Hannah Sun-Reid and Psychologist Sian Phillips return to New Zealand to provide training for Dyadic Developmental Practice (DDP): Level One and Two in October 2025

Hannah has more than 25 years experience working with children and families who experience life challenges including developmental and emotional difficulties, trauma and loss. Hannah provides supervision and consultation to therapists and organisations, and conducts workshops internationally. Hannah is also the author of children’s books and therapeutic games. Hannah lives and works in Ontario, Canada.

Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) was created by US clinical Psychologist Dan Hughes as an intervention model for families with adopted or fostered children who had experienced neglect and abuse in their birth families & suffered from significant developmental trauma. DDP is based on and brings together attachment theory, what we understand about developmental trauma, the neurobiology of trauma, attachment and caregiving, intersubjectivity theory and child development. It focuses on facilitating the child’s readiness & ability to establish a secure attachment with their caregivers and is family-based. It is called Dyadic Developmental Practice to focus attention on the importance of reciprocity in parenting, caregiving and therapy, but also to draw attention to the fact that abuse, neglect and trauma can seriously impact on the child’s developmental age and stage.

It is an approach that:

• Integrates current research in the areas of trauma neurobiology, early child development & attachment theory, to produce a therapeutic & parenting approach that assists professionals to understand & support children with trauma-attachment problems, and their families.
• Communicates Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity & Empathy (PACE) in order to help the child regulate their feelings of fear, shame or anger associated with past experiences, and to create together a new autobiographical narrative to integrate into their life story.
• Recognises and guides the vital roles which adoptive parents, foster carers and residential workers play in the recovery of traumatised, attachment-resistant children.
• Provides a set of practice principles that enrich parenting and inform the professional networks that support the child outside of the home e.g. in residential settings and at school.

By the end of this course participants will understand:

• The impact of secure developmental attachment on neurological, affective, cognitive, and behavioural development.
• How developmental trauma (abuse and neglect) create insecure and disorganised attachment patterns which impede normal development.
• Principles of psychotherapy, effective communication and parenting that facilitate the development of attachment security.
• Specific strategies of parenting and communication that facilitate the development of a secure attachment and help children integrate past trauma and abusive experiences.
• How the caregiver’s attachment history and attachment patterns can be important factors when providing care for children who have experienced developmental trauma.

This training will be of interest to therapists and other professionals whose work involves supporting families, parents and caregivers (adoptive parents, foster parents, kinship carers or residential carers), whose children have experienced developmental trauma and show attachment and relationship difficulties with their caregivers. DDP principles and interventions will be presented via lecture format, formal discussion, case examples, videotape of therapy sessions, role-play, and hand-outs. This Level One (Introductory) 28-hour (4-day) intensive training course is a pre-requisite to becoming a certified DDP practitioner and is strictly limited to only 24 participants. We expect it will be fully subscribed and encourage you to register early to avoid disappointment.

Sian was formerly an international board member of the Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Institute, and is a certified DDP Practitioner who accredits and trains professionals in the approach. DDP is based on and brings together attachment theory, what we understand about developmental trauma, the neurobiology of trauma, attachment and caregiving, intersubjectivity theory and child development. It focuses on facilitating the child’s readiness and ability to establish a secure attachment with their caregivers and is family-based. It is called Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy both to focus attention on the importance of reciprocity in parenting, caregiving and therapy, but also to draw attention to the fact that abuse, neglect and trauma can seriously impact on the child's development.

This four-day (28 hour) Level 2 Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) training further develops the Level 1 DDP material Compass Seminars offered over the last few years with Hannah Sun-Reid and Dr Sian Phillips and is the final workshop component required before participants are eligible to apply to become certified as a Dyadic Developmental Practitioner. This training is open to anyone who has completed Level 1 DDP training and will be of particular interest to professionals who support children and young people who have experienced developmental trauma (social workers, psychologists, residential workers, psychiatrists, carers, and other related professionals).

DDP is based on and brings together attachment theory, what we understand about developmental trauma, the neurobiology of trauma, attachment and caregiving, intersubjectivity theory and child development. It focuses on facilitating the child’s readiness and ability to establish a secure attachment with their caregivers and is family-based. It is called Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy both to focus attention on the importance of reciprocity in parenting, caregiving and therapy, but also to draw attention to the fact that abuse, neglect and trauma can seriously impact on the child's development.

Core components of this Level 2 programme will include:

1. Building on the foundation knowledge gained in Level 1, including:

• The evidence base behind DDP and the latest neuropsychological research relating to attachment and caregiving behaviours.
• Establishing and maintaining a therapeutic alliance with parents, caregivers and other involved professionals.
• The main similarities and differences between attachment-focused treatment and other treatment models.
• The key components of attachment-focused supervision and training.

2. Further developing the foundation skills taught in Level 1, including:

• The opportunity to reflect and receive feedback on practice since the Level 1 training.
• Role play with feedback from Sian.
• Discussion and supervision in small group forums.
• Small group work around attachment histories of the therapists.
• Reviewing and reflecting on actual recordings of therapeutic sessions (this will include recordings but participants are also encouraged to bring recordings of their own DDP sessions in order to maximise their learning).

At the end of the course, participants are eligible to apply to become certified as a Dyadic Developmental Practitioner. Sian will outline this process at the end of the training although detailed information can be found in advance at: www.ddpnetwork.org

Places are strictly limited. We encourage you to register early to avoid disappointment.