Circle of Security

Domain V · Systemic, relational, group & community · Powell, Cooper, Hoffman

What it is

COS is an attachment-based, video-assisted intervention for caregivers of children roughly 0–5 (some versions up to 6–7) who face adversity or are at risk of insecure attachment. It is a manualised, licensed programme family, not a free-standing therapy school: COS-I is a 12–20-session…

Format

• Versions and formats
• COS-Intensive (COS-I). Individual, couple or group. Groups: up to 6 caregivers (ACF), 5–10 (NHS Scotland) or 6 dyads (Foundations). Weekly sessions of about 75–90 minutes; 20 sessions for groups, 14–16 (NHS) or 12–20 (ACF) for individuals and couples; more caregivers means more sessions, because…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Note: Foundations places shark music in chapter 5 and rupture/repair in chapters 6–7; the Trials titles place struggles in 6 and repair in 7.
• Certification, licensing and fidelity before delivering under the name
• COS-P: 4-day training (about 24 hours, in person or blended online) leads to Registered Circle of Security Facilitator (older term: Registered COS Parent Educator). No licence, no required supervision; optional "fidelity coaching" (reflective supervision with a Certified Fidelity Coach). Practitioners typically hold a master's in a helping profession.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• sessions turning into advice-trading; steer back to reflection.
• trauma disclosures in group; acknowledge, contain, and continue in individual time or refer.
• formulation used as a label rather than a guide; it is not disclosed to the parent as a diagnosis.
• ending as a rupture for caregivers with loss histories; prepare the ending several sessions in advance.
• caregivers who can't find anything to enjoy: a marker of a strained relationship to note for supervision.

Problems the guide addresses

• Hard-to-reach or defensive caregivers
• Stuck: caregiver understands concepts but nothing changes
• Overwhelm during tape review or shark-music work
• Non-attendance and drop-out
• Rupture with the therapist
• Group-specific difficulties (COS-I group, COS-P)
• "Taking charge" heard as harshness, or "follow the lead" as permissiveness
• Safety: maltreatment, violence, frightening caregiving, parental crisis
• Modality-specific difficulties

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.