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Representatives of Emotionally Focused Therapy, Barbara Sławik and Aneta Bukowska, were guests today at the regular meeting of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Commission on Preventing Domestic Violence.
This invitation is especially meaningful, as it continues the dialogue that began during the March conference celebrating the 30th anniversary of Niebieska Linia, operating within the Institute of Health Psychology of the Polish Psychological Association.
At that event, they led the workshop “Couples Therapy in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence”, bringing together extensive experience in the field of domestic violence and the perspective of attachment theory. 🎉💙
This presentation – and the dialogue that followed — became the foundation for today’s invitation.
What was discussed today? 🧩
They were invited to present an attachment-based understanding of violence and to show how they connect it with the approach embedded in the Polish Act on Preventing Domestic Violence, which forms the basis of the domestic violence prevention system in Poland. 📘🤝
It is a great honor and a sign of trust. It gives a sense that the space for dialogue between intervention practice and a relational approach to couples therapy is truly opening up. ✨
Why this dialogue? 🔵❤️
In recent weeks, the film “Dom dobry” by Wojtek Smarzowski has stirred a lot of emotion – and rightly so. It shows how deeply violence can penetrate family, social and emotional structures.
Psychotherapists and professionals working with violence encounter similar stories every day – only from a much closer perspective.
This is why it is so important for them to be able to distinguish violence from intense emotions, conflict or helplessness, and to know when working with a couple or a family is supportive, and when it may be unsafe.
Today’s meeting was an opportunity to collectively:
* search for a common language 🗣️
* establish a shared understanding of the roots of distressed couple behavior 💔
* distinguish violence from emotional escalation 🔥
* differentiate intimate terrorism from situational couple violence ⚖️
* and above all, offer better support to people struggling with relational distress ❤️🩹
Practitioners, institutions and specialists – all are working to make help as wise, adequate and effective as possible.
What’s next? 🌱✨
We are glad that the attachment theory perspective has joined this conversation.
We believe that such dialogue offers a real chance for:
* deeper understanding
* more attuned responses
* and more conscious support for people trying to break painful, violent cycles of reacting. 🌿💬
Thank you for the invitation – we look forward to continuing this shared reflection. 🙏✨