What is Circle of Security?
Circle of Security is a reflective, video-based parenting program developed by Glen Cooper, Kent Hoffman, and Bert Powell after nearly two decades of clinical work with families. It is rooted in attachment theory and used by practitioners around the world.
The program uses a simple but powerful visual, an actual circle, to map what children need from their caregivers at different moments throughout the day. At the top of the circle, children venture out to explore the world. At the bottom, they come back needing comfort and reassurance. Your job is to be present for both.
"It is not a lecture and not a list of rules. It is a way of seeing your child and yourself more clearly."
Safe haven
Being available when your child comes back to you hurting, scared, or overwhelmed. Receiving them fully without minimizing, fixing, or redirecting.
Secure base
Supporting your child as they go out to explore the world. Encouraging independence without letting go too soon or holding on too tight.
Bigger, stronger, wiser, kind
The four qualities your child needs to feel from you. Not perfection. Presence, warmth, and the willingness to repair when you miss it.
WHO IS IT FOR
Is Circle of Security right
for you?
Circle of Security is for parents and caregivers who want to understand their child on a deeper level. You do not need to be in crisis. You just need to want more connection, more confidence, and more ease in your relationship with your child.
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Parents who feel like they are missing something but cannot name what it is
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Parents who react in ways they do not want to and want to understand why
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Parents whose child seems anxious, clingy, shut down, or explosive
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Parents who want to build a stronger, more trusting relationship with their child
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Parents who did not have a secure childhood themselves and want to consciously build something different
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Any caregiver who wants to feel more confident, more connected, and less alone in this work
Connection is learnable.
What parents walk away with
A framework for understanding your child's behavior beneath the surface
The ability to read what your child needs in real time
Tools for co-regulation and staying present in hard moments
Understanding of how your own history shapes your parenting
The confidence to repair when things go sideways
A way of seeing that you carry for the rest of your parenting life
WHAT HAPPENS IN CLASS
Five weeks that change how you see everything.
Each session builds on the last. By week five, the way you understand your child and yourself will have genuinely shifted.
Week 1
The Circle
Introduction to the Circle of Security framework. Understanding the safe haven, the secure base, and what your child needs from you at different moments throughout the day.
Week 2
Needs and signals
Learning to read your child's signals. What their behavior is actually communicating underneath the surface, and how to respond to the need rather than the behavior.
Week 3
The Circle
Exploring the concept of "shark music" — the internal alarm that goes off in certain parenting moments based on your own history. One of the most transformative sessions in the whole program.
Week 4
The Circle
Why repair matters more than perfection. How to come back after a hard moment and why doing so actually builds a stronger, more trusting relationship with your child.
Week 5
The Circle
Bringing it all together. What it means to be the parent your child needs — not perfect, but present, warm, and willing to keep showing up. A framework you carry forward for life.
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MSW · SWLC
20+ years
with families
MEET YOUR GUIDE
Melissa Eastlick
MSW · SWLC · Parent Coach · Sleep Consultant · Human Design Guide
Melissa is a licensed clinical social worker candidate and certified sleep consultant with over 20 years of experience working with children and families. She is also well-versed in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, providing families with the tools they need to establish healthy sleep habits across the lifespan.
Her approach is warm, practical, and grounded in real science. She meets families where they are, not where a textbook says they should be.