Circle of Security Consultants
Erin Atkinson
Brisbane, AU
Erin is a Clinical Psychologist residing in Brisbane, Australia. Erin completed a PhD in Clinical Psychology at Griffith University, graduating in 2006. Since the beginning of her studies Erin has been interested in the links between early relationships and development. She attended her first Circle training in the early 2000s when COS co-originator Kent Hoffman travelled to Australia to introduce the COS model. She was very struck by how deeply COS resonated with her own professional and personal experiences, and quickly sought to learn and understand as much as she could from Kent, Bert and Glen each time they circled the globe and landed in Australia. She was grateful to have the opportunity to receive clinical supervision from Bert Powell. She was also fortunate to spend time learning more deeply about the human condition from Kent at his Attachment and Spirituality workshops, something which has brought much comfort to her over the years. Erin has worked in a variety of government and non-government organisations, hospitals and school settings with people across the lifespan. However, she has developed a passion for working with the early years sector as time has gone by. She has been blessed to meet and work with many infants, children and families across her career who have taught her so much about the centrality of early attachment relationships. She continues to deepen her learning of the COS model in connection with Deidre and Neil and the many wonderful opportunities they have afforded her in her ongoing journey of learning about the Circle of Security, and learning to be the Circle of Security.
Outside of work, Erin enjoys being with her husband and together raising their two gorgeous boys. She also loves running, classical Pilates, all things architecture, and connecting with friends over a cup of tea and chocolate.
Mark Hald, Ph.D.
Nebraska, USA
Mark Hald, Ph.D., is a certified Circle of Security Parenting (COSP) Fidelity Coach and Trainer for Circle of Security International (COSI). He was trained as a COSP facilitator in March 2011 and completed the 10-day intensive training shortly thereafter. Mark has a deep commitment to the Circle of Security model, having continuously facilitated COSP groups since 2011. Since becoming a Certified Fidelity Coach, he has provided coaching and support to COSP facilitators in Nebraska, across the USA, and internationally.
Mark Hald is a licensed psychologist and partner at Options in Psychology, LLC (Scottsbluff, NE). He provides assessment and intervention for individuals across the lifespan, with a keen interest in infant, toddler, and early childhood mental health. With over 40 years of experience, he has worked with young people and their families in a broad variety of settings, including schools, residential treatment centers, and psychiatric hospitals.
Mark has an extensive background in both mental-behavioral health and school psychology. He worked in various educational, programmatic, and therapeutic roles in schools, hospitals, and universities before entering private practice. He has also taught at the college and university level since 1986. In addition to his clinical work, he currently provides psychological consultation to local schools, Head Start programs, the CAPStone Child Advocacy Center, and several community agencies. He is an active member of and a past-president of the Nebraska Association of Infant Mental Health.
Mark regularly speaks and presents on topics related to attachment, trauma, and other behavioral and mental health subjects, and has led numerous workshops and presentations regionally, nationally, and internationally. In his spare time, he enjoys being with family, gardening, camping, and being in the wild.
Lynn Henderson
Minnesota, USA
Lynn Henderson is an Early Childhood Teacher and Parent Educator with the Duluth Public Schools, a registered Circle of Security Parenting Facilitator, and a COS-Classroom Coach. She has been working in early care and education for 30 years. In her career, Lynn has held a variety of roles — teacher, center director, trainer, and Anti-Bias curriculum development. She has been a trainer to staff, leadership and management personnel.
Lynn was immediately attracted to the Circle of Security because of its focus on strengthening parent and caregiver child relationships. She believes that the Circle gives caregivers confidence and makes it simpler for them to understand their child’s needs. This work has affected her personal relationships and as a mother she believes that that Circle of Security has been a game changer in the raising of her 4 children! Lynn is passionate about helping parents as well as caregivers in the classroom start to see what is hidden in plain sight in their relationships with children.
Lynn lives with her husband, 4 children and 2 Westies. She enjoys gardening, taking lake walks by Lake Superior, and spending time with family and friends. She is pursuing her Master’s degree in Family Science from Concordia-St Paul.
Candice Loopstra
Melbourne, AU
Candice is a registered clinical psychologist based in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, the Dandenong Ranges. She completed a Bachelor of Psychological Science with Honours from the University of Queensland, and a Doctorate of Psychology (Clinical) from Queensland University of Technology. She has 10 years of experience working with individuals ranging from late adolescence to adulthood, having worked in public and private services in both inpatient and outpatient settings, including her own private practice. Her therapeutic approach is client-centred and prioritizes the development of an empathic, consistent, collaborative, and responsive therapeutic relationship. She offers an integrative approach to therapy, the foundation of which is rooted in psychodynamic therapies and has found the core sensitivities to be a valuable clinical lens through which to understand her client's relational needs and struggles.
Candice is a registered COSP Facilitator and has completed training in the COS-Intensive model of intervention, offering both COSP and COS-Intensive in her private practice. She has considerable experience in clinical supervision of psychotherapy, including as a COS-Intensive supervisor.
She and her partner are raising two young children in their home outside Melbourne and so the Circle is ever present in her daily life.
Brooke Poulsen
Sunshine Coast, AU
Brooke is a Clinical Psychologist who lives on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. She has been inspired by Circle of Security from her first introduction to the model during her Doctorate of Clinical Psychology. Brooke chose to focus on attachment theory, relational models of therapy and particularly, Circle of Security, in her postgraduate training as a Clinical Psychologist. Her doctoral thesis focused on Core Sensitivities, an immensely rich and a powerful source of learning both personally and professionally and one that brought coherence to relationship experiences. As a clinician, she joined the Health Department in Queensland, working with parents and families in child and adolescent mental health and early intervention services. Brooke offered clinical parenting and mental health intervention. More recently, Brooke has been a lecturer and supervisor at the Queensland University of Technology and she continues to work with parents and families using both the Circle of Security-Intensive model and Circle of Security Parenting program. She is continually humbled by the willingness of caregivers to face pain and struggle to offer security to their children. It has been Brooke’s transition to parenthood that has provided the richest opportunities and challenges in engaging with the Circle of Security model and further grounded her commitment to the wisdom of this lens.
Brooke lives with her husband Jason, their daughter Olivia, and twin sons Heath and Henry. Outside of work, you’ll find her riding her bike, engaged in various creative pursuits and drinking coffee with friends.
Kathy Rupert
Ontario, CA
Kathy is a registered clinical social worker in Ontario, Canada with over 30 years experience specializing in the field of attachment and developmental trauma across child welfare, children’s mental health, crisis support, education, and pediatric chronic pain.
Kathy was first introduced to the Circle of Security in 2009 both as a clinician, and later, as clinic lead of a provincially based, tertiary level attachment, consultation and education service. In this clinic, Kathy was a member of an interdisciplinary team that was trained in the delivery of COS assessments and interventions in work with children and youth presenting with attachment disturbances and complex developmental trauma. In the role of clinic lead, Kathy was a co-investigator on university-based program evaluations/research projects, as well as held the posts of committee chair for the Professional Practice Council, Ethics Case Consultation/Review Committees and as social work professional practice lead. Kathy was also responsible for the development and delivery of tertiary level community capacity and competency initiatives across multiple service sectors designed to support standardized observations and coding of attachment/caregiving patterns to assist service providers in creating concrete treatment goals, assessment, and measuring treatment outcomes.
Certified by Starr Commonwealth as an Advanced Certified Trauma and Resilience Practitioner, Kathy assumed the duties of a Trauma Informed Intervention and Practice trainer with the interRAI Lab at Western University in Ontario. Within this position, Kathy aided in the development and delivered trauma-based training modules to interRAI assessors and worked collaboratively with community partners in the screening, assessment and delivery of individually tailored, trauma informed practice. More recently, as the clinical director of Rupert Consulting, Kathy has provided COSP Fidelity Coaching and is in pursuit of endorsement as a COS-Intensive Provider.
Kathy is passionate about helping caregivers and service providers realize and delight in the vital role secure relationships play in making a meaningful difference in the lives of children and youth.
Charlie Slaughter
Connecticut, USA
Charlie has been instrumental in helping to spread Circle of Security Parenting (COSP) to communities and community organizations in the state of Connecticut, USA where over 2,500 people have been trained since 2010. Charlie was drawn into focusing on the quality of the parent-child relationship while working as public health nutritionist; in the late 1990's a colleague encouraged Charlie to read Robert Karen's book, Becoming Attached, leading Charlie on a journey that has focused on bringing the insights from research on attachment to bear in communities. He believes that COSP is a tool that strengthens relationships and in doing so equips infants, kids, students, adolescents, and even adults with various capacities (educational, relational, self-care, etc.) needed to thrive in life.
Charlie lives with his wife, Betsy. He is an avid gardener and home repair guy. Charlie is also very devoted to his spiritual growth. He has found the concepts of attachment theory and implicit memories to play powerful and essential roles in gaining coherence about himself and other people and to regaining a greater sense of joy in life.
To learn more about Charlie's journey with Circle of Security, check out this interview.
Map of Regions
