M-MAT MULTI-MODAL ATTACHMENT THERAPY

An Integrated Whole-Brain Approach to Attachment Injuries in Children and Families.

Some of the most challenging children to help are those who have been injured early in life in their first relationships through disrupted or injured attachment. These children can be both hurting and hurtful to others, and are often anxious and depressed, yet push away the very things they most need for healing: love and connection. Traditional child therapies are largely ineffective and professionals and parents may be at a loss as to how to help.

Perhaps there is a better way to reach attachment-injured children. Perhaps our therapy models have simply not been a good match for their needs…

Multi-Modal Attachment Therapy (M-MAT) brings a fresh, innovative approach to working with children and families struggling with attachment injuries. In a whole-brain strategy, M-MAT blends a number of modalities to target precisely those areas most impacted by the attachment injury: attachment and connection, self-concept, worldview, and skills deficits. The result is a powerful, cohesive, and comprehensive attachment-based therapy.

Multi-Modal Attachment Therapy (M-MAT) is a structured attachment-based therapy with the primary focus on healing attachment injuries* through adult/child interactions, integrating both play and talk therapies.

M-MAT is a two-pronged approach with both a play and a talk component. The play component utilizes largely non-verbal, bottom-up, sensorimotor forms of communication, connection and nurturing, including mirroring, rhythm, touch and eye contact.

The talk component engages the power of language and the child’s thoughts by addressing cognitive distortions, responsibility, and self-concept through re-storying, skill building and psychoeducation. M-MAT helps the child create a new narrative in which they can organize and make sense of their experiences in a healthy, adaptive way.

The two components together reinforce each other, allow for deeper integration and healing, and are far more powerful than either alone. Together they access many parts of the brain and harness the incredible healing power inherent in both left and right brain modalities.

ON M-MAT AND CHILD TRAUMA:

M-MAT is not just for children with attachment challenges. M-MAT is currently being used in some settings to address child physical and/or sexual abuse. When there is a reasonably secure attachment with a parent or caregiver, M-MAT is able to leverage the power of that relationship to promote healing. The M-MAT "frame" of attachment-based play and feeding and questions helps the child to emotionally regulate, access relational resources to assist in their healing, and be more engaged in the middle "Talk" part of M-MAT. During the M-MAT talk portion, the child is able to make new meanings of their experiences and shame is reduced. Although results are only anecdotal at this point, they are promising!