The Roots of Conncetion: Bonding and Attachment from Preconception to Birth

An experiential Pre- and Perinatal Psychology workshop with Mary Jackson, Carme Renalias & Alex Lobba
Embark on a deep journey into the roots of human connection through the lens of Pre- and Perinatal Somatic Psychology. Together, we will explore how bonding and attachment can be nurtured from the very beginning of life and how resilience, healing and repair remain possible throughout it.
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ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
In this workshop, we will follow the sequence of early life – from preconception to birth – exploring how these earliest experiences influence bonding, attachment, regulation and our capacity for relationship.
✨Before conception ✨
We will explore the factors that influence bonding even before conception, including:
- whether the child was planned or unplanned,
- previous reproductive experiences and losses,
experiences related to assisted reproductive technologies,
- the process of making space for a new life after grief or disappointment,
- and the soul’s choice to come into being.
We will consider the importance of integrating past experiences in order to create space for new bonding and connection.
✨Conception, implantation and discovery✨
We will explore the challenges and resources present in these earliest beginnings of life.
How are we first received? How might these initial experiences influence our capacity for attachment and belonging? And how can we create opportunities for understanding and repair when those beginnings were marked by stress, fear, uncertainty or disconnection?
✨Pregnancy✨
In the womb, the baby is already learning the rhythms of life.
Focusing on both the physical and emotional dimensions of gestation, we will examine how positive prenatal experiences – love, support, safety, and regulation – can support healthy development. At the same time, we will acknowledge the impact of stress hormones, fears related to pregnancy and childbirth and adverse circumstances during this sensitive period.
We will also explore practical strategies for supporting pregnant mothers during times of stress, including talking to and differentiating for the baby as ways of fostering regulation and strengthening connection.
✨Birth✨
The experience of birthing and being born can profoundly influence bonding and attachment.
We will explore what supports connection during birth, how birth experiences shape relational patterns, and what can facilitate integration when birth has not unfolded as hoped or expected. Special attention will be given to the possibilities for repair following difficult or traumatic birth experiences.
✨After birth✨
Bonding and attachment continue to unfold long after birth.
We will consider how secure attachment is built through countless moments of attunement, misattunement and reconnection, and how parents and professionals can continue to nurture safety, trust and resilience during the early years of life.

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WHO SHOULD ATTEND
This workshop is designed for (expecting) parents and a wide range of professionals interested in understanding the roots of bonding, attachment and human development from preconception through birth.
It will be particularly valuable for:
👉Psychologists, psychotherapists, counsellors, therapists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals
👉Doulas, childbirth educator and lactation consultants
👉Midwives, obstetricians, gynecologists, embryologists, paediatricians nurses and other healthcare professionals
👉Physiotherapists, osteopaths, craniosacral therapists, bodyworkers and other somatic practitioners
👉Educators, childcare professionals, teachers, special education teachers and educational rehabilitators
👉All those working with babies, children, parents and families during the perinatal period and beyond
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WORKSHOP DETAILS
Dates: 11–13 September, 2026
Timetable: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location: Zagreb, hotel Antunović
Format: In person, in English
Cost: early bird 480 EUR (available until August 17), regular price 600 EUR
Your place will be secured upon receipt of a €150 deposit. The remaining balance is due on the first day of the workshop.

You can find all the information about the workshop, including the application process, here:
👉https://perinatalna-psihologija.com/za-strucnjake/supporting-bonding-and-attachment-from-preconception-to-birth/
Za hrvatski opis radionice, kliknite na
👉https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J2jDz5yorcQ24ZZQpDgtuzQHcxcSu_au/view?usp=drive_link
Have questions or need more information? Please feel free to reach out to us at: [email protected]
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MEET THE TEACHING TEAM
❤Mary Jackson
Mary Jackson has been a midwife since 1975. Offering prenatal, postpartum care, home and water birth, as well as birth trauma resolution, somatic experiencing, cranio-sacral therapy and Circle of Security group work, she serves families in the Ojai Valley, Ventura and Santa Barbara areas of California. She has attended over 2,500 births and is now attending the home births of her second generation of babies.
Mary was one of the pioneers to bring legal midwifery back to California in the‘70s after decades of persecution. A co–founder of the Santa Birth Resource Center, a Board Member of the National Midwifery Institute and current President of the BEBA Clinic (Building and Enhancing, Bonding and Attachment), she is a legend in her region. She was an adjunct faculty member at the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, Co-founder and co-facilitator with the late Ray Castellino, at ‘About Connections’ where they supported families who wanted to conceive, prepare for birth and integrate the birth experience.
She is co-teaching the Castellino Prenatal and Birth Training in the United States and Spain. In the first year after incorporating these pre and perinatal approaches in her midwifery practice, her hospital transfer rate went from 20% to 6%.
Mary has been featured in 11 books and 5 films including “What babies Want” and “Guerrilla Midwife”.
In 2024. she was inducted in the Hall of Honor of Prenatal Sciences, along with Mate Gabor, Otto Rank, Ludwig Janus, Akira Ikegawa, Thomas Verny, William Emerson and other pioneers of prenatal and perinatal sciences.
Mary is currently participating in cutting edge research about imprints that occur around the time of conception, pregnancy and birth and how they affect us throughout the rest of our lives and what it takes to heal from challenges in these experiences.
❤Carme Renelias
Carme has lived in a small village for the last 33 years in the north of Spain, Catalunya, where she has a centre of therapy. She also offer Womb Surround Process Workshop (group process for integrating earliest experinces developed by Ray Castellino) and Biodynamic Craniosacral trainings.
Carme is a teacher of Biodynamic Craneosacral since 2014 and offer BCST sessions for 23 years. She has trained intensely with Robert Harris, Paul Vick, Franklyn Sills, Mike Boxhall, Michael Shea, Jim Feil among others. She met Ray Castellino in 2012 and has participated as an assistant to the Spanish Castellino Training with Ray Castellino, Mary Jackson and Tara Blasco from 2013 to 2020. Since 2022 Carme is a part of the teaching team of Castellino Training and a Womb Surround Process Workshop certified facilitator.
❤Alex Lobba
Alex is a retired software marketing executive and a somatic maieutics coach and practitioner.
His approach combines Somatic Experiencing, a body sensation based practice, with re-evaluation co-counselling, Circle of Security attachment theory, neuroscience and pre and perinatal somatic psychology.
Alex has over 35 years of co-counceling experience and has co-facilitated men’s groups for over 30 years.
The maieutics method is inspired by Socrates’ art of drawing out (midwifing / midhusbanding) the essence or blueprint of a person, so that we can create relationships and respond to situations out of present-time choice and not out of survival strategies developed from early imprints.