Mother, author and major contributing member of the social work community is the latest addition to the API Board of Directors
Nashville, TN – June, 2014 – Attachment Parenting International (API), a non-profit global network of parenting support groups with more than 60 locations around the world, announces its newest Board of Directors member, mother, author and major contributing member of the social work community, Karen Walant.
API Resource Advisory Council members are experts in their professional fields, giving advice, lending their expertise, and supporting the mission and vision of API.
“Karen Walant is a longtime friend and supporter of API and we warmly welcome her to a more visible and active role as a new member of API’s Board of Directors. Karen’s career and work as a mother, therapist, writer and more has been based in her deep understanding and advocacy of attachment theory. Karen’s work with API will help inform and mend the culturally normative parenting practices that have imperceptibly disengaged from healthier, innate attachment and caregiving,” said Art Yuen.
Dr. Karen B. Walant is the author of the book, Creating the Capacity for Attachment: Treating Addictions and the Alienated Self. Now in its fourth printing, this book has helped lead the way in the recent explosion of interest in attachment and attachment-based treatment. A pioneer in the application of attachment principles to addiction and spirituality, Walant most recently returned for a second engagement to speak at the Harvard Medical School Treating the Addictions Conference, receiving one of the highest speaker ratings.
“Having been a member of the Advisory Board of API since its inception, I am very excited to join the Board of Directors, and the opportunity to work more closely with such a remarkable and dedicated group of people. I fully believe that the mission of API is of great value to our families and our society," said Walant.
Previously, she has been the keynote speaker for MetroHealth Hospital in Cleveland Ohio, in a conference entitled Disconnected in Today’s World: Loneliness, Addiction, and Attachment Disorder. She has led all-day clinical workshops on attachment and addiction, such as a full-day sponsored by the Marriage and Family Therapists Association in Amarillo, Texas. She has also spoken at Grand Rounds at Four Winds Hospital-Katonah, NY on topics related to attachment and psychotherapy.
Over the years, Walant has presented at numerous organizations including: The Rockland County New York Psychological Association, The Family and Children’s Aid of Greater Norwalk, CT, The Cincinnati Center for Self Psychology, The Georgia Psychological Association, St. John’s Episcopal Church Parenting Series in North Salem, NY, and The New York Council on Alcoholism. She has developed a parenting series entitled Connection, Cooperation and Communication, and speaks with parents at both public and private schools on issues of attachment, empathy, and emotional intelligence. She is a frequent speaker at The Family University at John Barlow High School and Ridgefield High School. She has taught at New York University School of Social Work and is a supervisor for private practitioners in the wider New York Metropolitan area.
Walant is a Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Worker with a Ph.D. from New York University in Social Work. She served nearly 20 years on the Advisory Board of Attachment Parenting International and is a contributor to their newsletter. She is the current President of the Parents’ Association and a Board of Trustee member at The Harvey School, and started the HarveySpeaks program, a unique Family University-style program adapted to the needs of the school. She maintains a private practice in Ridgefield, CT where she lives with her husband and their teen-age fraternal twin sons. Their daughter, Anna, is rising senior at Pratt Institute, studying Industrial Design, and their sons will graduate from Harvey in 2013. William will be attending Hamilton College in the fall, and Benjamin will attend Rhode Island School of Design.
Attachment Parenting is based in the practice of nurturing parenting methods that create strong emotional bonds, also known as secure attachment, between the infant and parent(s). This style of parenting encourages responsiveness to children’s emotional needs, enabling children to develop trust that their needs will be met. As a result, this strong attachment helps children develop the capacity for secure, empathic, peaceful, and enduring relationships that follow them into adulthood.
Attachment Parenting International (API) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit member organization founded in 1994 to network with parents, professionals and like-minded organizations around the world. API’s mission is to educate and support all parents in raising secure, joyful and empathic children in order to strengthen families and create a more compassionate world. In addition to providing assistance in forming Attachment Parenting support groups, API functions as a clearinghouse providing educational materials,research information, consultative, referral and speaker services to promote Attachment Parenting concepts.
More information about Attachment Parenting International can be found at www.attachmentparenting.org.
