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An Introduction to Working Relationally with Youth Impacted by Foster Care Attachment, Trauma, and the Therapeutic Relationship with Dr. Amanda Medrano
2:00 PMThursday, May 21 2026
1:00 PMThursday, May 21 2026
12:00 PMThursday, May 21 2026
11:00 AMThursday, May 21 2026
10:00 AMThursday, May 21 2026
8:00 AM
Dr. Amanda Medrano, Psy.D., is a clinical psychologist based in Walnut Creek, California, specializing in perinatal mental health, attachment, and relational trauma. Her work integrates psychodynamic, attachment-focused, and systems-informed approaches, with clinical experience across community mental health, integrated medical settings, and foster care–impacted populations. She serves as a Volunteer Clinical Professor with UCSF’s Department of Psychiatry, where she provides supervision and training to psychiatry fellows. Dr. Medrano’s teaching emphasizes reflective practice and the use of the therapeutic relationship as a central site of understanding and change.
This training explores how attachment experiences, relational trauma, and caregiving disruptions shape the relational expectations of youth who have experienced foster care. Participants will examine how early relational experiences influence internal working models and how these patterns may emerge within the therapeutic relationship. The training will also explore the role of therapist self-awareness, relational enactment, and rupture and repair in creating corrective relational experiences in treatment.
This course is eligible for 2 continuing education credits.
This course is suitable for Psychologists, LMHCs, MFTs, Social Workers, and LPCs.
Introductory
11am - 11:10am Welcome + Arrival
11:10–11:15 Objectives + Container
11:15–11:20 Guided Grounding
11:20–11:35 Attunement + Early Development
11:35–11:40 Reconnect + Regulate
11:40–12:00 Relational Patterns + Internal Working Models
12:00–12:10 IWM in Therapy Relationship
12:10–12:20 BREAK
12:20–12:30 Recap + Transition
12:30–12:45 Therapist + Relational Dynamics
12:45–1:00 Rupture, Enactment, and Repair
1:00–1:15 Experiential Practice (Role Play)
1:15–1:25 Group Reflection + Integration
1:25–1:30 Closing
At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:
Identify 1-2 ways attachment disruptions and relational trauma may influence the beliefs, behaviors, and relational expectations of youth with foster care histories.
Describe at least two ways a client’s internal working model becomes activated within the therapeutic relationship.