NICF: Attachment in the Therapy Room

Attachment in the Therapy Room: How clients move to earned security.

A practical and human exploration of how attachment patterns show up in adult clients — and how the therapeutic relationship becomes a space for repair, emotional safety, and lasting change by Darren Sharpe (MBACP Acc.)

Darren is an accredited counsellor, attachment-based psychotherapist, and lecturer and tutor in Attachment-Based Psychotherapy with Optima Health Services, as well as proud foster carer to two cheeky pre-teens.

Darren runs a private therapy practice in Ashford, Kent, offering both face-to-face and online counselling. His humanistic therapeutic approach is relational, person-centred and trauma-informed, with a strong emphasis on emotional safety, authenticity, and helping clients understand themselves with greater compassion and clarity. The specialisms in suicidal factors and neuro-diversity found Darren through the clients he received rather than any intended plan.

Having completed his own Level 5 training in Attachment-Based Psychotherapy, Darren now teaches and supports other practitioners as a lecturer and tutor — bringing attachment theory to life in a way that is grounded, accessible, and clinically relevant. He is known for making complex psychological ideas feel deeply human, practical, and usable – often with a bit of humour.

Alongside his clinical and academic work, Darren brings extensive experience as a trainer and fostering-sector specialist. He has spent ten years developing and running The Mockingbird Family Model in Kent, Essex and London in partnership with The Fostering Network. Prior to, and alongside this he has for many years delivered professional training across the UK. Darren speaks with warmth, depth, and honesty — blending clinical insight, therapeutic experience, and real-world understanding. His work consistently focuses on what helps people heal: safe relationships, meaningful connection, and the courage to explore what shaped us.

Presentation Focus — In this talk on Attachment-Based Psychotherapy, Darren will explore:

• How attachment forms and why it shapes adult emotional life
• What attachment wounds can look like in therapy and relationships
• How early experiences influence safety, regulation, intimacy, and identity
• The role of the therapeutic relationship in repair and change
• Practical ways attachment thinking strengthens trauma-informed work

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher Northern Ireland Counselling Forum