Group Attachment Based Intervention (GABI)

Program Overview

Who we are:
The Group Attachment Based Intervention (GABI) was developed by Anne Murphy, PhD, at the Rose F. Kennedy Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center in the Department of Pediatrics, Montefiore Medical Center. GABI was developed in partnership with Miriam Steele, PhD and Howard Steele, PhD, internationally regarded attachment researchers at The Center for Attachment Research at The New School for Social Research.

The goal of GABI is to meet the needs of parents with very young children who expressed the desire to be a "different kind of parent" (Murphy et al., 2010) from the parent who raised them. GABI was developed to meet that need by bringing together groups of parents who are socially isolated and affected by disparities across multiple systems of care.
GABI helps parents manage stress, increase their social support network, foster secure attachment, and improve parent-child relationships. GABI was developed for parents who have experienced significant trauma, who have mental health challenges, and/or experienced removal of a child.

GABI is an attachment based, trauma informed, group psychotherapy program which includes:

parent-child psychotherapy groups
parent psychotherapy groups
Infant and toddler social-emotional groups

Who we serve:
Since 2017 GABI has served 5,867 Individuals (2,585 Parents + 3,282 Children).

Based on Parents’ Report:
50% of GABI parents have 4 or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE).

11% of GABI children have 4 or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES).

36% of GABI parents experienced emotional neglect, specifically, no one during their first 18 years of life made them feel special, protected, or cared for.

<1% of GABI children experienced emotional neglect, specifically, no one during their first 18 years of life made then feel special, protected, or cared for.

PEACE

We specialize in working with parents with the following diagnoses in the context of dyadic parent-child psychotherapy:

We specialize in parent-child psychotherapy with an emphasis in:
Trauma-informed care
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Intergenerational Trauma
Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD)
Complex Trauma
Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs)
Parental Mental Health
Infant Mental Health

Services we provide:
Parent-child group psychotherapy
Parent group psychotherapy
Child peer psychotherapy group
24/7 clinical support and consultation
Essential supplies and supports

GABI Parental Mental Health Outcomes

GABI improves parental depression and social isolation:
79% of parents in GABI reported reductions in depression.
74% of parents in GABI reported reductions in social isolation.

GABI Trauma Informed Perspective Resulted in Positive Outcomes in Family Court
In 2022, in the Under Five Trauma Services Program at RFK CERC, 63% of children who began our treatment in foster care received expanded visits, a positive move towards reunification, and 13 families were reunified with their children during the year.

In 2012, GABI conducted a randomized controlled trial funded by HRSA at the Under Five Trauma Services program at Rose F. Kennedy Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (RFK CERC), Montefiore. Findings showed that GABI had significantly better outcomes in improving the parent-child attachment relationship compared to the control group, which received a widely used parenting class (Development & Psychopathology, 2019).

Published Effectiveness of GABI in Randomized Controlled Trial

Publications in Peer Reviewed Journals

Steele, H., Steele, M., & Murphy, A. (2009). On the relevance of the Adult Attachment Interview to facilitating a therapeutic alliance, and measuring process and change in psychotherapy, Psychotherapy Research, 19 (60), 633-643.
Steele, M., Murphy, A., & Steele, H. (2010). Identifying therapeutic action in an attachment-based intervention with high-risk families. Clinical Social Work, 38 (1), 61-72.
Murphy, A., Ponterotto, J., Cancelli, A., & Chinitz, S. (2010) Daughters’ perspectives on maternal substance abuse: Pledge to be a different kind of mother. The Qualitative Report, 15(6), 1328-1364.
Murphy, A., Steele, M., Dube, S.R., Bonuck, K., Meissner, P., Bate, J., Goldman, H., Steele, H., Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Questionnaire and Adult Attachment Interview (AAI): Implications for Parent Child Relationships (available online October 24, 2013). Child Abuse and Neglect.
Steele, M., Steele, H., Knafo, H., Bate, J., Bonuck, K., Meisner, P. & Murphy, A. (2014) Looking From the outside in: The use of video in Attachment Based Interventions, to appear in Special Issue, of Attachment and Human Development, 16:4, 402-415.
Murphy, A., Steele, H., Bate, J., Nikitiades, A., Allman, B. Bonuck, K., Meissner, P., & Steele, M. (2015). Group Attachment Based Intervention: Trauma Informed Care for Families with Adverse Childhood Experiences. Family and Community Health, 38 (3), 268-279.
Steele, H., Bate, J., Steele, M., Dube, S., Danskin, K., Knafo, H., Nikitiades, A., Bonuck, K., Meissner, P., & Murphy, A. (2016). Adverse Childhood Experiences, Poverty and Parenting Stress. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science. 48, No. 1, 32–38.
Knafo, H., Murphy, A., Steele, H., & Steele, M. (2018). Treating disorganized attachment in the Group Attachment-Based Intervention (GABI©): A case study. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 74(8), 1370–1382. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22647
Steele, H., Murphy, A., Bonuck., Meissner, P., Steele, M. (2019). Randomized control trial report on the effectiveness of Group Attachment Based Intervention (GABI): Improvements in the parent-child relationship not seen in the control group. Development and Psychopathology, 31, 203-217.
Steele, M., Steele, H. & Murphy, A. (accepted for publication, 2021) “Bringing Reflective Functioning to the Community: Aspects of psychotherapy process in the Group Attachment Based Intervention1”. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child.
Armusewicz, K., Steele, M., Steele, H., & Murphy, A. (2022). “Assessing therapist and clinician competency in parent-infant psychotherapy: The REARING Coding System (RCS) for the Group Attachment Based Intervention (GABI)”. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome.
Meyers, L., Steele, H., Steele, M. & Murphy, A. (2022). Exploring Maternal Reflective Functioning and Mother-Child Dyadic Behavior over time in a clinical context" Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome.

Books, Chapters in Books, and Review Articles:

Murphy, A., Steele. M., & Steele, (2013). From out of sight, out of mind to in sight and in mind: Enhancing reflective capacities in a Group Attachment Based Intervention. In (J. E. Bettmann & D. D. Demetri Friedman, Eds.). Attachment- Based Clinical Work with Children and Adolescents, NY: Springer.
Murphy, A., Steele, H., Steele, M., Allman, B., Kastner, T., and Dube, S.R. (2016). The Clinical Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Questionnaire: Implications for Trauma-Informed Behavioral Healthcare. In (R.D. Briggs (Ed.), Integrated Early Childhood Behavioral Health in Primary Care, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.
Steele, H., Steele, M., Bonuck, K., Meissner, P., & Murphy, A. (2017). Group Attachment-Based Intervention (GABI): A multi-family trauma-informed intervention 1st Handbook of Attachment-Based Interventions, Guilford Press.

GABI Map

All GABI sites are currently accepting referrals for parents and their children 0-4 years old. If you are interested in making a referral to GABI or are a parent interested in GABI services, please contact the appropriate referral link listed below. With 7 citywide GABI locations and over 50 GABI groups offered weekly, families are welcome to transfer to any GABI location as needed.

Under Five Trauma Services, Rose F. Kennedy Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center*
1225 Morris Park, Bronx, NY 10461
Email: gabiRFK@montefiore.org

*Accepts referrals for children birth through 5 years of age and for court involved families

The following sites accept referrals for children birth to 4 years of age:

GABI Manhattan
116 East 124th Street, 2nd, New York, NY 10035
Email: gabiMAN@montefiore.org

GABI Queens
161-10 Jamaica Avenue, 4th Floor, Suite 413, Jamaica, NY 11432
Email: gabiqueens@montefiore.org

GABI Staten Island
358 St. Marks Place, 5th Floor, Staten Island, NY 10301
Email: gabiSI@montefiore.org

GABI South Bronx
1020 Grand Concourse, 3rd Floor, Bronx, NY 10451
Email: gabiBX@montefiore.org

GABI North Bronx
1731 Seminole Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461
Email: gabiNBX@montefiore.org

GABI Brooklyn
485 Throop Avenue, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11221
Email: gabiBK@montefiore.org