAFT approach shifts the focus to the real source of the difficulties: emotional desynchronization in the parent-child relationship.

With this training, you’ll be guided step by step in learning the IAFT model, combining theoretical insights and concrete strategies to promote profound and lasting change within families.

This training, designed for clinicians, therapists, medical and social workers, educators, and anyone who works with children, will enable you to:

  • Build a solid alliance with parents, an essential but often overlooked component of therapeutic work with children
  • Overcome resistance and dysfunctioning that may arise in the therapeutic relationship with parents
  • Identify the underlying causes of emotional maladjustments in the parent-child relationship
  • Support families in an approach focused on the root causes of issues, rather than on visible symptoms
  • Strengthen the child’s sense of safe attachment, resilience, and self-esteem.

With training in the IAFT model, you’ll be able to guide families toward harmonious and caring functioning that is conducive to children’s development.

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The 8 key components of Integrative Attachment Family Therapy

  • Develop awareness of your own social engagement mechanisms
  • Consider how your personal attachment history may interact with that of the client
  • Assess the physiological states of the parent and the child
  • Adjust/modulate stimulation to a level that is tolerable for the child/parent
  • Support the development of a coherent autobiographical narrative in the child.
  • Strengthen the parent’s ability to repair ruptures in the relationship with the child.
  • Propose boundary-setting techniques that are appropriate for the child’s development and sensitive to trauma.
  • Identify situations where the parent needs individual sessions to build a relationship of trust with the therapist.

Through clinical case analysis, role-playing, and practical exercises, you will learn to use tools that can be directly applied to your professional practice.

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Who is this training for?

  • Parents
  • Family therapists
  • Psychologists, psychotherapists, and mental health practitioners
  • Doctors, pediatricians, child psychiatrists, and other healthcare professionals
  • Social service professionals, educators, or anyone who works with children

Using concrete strategies and real-life scenarios, you’ll learn how to intervene effectively in complex family situations.

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After this training, you’ll know how to:

  • Evaluate the relational dynamics between parents and children through the lens of attachment and identify signs of emotional misalignment.
  • Implement concrete therapeutic interventions
    aimed at strengthening co-regulation, connection, and relational security within the parent-child dyad.
  • Use activities from the Theraplay model to promote engagement, trust, and the development of a secure bond.
  • Support parents in recognizing and regulating their own defensive reactions, in order to foster an empathetic and regulating presence.
  • Identify signs of toxic shame in children and suggest appropriate restorative strategies.
  • Facilitate restorative dialogues between the child and their attachment figures,,using the PACE approach.
  • Work with the implicit beliefs and unconscious fearsthat underlie the child’s problematic behaviors.
  • Create a safe and engaging therapeutic space
    ,conducive to transforming dysfunctional relationship patterns.

This training will give you a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying difficult behaviors and how to respond to them with appropriate clinical tools.

TRAIN WITH DAFNA LENDER

The training includes:

4 pre-recorded 90-minute video modules to learn the theory and prepare for the live session with Dafna Lender

3 live, 2-hour online sessions on Zoom to discuss this work with Dafna Lender, ask her questions, and develop your practical skills.

Detailed training program

Objectives of the 4 pre-recorded modules

MODULE 1
The fundamentals of IAFT therapy

This first module introduces the fundamental principles of Integrative Attachment Family Therapy (IAFT). It offers a practical exploration of the social engagement system and polyvagal mapping, both for practitioners and for clinical work with families.

Learning objectives:

◆ Practice exercises that promote the activation of the social engagement system.

◆ Explore your own polyvagal mapping to better understand your internal states.

◆ Understand the desynchronization of parent-child nervous systems and the regulatory effects of co-regulation activities using videos of real clinical cases.

◆ Draw up polyvagal maps with families.

◆ Regulate your own reactions to clients using Polyvagal Theory and visualization exercises.

MODULE 2
Attachment-based activities to establish connection, trust, and regulation

This second module explores how relational play between parent and child can strengthen emotional security, emotional co-regulation, and the attachment bond.

Learning objectives:

◆ Discover the four dimensions of the Theraplay model.

◆ Identify types of behavior in children and associate them with the corresponding Theraplay dimension.

◆ Learn specific activities to incorporate into parent-child therapy sessions.

◆ Understand how therapeutic play supports children’s specific needs in terms of attachment and regulation.

Examples of suggested activities:
– The ball between two bodies
– Indoor weather
– The slippery slide
– The cotton ball battle
– The mirror game
– Blow on me
– The imaginary ball throw.

MODULE 3
Facilitating parent-child dialogues that promote connection and understanding

The third module focuses on creating a safe space for dialogue between parent and child. We will explore the PACE model, which can be adapted to different emotional expressions in children, whether they are angry, defensive, passive, withdrawn, or depressed.

Learning objectives:

◆ Use the PACE model (Play, Acceptance, Curiosity, Empathy) to facilitate interaction.

◆ Support verbal and nonverbal communication between parents and children.

◆ Create emotionally secure interactions.

◆ Analyser les modèles internes opérants du patient et leur influence sur le transfert et le contre-transfert.

◆Identify and repair patterns related to toxic shame.

MODULE 4
Working with parents and understanding what lies behind a child's difficult behaviors

The fourth module focuses on supporting defensive parents in order to bring out often unconscious underlying fears and strengthen their mentalization skills.

Learning objectives:

◆Identify the deep-seated beliefs underlying the child’s behavior

◆ Respond with curiosity and kindness to parents’ defensive attitudes

◆ Encourage parental mentalization and reduce tendencies to criticize or blame

◆Understand and support parents who are critical, withdrawn, or resentful.

 

Live thematic sessions

Session 1: October 9, 2025, from 6 to 8 p.m. (Paris time)

This first session lays the conceptual and practical foundations of Integrative Attachment Family Therapy. We will explore the concepts of co-regulation, intersubjectivity, and dyadic repair.

Learning objectives:

 

  • Introduction to the fundamental principles of IAFT
  • Prepare parents for attachment-based family therapy
  • Help parents identify and understand their own neurophysiological reactions to their child
  • Learn how to convey a sense of security and trust through body language
  • Map parents’ internal regulatory systems to better understand how they work.
Session 2: October 15 from 6 to 8 p.m. (Paris time)

This session focuses on the use of therapeutic play as a clinical tool to strengthen parent-child attachment, restore cooperation, and repair shame.

Learning objectives:

 

  • Propose attachment-based play activities to use in sessions and suggest to parents
  • Understand play strategies to repair shame and promote secure relations
  • Develop appropriate responses to common problematic behaviors observed in therapy
  • Choose specific activities based on the child’s needs
  • Practice dyadic exercises to integrate experiential tools.
Session 3: October 22, 2025, from 6 to 8 p.m. (Paris time)

This session offers practical tools for establishing constructive communication between parents and children, drawing primarily on emotional regulation techniques.

Educational objectives:

 

  • Develop reassuring and effective dialogue between parents and children
  • Develop appropriate techniques to help children feel heard, understood, and accepted
  • Guide parents toward empathetic and regulated responses
  • Use regulation tools to defuse conflicts and maintain a supportive parenting stance
  • Understand parental defense mechanisms (blame, withdrawal, indifference) and their underlying causes
  • Use guided visualization and regulation exercises to transform defensive reactions.

Training organization

Dafna Lender will lead the live online training on October 8, 15, and 22, 2025, from 6 to 8 p.m. (Paris time).

Dafna Lender will deliver this training in English. Simultaneous interpretation into French will be provided.

All live sessions will be available for replay in the week following each live session, allowing you to review them at your own pace and take notes. You will have access to all training materials (videos and slides, in French) until January 20, 2026.

The training will give you access to a training certificate. The terms and conditions for obtaining the certificate will be provided during the first module.

Participants are invited to read Dafna Lender’s reference book before the training: Integrative Attachment Family Therapy: A Clinical Guide to Heal and Strengthen the Parent-Child Relationship through Play, Co-regulation, and Meaning-Making (also available in French from Éditions Quantum Way).

Please note: this training is a prerequisite for enrollment in the Level 2 IAFT certificate program, which will take place in 2026.

Learn how to develop refined interpersonal skills to create spaces of safety, repair, and co-regulation between children and their parents.

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Register for the training

Integrative Attachment Family Therapy – LEVEL 1
€297 incl. tax
Payment in 4 installments is possible!
Take advantage of the option to pay in 4 installments of €74.25 with no fees using PayPal*

* How does it work?
When you register, select PayPal as your payment method. You will be asked to log in to your PayPal account or create one if you don't already have one. Once logged in, choose the "Pay in 4 installments" option to benefit from the payment schedule.

Who is Dafna Lender?

Dafna Lender is a family therapist specializing in attachment, an international trainer, and a clinical supervisor. For nearly thirty years, she has been supporting professionals working with children and families in a variety of settings, including after-school support programs, therapeutic foster homes, home-based interventions, and private practice.

Certified as a trainer and supervisor in Theraplay® and dyadic developmental psychotherapy, she is also an EMDR practitioner. Dafna is the author ofIntegrative Attachment Family Therapy and co-author of Theraplay: The Practitioner’s Guide. She trains therapists around the world and speaks four languages (English, Hebrew, French, and Spanish).

FAQ

What does the training cover?

The training includes:

  • Four pre-recorded 90-minute video modules to learn the theory and prepare for the live session with Dafna Lender
  • 3 live, 2-hour online sessions on Zoom to discuss this work with Dafna Lender, ask her questions, and develop practical skills.

The video modules are as follows:

  • Module 1 – The fundamentals of IAFT therapy
  • Module 2 – Attachment-based activities to establish connection, trust, and regulation
  • Module 3 – Facilitating parent-child dialogues that promote connection and understanding
  • Module 4 – Working with parents and understanding what lies behind a child’s difficult behaviors
Is the training live or recorded?

The training is both pre-recorded and live. It includes four pre-recorded video modules and three live online sessions (on Zoom) on the following dates: October 8, 15, and 22, 2025, from 6 to 8 p.m. (Paris time). All live sessions will then be available for replay seven days after the live broadcast.

What language is the training in?

Dafna Lender delivers this training in English. Simultaneous interpretation into French will be provided. The instructional videos and replays will be available in both languages.

For how long will I have access to the online training?

Once the live sessions are over, you will have access to all the teaching materials until January 20, 2026, which is the deadline for obtaining the certificate.

Is this training course eligible for funding?

Unfortunately, Quantum Way is not a training organization and is not Qualiopi or Datadock certified. Therefore, it is not covered by CPF or FIFPL.

What are the refund conditions?

For all refund requestsbefore September 8, 2025: 100% refund.

For any refund requestbetween September 8, 2025, and October 7, 2025: : 50% refund.

From October 8, 2025,, no refunds will be granted.

By incorporating the principles of attachment and emotional regulation, you will strengthen your ability to sustainably support fragile family relationships.

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