A practical, attachment-based model for professionals working with parents and families.
Complete IAFT Level 1, IAFT Level 2, and 12 total Skills Group sessions to receive a certificate of completion and a listing in the IAFT directory.
See the pathway → Start with Level 1 →Many professionals find themselves working hard with clients, building insight, offering strategies, and supporting families through difficult moments, yet still encountering the same patterns again and again. Sessions can feel stuck, with progress that is understood but not consistently carried into daily life. IAFT was developed to help professionals move through these moments.
Integrative Attachment Family Therapy (IAFT) is a comprehensive, attachment-based model developed by family therapy expert Dafna Lender for professionals who want practical, relational tools for working with children and families. It is an integrative, multidimensional framework grounded in attachment science, interpersonal neurobiology, somatic practice, and experiential family therapy.
It gives professionals:
Through case-based learning, role-play, and hands-on practice, participants learn not only the theory, but how to apply it in meaningful and practical ways with the children, caregivers, and families they support.
Complete IAFT Level 1, begin the Monthly Skills Group, complete IAFT Level 2, and finish 12 Skills Group sessions in total. Participants who complete all of it receive a certificate of completion and may be listed in the IAFT directory.
IAFT is not a certification. Clinicians who complete the pathway are IAFT trained.
Start with IAFT Level 1. IAFT Level 1 introduces the core framework and foundational tools of the model, and is the recommended starting point for all participants.
IAFT Level 1 offers both conceptual clarity and practical tools that professionals can immediately integrate into their work. It is designed to help participants understand the IAFT framework, strengthen their alliance with parents, and begin recognizing the patterns that shape distress in the parent and child relationship.
Participants will learn:
After completing Level 1, participants are encouraged to begin the Monthly Skills Group. Through real clinical cases, practical skill-building, and shared reflection with peers, these sessions help participants strengthen their understanding of IAFT and apply the model with greater confidence in their work.
Participants will:
An advanced, small-group training for professionals who have completed Level 1 and are ready to deepen their application of the model. Through live teaching, case-based learning, and a more interactive training environment, Level 2 helps participants deepen their confidence, refine their clinical decision-making, and apply IAFT with greater nuance and skill.
Participants refine their ability to:
Level 2 is offered in a small-group format and currently runs once a year, so we encourage you to plan ahead.
Learn more →For many professionals, this is where the model begins to feel more natural, embodied, and deeply usable in practice.
IAFT is designed for professionals who support children and families in a wide range of settings, including:
Whether you are newer to attachment-based work or looking to deepen an established practice, IAFT offers a practical framework you can begin using right away.
This training was so very valuable both in deepening my understanding and in developing my skill level of a framework that is so effective. It was profound to me how Dafna's ability to provide an environment that is safe and supportive, coupled with being in a group of peers who were all engaged and encouraging in the breakout groups, has allowed for so much growth.
IAFT Level 2 participant
When I stumbled upon your book on Amazon, it felt like I had found a missing piece to a puzzle. This approach affirms my hunches and instincts about where to go with families and provides a framework for doing so. My colleagues have expressed similar feedback. We sincerely appreciate your work. It has helped to confirm, consolidate, and inspire our team.
IAFT participant
This book should be required reading for anyone who works with children. As experienced therapists know, no one clinical model is comprehensive enough to work for everyone. However, Dafna Lender's integrative attachment family therapy comes darn close. Through her gift of storytelling, complex ideas come alive in ways that are both poetic and practical.
Karen Doyle Buckwalter, LCSW, RPT-S
Author & podcaster
Group rates are offered for clinics, organizations, schools, and teams who would like multiple staff members to participate in the training together. When professionals learn IAFT as a group, it can strengthen shared understanding, support more consistent application of the model, and create greater alignment across the team.
Private supervision groups for teams may also be available, offering a more tailored space to deepen the work. In-person trainings may be available for organizations, clinics, schools, or teams interested in bringing IAFT training directly to their staff or community.
Ask about team training →
Dafna is a family therapy expert and attachment specialist. Dafna is an international trainer and supervisor for practitioners who work with children and families. She is a certified trainer and supervisor/consultant in both Theraplay and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP), as well as an EMDR therapist.
Dafna's expertise is drawn from 29 years of practicing family therapy around diverse problems: extreme acting out and withdrawn children, depression, ADHD, school issues, adoption identity and developmental trauma, as well as parent-child relational conflict, dysregulation and mood instability in parents as well as co-parent conflict. Dafna's style, whether as a therapist or teacher, is combining the light-hearted with the profound by bringing a playful, intense and passionate presence to every encounter.
Dafna is author of Integrative Attachment Family Therapy (2023) and the co-author of Theraplay: The Practitioner's Guide (2020). She teaches and supervises clinicians in 15 countries in 4 languages: English, Hebrew, French and Spanish.
Read Dafna's story →
Most participants begin with IAFT Level 1, which introduces the core framework and foundational tools of the model. From there, participants are encouraged to join the Monthly Skills Group and then continue into IAFT Level 2. This pathway creates a strong foundation while allowing professionals to build confidence, deepen their skills, and continue integrating IAFT into their work over time.
IAFT Level 1 introduces the core framework and foundational tools of the model, and is the recommended starting point for all participants.
IAFT Level 1 → See the full calendar →Sign up with your email to receive news and updates.