Attachment

Attachment injuries refer to emotional wounds that occur within close relationships when one's need for security, understanding, and responsiveness is significantly neglected or betrayed. Rooted in attachment theory, which emphasizes the importance of secure bonds between individuals—most notably between parents and children—these injuries can have profound effects that extend into adulthood, particularly for the adult children of immature parents.

Attachment can affect our ability to have stable relationships. Identifying patterns and changing behaviors can get us out of failed relationship loops.

Our early experiences with primary caregivers can set the stage for how one approaches relationships throughout life. I work with clients to establish a trusting client-counselor relationship that can be used as a blueprint for strengthening other relationships and can serve as a foundation for vibrant mental health.

We are both wounded and healed in relationship. From infancy (and before in terms of generational trauma) we're learning who is safe and who isn't. Attachment work is about noticing and naming those subconscious patterns and finding new ways to engage with others so we can experience security and safety.

With extensive expertise in attachment theory and its impact on relationships, Meghan helps clients understand and heal from insecure attachment patterns. Using evidence-based practices like Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), she empowers individuals and couples to build healthier, more secure connections. Committed to fostering a safe, supportive environment, she guides clients toward emotional well-being and stronger relationships.

Attachment wounds lead to feelings of abandonment or rejection. We all deserve to feel like we belong. I am trained in attachment theory, or Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) which is clinically proven as the most effective treatment for couples. I have been an EFT client, and I know how hard yet rewarding this work can be. I love integrating art, mindfulness, or body work with EFT because my clients learn new and deeper ways to feel their emotions and connect with themselves and others.

A healthy attachment is neither forced to be near nor forced to be away. Secure attachment comes from the security and safety to be in relationship and be ourselves in a way that is successful to our lives and honers the life of our relationships. Healthy attachment doesn't ask us to compromise ourselves or our others. It is the ability to hold with others and our selves. Education and knowing your tendencies in attachment will empower productivity in your relationships and avoid your triggers.

I believe that attachment is the foundation for all relationships. I help my clients to understand their attachment style and how this may be preventing them from living the life that they want/.

A large part of the work that I have done in infant mental health is working on building attachment and increasing security in relationships. Attachment is important in every relationship, and I know how to help create and maintain secure attachments even if you have a pattern of insecure attachment in your life.

With extensive training in psychodynamic and attachment theories, I focus on how early relational patterns shape current relationship health, especially for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ individuals. Psychodynamically, I explore how unconscious processes and early life experiences influence current relationship dynamics, often reflecting internalized societal messages and early relational dynamics.

By learning about our attachment styles and how they present in our relationships, we can identify what our roles are in communication and conflict. Even if we have an insecure attachment style, we can move towards a more secure attachment with our partner. This is one of those times we dig into the past, so that we can have a different perspective on our relationships.

I practice primarily through an attachment lens and treat the wounds that result from and rest in the most important relationships in our lives.

Issues of attachment show up when you find yourself frustrated in key relationships - whether with your partner, your own parents, children, or close friends. Identifying why your instinctive patterns aren't working for you, and taking steps to improve them, requires awareness of these factors and knowledge of where to go from there. That's where I come in!

When we are born it is imperative that we connect to our caregivers. It is exclusively through this early connection we learn our nascent sense of self and the safety of others. However, these fragile moments are often met with neglect or intrusion, both subtle and overt, that instill predicatble survival strategies that continue into adulthood. Nothing is wrong with you. The question is what happened to you and what interpersonal strategies did you use to survive.

I believe that our early attachment relationships shape how we view ourselves and impact how we function in relationships. By healing our attachment wounds, we can learn how to connect to our emotions and thrive in safe, healthy relationships.

There are many reasons why we may find ourselves in patterns of not being able to feel like we can be in the type of relationship we can thrive in at our best selves. Whether that be in a romantic, familial, professional, platonic. relationship etc. Annikki strives to work along side you to get to the core root of where this is stemming from to help you find the joy and fulfillment you are seeking.

Couples, as well as parents and their children, work with me to form secure attachments with each other. I help clients experiencing relationship difficulties and those who experience pain from circumstances or losses. While therapy work does not always focus on a client's childhood experiences, those pieces of our lives are always part of the story that makes us who we are. Both suffering and resilience come from our attachment relationships: parents, siblings, partners, children, even friends.

27 years experience, working with children, diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder.