ALDA PÁLS

03/10/2026

The Circle of Security in Early Education

The Circle of Security is a relationship framework developed by Glen Cooper, Kent Hoffman, Bert Powell and Robert Marvin. It draws on Attachment Theory, first developed by British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby in the 1950s and later expanded through the work of developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth.

At the heart of meaningful relationships is the understanding that children need both a secure base from which to explore the world and a safe haven to return to when they need comfort, reassurance or support. The Circle of Security reminds us that children are constantly moving between these two needs throughout their day.

As children explore, investigate, take risks and follow their curiosity, they need caring adults to watch over them, delight in their discoveries and support their learning. When challenges arise, emotions become overwhelming, or they simply need connection, children need to know there is a trusted adult ready to welcome them back with warmth, comfort and understanding.

In early childhood settings, our role is not to direct every moment of children's play, but to be emotionally available, responsive and attuned. We can create the conditions where children feel safe enough to explore, learn, build relationships and develop confidence in themselves and others.

When children know that someone is there to support both their independence and their need for connection, they develop a strong sense of security, belonging and wellbeing. These are the foundations that support all future learning and development.

Reflection question for you and your team:
How do the children in your learning environment know that you are both a secure base for exploration and a safe haven for comfort and connection?

Credit: Circle of Security International

For course information for COS Classroom Training visit their website
https://www.circleofsecurityinternational.com/pages/cos-classroom

30/09/2026

💯

H***e et al suggests the sensory environment be an overlooked influence on mental health?

A new 2026 paper by Erin H***e invites us to consider how everyday sensory environments belong within mental health prevention, education and care.

It calls for sensory understanding to be incorporated into school and adult mental health education, alongside the training of mental health professionals. It also recognises the knowledge already established within occupational therapy.

For us, this connects with a longstanding area of practice here in the United Kingdom and Ireland and our pioneering research, practice and education programmes in this area.
This is an almost perfect link directly back to this article by one of our team. In 2009, Brown, Shankar and Smith built on an earlier 2006 OT News article and explored sensory processing in adult mental health, describing personalised sensory approaches, education and support for everyday participation.

The new paper offers a timely argument for wider recognition and further research. It does not test a particular intervention or training programme.

For ASI Wise and The Sensory Project, it reinforces a question at the heart of our innovation and work for over 25 years: how can we understand sensory experiences together, and use that understanding to support dignity, belonging and participation?

That means listening to people, learning alongside them and developing support in co-production, including thoughtful changes to environments and the ways we respond.

Read the 2026 paper:
The sensory environment may be a neglected social determinant of mental health

Explore the earlier work:
Brown, Shankar and Smith, 2009

Book on one of of learning offers and explore our resources that support clinical practice in mental health at https://www.sensoryproject.org/shop

29/09/2026

My favorite things in one long weekend 🍂

Nature.
Women.
Remembering.

A few moments from our latest nature therapy retreat, where we came together with powerful co-creators, each offering their own way of helping us remember.

Remember our roots.
Remember the body.
Remember what nourishes us.
Remember what we already know.

A weekend of slowing down, connecting, moving, feeling, laughing, sharing, and listening to what wants to be heard.

And I’m already looking forward to the next one.

Our next retreat will be in April. 🌿

If you feel the pull to join us, send me a message and I’ll make sure you hear when registration opens🤎

Harpa Ýr Karínardóttir Ágústa Kristín Andersen Harpa Katrín Gísladóttir, sálfræðingur Tinna House of Thecla

21/09/2026

The body bridges the inner and outer world.
It tells our truth.

There’s a kind of knowing that happens in the mind, and a different kind that happens in the body. We can understand a pattern intellectually and still feel stuck in it. The body works differently. It holds what thinking alone can’t reach🫀

Recently came back from an Omnitherapy training, a somatic psychotherapeutic approach working with touch, breath and presence.

What stayed with me most is how much is already there, waiting to be met 🌱

Much of what we feel and do is shaped by fears and desires we may not even be aware of, working on us long before we notice.

A fear can soften simply by being met, without needing to be fixed. A desire can expand when it is seen, felt and held.

What we call a problem pattern is our mechanism protecting us from pain and vulnerability. And when we hide parts of ourselves and give shame a place, we can lose touch with the qualities and the authenticity that lives underneath 🕊️

What I find so powerful about this work is that it is felt. We don’t only understand something intellectually, we experience it in the body. And it’s this embodied experience that makes change feel possible, natural and ultimately, transformational.

Grateful for this group and the teachers who held this training with such care 🤍 This was a great remembering.

If you’re curious about exploring this way of getting to know yourself, get in touch.

I’ll also be sharing more in my next letter, including longer sessions I’m beginning to offer at my country home.
💌Link in bio

14/09/2026

Flæði: Heim í ræturnar
Náttúrumeðferðar-hlédrag um haustjafndægur

Haustjafndægur eru tímamót, dagur og nótt mætast í jafnvægi, og eitthvað innra með okkur kallar á rými til að næra lífskraftinn.

Í ár komum við saman, s*x konur með ólíkar gjafir: Harpa Katrín og sögur, erkitýpur og partavinna. Hanna Lilja og kvenheilsa, hormónakerfið. Ágústa og nálastungur, frumkraftarnir fimm. Tinna og talnaspeki, innsæi. Og við Harpa Ýr, sem höldum utan um rýmið, rauða þráðinn og ferðalagið.

Rauði þráðurinn er: hvaða líf vil ég skapa mér?

Á meðan hlédraginu stendur er líka hægt að bóka einstaklingstíma: nálastungur, orkuvinnu, talnaspeki og tarot, partavinnu, líffæranudd eða Omni meðferð.

Saman í krafti kvenna. 🔥🍂

24.–27. september 2026 · Takmarkaður fjöldi sæta
Skráning í linknum í bio

aldapals.com - idja.is

21/08/2026

Mæli hjartanlega með

Í september fer af stað áfallameðferð í hópi fyrir konur. Hópmeðferðin hentar konum með áfallasögu m.a. konum með sögu um vímuefnavanda.
Markmiðið er að skilja betur áhrif áfalla og erfiðrar reynslu á daglegt líf og byggja upp tilfinningalegan stöðugleika og jafnvægi.
Fyrsti tíminn er 24. september og hópurinn hittist alltaf á fimmtudögun kl. 15.15 í 10 skipti alls.
Skráning er á vef Rótarinnar; https://rotin.is/afallamedferd-fyrir-konur/

Áfallameðferðin er styrkt af Lýðheilsusjóði.

30/06/2026

Moments from last weekend’s Nature Therapy Retreat, held around the Summer Solstice with 🌿☀️

As I reflect on this weekend, a few things stay with me.

So many of us long for a life with more balance. More flow. Less surviving and simply getting through the days, and more feeling truly alive within them.

One thing that continues to humble me is what happens when we are given enough time and enough safety.

There is something deeply healing about gathering in a space where we can be fully human. As we listen to one another, we begin to recognize parts of ourselves in each other’s stories. We remember that the struggles we carry are often shared, even if they wear different faces.

Over several days, the patterns that quietly shape our lives have time to reveal themselves. The unconscious ways we protect ourselves, the stories our nervous systems learned long ago, and the habits that once helped us survive become easier to notice. Not so they can be judged or fixed, but so they can be met with awareness, curiosity, and support.

Nature has a beautiful way of supporting that process. It reminds us that we are not separate from it, but part of it. As we slow down, the natural world becomes a mirror, gently revealing the patterns we carry and helping us meet them with greater compassion.

Real change isn’t something we simply think our way into. It begins in the body. As we build safety, awareness, and capacity, we create space to choose differently and take small steps toward the life we desire ❤️‍🔥

I leave this weekend feeling deeply grateful for the trust, the vulnerability, the courage, and for the reminder that healing rarely happens in isolation. It happens in relationships, with ourselves, each other and with the natural world. 🤍

Our next Nature Therapy Retreat will take place around the Autumn Equinox at the end of September, another beautiful moment in the rhythm of the seasons to pause, reconnect, and listen to what wants to emerge through the darkness 🌑

You can read more about it on my website. 🌿

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