15 June 2021. Does the DMM offer a potential benefit for understanding an individual’s self-protective attachment strategies and how they might impact their relationships, particularly in the context of psychotherapy interventions? How does the processing and transformation of information impact inter-couple communication? Using a Dynamic Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM) perspective, we will begin this DMM Coffee House session with a discussion on the experience of working with couples and the attachment dynamics typically observed, particularly around the parallels of childhood attachment and adult attachment strategies. Then we will review a couples’ Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) assessments with a focus on the portion of the interview that reflects on the adult attachment relationship and discuss the potential use of the DMM-AAI (or questions in the DMM-AAI) in couples’ assessments for clinical practice.
This DMM Coffee House session is part of the DMM-AAI series.
Session details
Date session A: Tuesday, 15 June 2021 (live, recorded)
Date session B: Thursday, 17 June 2021 (video replay)
Length: 90+ minutes
Price: Free
Host/Facilitator: Shanna Donhauser
Platform: Zoom meeting
Sponsor: Conflict Science Institute
Multiple sessions: Each session will be unique, please join both! Invite your colleagues.
Session times:
Session A (US/EU/Africa/India): Tuesday, 9:00 a.m. Seattle (UTC -7) (11:00 a.m. in Dallas; noon in Miami; 5:00 p.m. in London; 7:00 p.m. in Cape Town; 9:00 p.m. in New Delhi; midnight in Bangkok.)
Session B (US/EU/AUS/Asia): Thursday, at 1:00 p.m. in Seattle (3:00 p.m. in Dallas; 4:00 p.m. in Miami; 9:00 p.m. in London; and (in Australia/Thailand/China on Friday) at 6:00 a.m. in Sydney. (AUS/ASIA participants should confirm their local start time against Seattle time.)
Shanna Donhauser

Shanna Donhauser is a psychotherapist focusing on young children and their parents. After completing her MSW at NYU (’14), Shanna completed the Infant Mental Health Certificate at the University of Washington. She had a private practice in Seattle WA for several years serving young children and couples but is currently on a clinical sabbatical, completing the MSc in Attachment Theory at the University of Roehampton in summer 2021. Her dissertation focuses on couples attachment, with a specific interest in the consistency between the dysfluency of speakers when discussing childhood attachment and adult romantic relationships. Shanna’s clinical interest lies on the attachment relationship between parents and the potential for developing more attachment integration through adult love relationships, as well as the potential parallel process that might emerge in the attachment relationship of the parents and their children.
Shanna can be contacted through her website, Happy Nest | Family Therapy Seattle (happynesttherapy.com).