This is a self-access class on attachment theory for clinical practice is about how our own attachment histories shape the ways in which we give care to our Service Users and lead us into secure or insecure ways of responding to their distress. It is also about how we can help our Service User(s) to explore their patterns of seeking care so that we can better enable them to find ways to get their needs met. The dynamics of how each of us gives care and how each individual Service User(s) seeks care creates a particular psychotherapeutic dyad that can be understood more deeply for the benefit of the work.
Our capacity to attach securely impacts on how we experience our own sexuality and how we relate to our sexual partner/s. Often, although not always, our primary sexual partner is also our main attachment figure, so the activation of our attachment systems and our sexual systems are interwoven with one another. Exploring how these systems work together, or conflict with one another, can bring a fresh lens to the work of Psychosexual and Relationship Therapists.
Victoria provides a space for participants to deepen their knowledge and understanding of their clients from an attachment-based perspective. Attachment theory has the potential to add a significant layer of insight into the care exchange both between the client and their partner/s and between the client and the psychotherapist.
*This self-access class is a recording of a live event that took place in 2025.
Key lessons:
Introduction to Attachment theory:
Understanding secure, avoidant, pre-occupied and disorganised attachment styles.
Clinical applications:
Developing an understanding of the therapeutic effects of promoting security in the work. Learning more about the dynamics of the care exchange.
Exploring the sexual system from an attachment-based perspective:
Learning more about the relationship between care seeking, caregiving and sexual systems.
Case study Violet:
Learning more about how trauma might impact on the sexual expression of our clients.
About the Trainer
Victoria Settle.
Victoria Settle is the Chair of Education at The Bowlby Centre, an organisation dedicated to training individuals as attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapists. With many years of teaching experience, she has delivered seminars on attachment theory, its clinical applications, infant observation, and sexuality. She has also organised and presented papers at conferences focused on attachment theory and is a regular speaker and trainer for the Brighton Therapy Network. Her recent workshops for the network include an attachment-based approach to working with mothers and daughters, as well as exploring sibling rivalry from an attachment perspective.
Victoria trained at The Bowlby Centre in 1997 and has been in private practice since 2001. Currently, she works as a teacher, training supervisor, and training therapist for the Centre, while also serving on the Executive Committee in her role as Chair of Education. Over the years, she has held a variety of positions at the Centre, including Chair of Clinical Training and CEO. She also founded the Accrediting Prior Learning (APL) fast-track training programme, designed for clinicians who trained elsewhere but wish to register with the UKCP as attachment-based specialists.
Victoria has an enduring passion for all things attachment, which continues to inspire her work and teaching.
