Attachment Diploma for Professionals
Understand what is happening beneath the presenting problem -and respond with greater clinical confidence
A Diploma in Attachment-Based Psychotherapeutic Counselling for practitioners who want to understand attachment dynamics, deepen formulation and work more confidently with what unfolds in the therapeutic relationship.
Comparable to AQF Level 6
Starts January 2027
ONLINE
Limited places available
A clinically grounded route for practitioners
who want attachment theory to become
useful in real client work.
Why attachment-informed therapy matters now
More clients are arriving in therapy with language for trauma, attachment, nervous system responses and relational patterns. They may have read the books, listened to the podcasts, completed previous therapy or learnt coping strategies – and still feel stuck.
For practitioners, this can create a familiar clinical tension: the client understands the problem, but something deeper is still repeating.
Attachment-informed therapy helps you make sense of the protective strategies, emotional responses and relational patterns that sit beneath the presenting issue.
This diploma gives you a practical, clinically grounded way to bring attachment theory into formulation, regulation, rupture and repair, and the therapeutic relationship itself.
This is not a replacement for your existing training. It is a deepening of it.
Whether you are a psychologist, counsellor, psychotherapist or mental health professional, your existing training provides an important foundation for your work.
This diploma builds on that foundation by deepening your understanding of the attachment patterns, protective strategies and relational dynamics that often sit beneath symptoms, coping strategies and presenting concerns.
The programme is comparable in academic level to AQF Level 6, subject to individual assessment.
You will develop greater confidence in moments when there is no obvious intervention, no immediate strategy, or when the therapeutic relationship itself becomes an important part of the work.
Rather than offering another model to apply mechanically, this training helps you listen more deeply, formulate more clearly and respond with greater confidence, empathy and clinical steadiness.
assessment
Use the client’s own language to build attachment-informed formulation.
Intervention
Respond with greater confidence when tools alone are not enough.
Process
Understand the therapeutic relationship as clinically meaningful.
Course Content
Term 1
Months 1-3: Understand the Theory
- Historical Perspectives
- Contemporary Theory
- Mind-Mindedness
- Mentalisation and Reflective Function
- Neuroscience
- Affect Regulation
- Defences
- Bereavement & Loss
- Internal Working Models
- Working with Attachment Styles
Attachment & Loss Assignment
Term 2
Months 4-6: Apply the Theory
- Depression
- Suicide
- Anxiety
- Eating Disorders
- Addiction
- Unresolved Trauma and Loss
- Ethics and Practice
- Attachment & Dreams
Case Study & Presentations
Term 3
Months 7-10: Integrate Personally and Professionally
- Attachment Through the Life Cycle
- Birth – 3
- Ages 4 – 11
- Adolescence
- Adulthood
- Endings
The therapist’s own attachment story
What this diploma helps you build
A deeper clinical lens
Understand clients through developmental, attachment, and relational history, not only symptoms or presenting issues.
Confidence with complexity
Work more confidently when clients do not fit neatly into models or when progress feels stuck.
More steadiness without rushing to fix
Feel more grounded when there is no obvious answer, tool, or intervention.
Greater use of self
Develop awareness of your own responses, instincts, attunement, and therapeutic presence as valuable clinical information.
A framework for relational process
Know how to work with silence, withdrawal, rupture, disconnection, dependency, avoidance, and repeated patterns.
Depth over surface
Respond to the meaning, of attachment defences, for deeper emotional change.
Learn to work with what is happening in the room
Attachment-informed practice helps you notice and work with the therapeutic process as it unfolds.
This includes the moments when a client goes quiet, disconnects, withdraws, intellectualises, seeks reassurance, becomes compliant, avoids feeling, or repeats familiar relational patterns with you.
Rather than feeling stuck or needing to move quickly towards a technique, you will learn to stay curious, grounded, and responsive.
Course details
Qualification
Internationally Transferable
CPCAB accredited Level 5 Diploma in Attachment-Based Psychotherapeutic Counselling.
This qualification enabled ACA Registration
Designed for
Psychologists, counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers, and mental health professionals
price
EARLY BIRD OFFER
AUD $5,750
Includes taxes and registration
Available until 30/09/2026
Standard Course Fee
AUD $6,250
Includes taxes and registration
Payment Plan
Interest Free Payment Plan
Deposit: AUD $1,354
12 monthly payments of
AUD $366.25 EB
AUD $408.00
Start date
January 2027
All 32 sessions are online
Sessions are 4 hours
CPD and OPD
One academic year of CPD
OPD credits
International relevance
Attachment-informed relational learning that can be carried across different settings and countries
Other Requirements
Attachment-informed relational learning that can be carried across different settings and countries
Strengthen your clinical identity and private practice
Specialising in attachment gives your practice a clearer shape. It helps clients, referrers and colleagues understand what you are known for and why your work may be the right fit for people struggling with relational patterns, shame, anxiety, emotional protection and repair.
This diploma can help you:
Develop a clearer therapeutic identity
Strengthen confidence in complex relational work
Use attachment-informed language in your practice and supervision
Support more meaningful, longer-term therapeutic relationships
Specialise in Attachment-Based Psychotherapeutic practice
Professional registration, protected titles, Medicare eligibility, and membership requirements vary between Australian professional bodies. Practitioners are advised to check directly with AHPRA, the Psychology Board of Australia, PACFA, ACA, or their relevant professional association regarding recognition, registration, or membership requirements.
This course may be a strong fit if you:
Work with clients who feel stuck despite insight or coping strategies
Want more confidence with attachment, shame, avoidance, dysregulation and relational rupture
Want to use the therapeutic relationship as part of the work
Are drawn to depth, meaning, repair and developmental understanding
Want a clearer attachment-informed identity in your clinical practice
Is this course right for you?
Professional recognition and registration
This course is designed to enhance clinical practice, deepen relational understanding and support professional development.
It does not automatically confer professional registration, protected title status, Medicare eligibility or membership with Australian professional bodies.
Practitioners should check directly with AHPRA, the Psychology Board of Australia, PACFA, ACA or their relevant professional association regarding registration, recognition, CPD, scope of practice or membership requirements.
For practitioners who want
more depth in the work
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to bring more depth into
your clinical work?
If you are ready to understand the deeper attachment patterns and clinical meaning, this diploma offers a clear, clinically grounded route into attachment-informed practice.
You will learn to listen differently, formulate more deeply and feel steadier when the work becomes complex, relational or uncertain.