For Adults, Too
In a 2022 qualitative study in Norway, a small group of adults receiving treatment through a public mental health service were introduced to Circle of Security, not as parents, but as adult clients. The results were powerful.
- Participants reported meaningful shifts in how they related to themselves:
- More self-compassion
- Greater awareness of needs and reactions
- Increased capacity for emotional regulation and mindfulness
- A deeper ability to stay present with their own distress
For many, it wasn’t just about learning something new, it was about making sense of something old. The Circle of Security helped them look back at their own histories, often painful or confusing, and begin to weave those experiences into a coherent story. A story that helped explain why they struggle now, and pointed toward new, kinder ways to respond to themselves.
“It was like I finally had a map of what I needed—and permission to actually follow it.”
— Participant, Norwegian COSP Mental Health Study
"Making sense of what wasn’t met in the past gave new meaning to my present struggles."
— Participant, Norwegian COSP Mental Health Study
Reflection is the Key
What does this mean in practice?
It means adults began to use the Circle to reflect on how their past shows up in their current relationships. They could recognise when they were reaching out or withdrawing as a form of self-protection against past relational pain. They could see their protective strategies for what they were: clever ways they’d coped in the absence of security. And with this new lens came a choice to stop doing what was always done, and to show up differently.
This is attachment work, too.
So much of adult mental health work is about this kind of repair, recognizing the gap between what we needed and what we got and the ways we have grown around these experiences. The Circle doesn’t replace therapy, but it can offer a powerful frame for making meaning, tracking patterns, and building new capacity.
If you’re a clinician, a COSP facilitator, or someone walking your own path of healing, this study is worth a read.
🔗 Read the full study:
Circle of Security Parenting as an intervention for adult clients in public mental health services (Tveiten et al., 2022)
