The Circle of Security® In-Home Program is a time-limited, highly-focused service for families based on a careful, evidence-based assessment of the most important parts of parent-child relationships. These include attachment, exploration and play, teaching, behavior management, and emotion-regulation.
Many children have behavior- and emotional-problems that puzzle and challenge their parents. The goal of this service is to help parents “solve the mystery” of their child’s puzzling behavior, to better understand their child’s signals, and to experience more success in meeting their child’s needs.
Fifty years of research world-wide has shown that when parents are able to understand and respond appropriately to their child’s cues, the child develops healthy, secure attachments which are the foundation for success in school, social relationships and a general sense of competence and well-being.
The Circle of Security In-Home Program helps parents develop a sturdy foundation that they can build on through the remaining years of guiding their child toward adulthood.
Appropriate Families
ADOPTIVE OR FOSTER FAMILIES
Developing effective attunement to the needs of a foster or adoptive child is difficult. The Circle of Security ® In-Home Program helps parents develop the confidence to be effective under difficult circumstances.
FAMILY REUNIFICATION
When a child is in foster or residential care, parents need support preparing for the child’s return. This is an effective time to implement our services since parents can focus on the work without the daily pressures of child care. Once the child is returned, our work helps parents to integrate their new learning into existing patterns.
CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
Parents take it very personally when their child acts in ways that are painful and confusing. Our Circle of Security In-Home Program helps parents gain insight into the reactions they have to their child’s behaviors so that they can better meet the child’s mental and emotional needs.
Admission Criteria
- Parents have adequate cognitive ability.
- Parents are not actively abusing substances.
- Parents are not currently in a marital crisis.
- Housing is stable. Parents can commit to the process.
- The family is not in crisis.
- The parents seen in the assessment are the parents who will be raising the child.
The Circle of Security In-Home Program is a psycho-educational intervention. Parents need to be in a life position to learn effectively.
Part of the intake process is determining the best course of treatment for any given family. We start by helping to figure out the questions that need answering, and from there determine the course of action that makes the most sense at the time. Some families will not be appropriate for the in-home program, but we will help to figure out what is recommended and how to get it.
Please use us as a resource to brainstorm treatment modalities most likely to be successful for any family.
Current Service Areas
The program currently serves Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Louisa, Nelson, Orange, Ruckersville, the Valley (Staunton, Harrisonburg, Stuarts Draft, Waynesboro, Lexington, Verona, Fishersville, Staunton) and we have some limited availabilty in Richmond and Madison.
ATTACHMENT ASSESSMENT
The Circle of Security ® In-Home Program starts with a attachment assessment conducted at the Mary D. Ainsworth Parent-Child Attachment Clinic.
The assessment includes the Strange Situation procedure developed by Mary D. Ainsworth, and in-depth clinical interviews of caregivers.
Through review of the videotaped parent/child interactions the therapist gains an understanding of the patterns present in the relationship. The parent interviews provide insight to each parent’s experiences growing-up and his or her orientation to the child.
The purpose of the attachment assessment conducted for the Circle of Security In-Home Program is to be the foundation for the intervention. It is not an appropriate assessment to make child placement decisions or to provide documentation for court proceedings.
Families who have been previously assessed may be eligible to receive in-home services.
Directors
Dr. Bob Marvin has been a seminal figure in the field of attachment theory and is the co-author of the Circle of Security ® Model.
Dr. Bill Whelan helped form the Mary D. Ainsworth Parent-Child Attachment Clinic with Dr. Marvin and
together they have researched and taught attachment theory for the past 25 years.
Tarn Singh, LCSW is the former developer and director of People Places of Charlottesville, and the Kindred Homes Program in Lynchburg, Virginia. He has been practicing psychotherapy in Charlottesville for nearly 30 years. Tarn provides weekly clinical supervision of each therapist regarding their use of self as they work with a family, systems issues that may impact a family’s ability to make use of the circle work, and concerns outside of the primary attachment relationship that will affect the direction of the intervention.
Staff
Wanda Seagroves, LCSW provides weekly consults to each therapist regarding the utilization of the data from the attachment assessment, the application of circle concepts, and the pacing of the intervention.
Kelley Hunt, MSW is the COS In-Home Program coordinator. She helps referral sources and parents through the intake process and helps determine the best course of treatment for any given family.
Therapists
Felicia Brooks; Hilary Cohen; Gavin Connor; Greg Czyszczon; Lila Heymann; Eric Hinesley; Kelley Hunt; Jennine Moritz;
Abby Sorrells; Delores Symonette
