Circle of Security Further Info Bert Powell Accommodation Options COS Application Form
Bert Powell 
After graduating with a Masters Degree in Behavioural
Science from Whitworth College, Bert Powell started his clinical work as an
outpatient family therapist in a community mental health center in 1974. For
the next 12 years he provided service to a wide variety of high-risk families,
supervised a project on a family therapy approach for the treatment of child
abuse and neglect, became a designated Child Mental Health Specialist for the
State of Washington and received extensive training in Structural Family
Therapy through the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic. During this period he
also became the mental health center’s training supervisor organizing workshops
and seminars for a staff of 300. He served as an advisor to the Washington
State Department of Professional Licensing during the creation of the first set
of administrative rules for the certification of Marriage and Family Therapists
in the state.
Upon entering private practice Bert developed a specialty in
couples therapy and began to focus upon the origins of intimacy. This lead to a
comprehensive study of object relations theory, attachment theory and
developmental psychopathology. In 1991 he graduated from the Masterson
Institute of New York City with a certification in psychoanalytic
psychotherapy.
As one of the originators of the Circle of Security™
Project, Bert has been exploring the clinical applications of attachment theory
for individual, couple and family therapy as well as research on early
intervention. In addition to his private practice he also provides consultation
to the Spokane Police Department and the Spokane Public School’s Behavioural
Intervention Program regarding the utilization of attachment theory and
principles of affect regulation with at-risk youth.
Bert is an Approved Supervisor in the American Association
of Marriage and Family Therapy, an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Graduate
School of Counselling Psychology at Gonzaga University and an International
Advisor to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Attachment and Human
Development. He, along with his colleagues, received the 2000 Washington State
Governor's Child Abuse Prevention Award by Governor Gary Locke and The
Washington Council for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect and is currently
partnering in research grants regarding the Circle of Security™ for high-risk
parent/child dyads with the University of Virginia, the University of Maryland,
Tulane University, Louisiana State University, the City of Baltimore/Department
of Corrections, Head Start/Early Head Start, the Washington Council for
Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, and the Perinatal Unit at Saint John of
God’s Hospital in Perth, Australia.
Bert and his wife Sandy have been married for thirty-six
years and their family home on Long Lake has become the designated “retreat”
site for a wide variety of national and international developmental researchers
and clinicians who consistently visit Spokane to participate in COS related
activities.
Circle of Security Further Info Bert Powell Accommodation
Options COS Application Form