Dr. Gordon Neufeld
Before he retired, Dr. Gordon Neufeld had accumulated more than 40 years of experience as a clinical psychologist with children and youth and those responsible for them. A foremost authority on child development, Dr. Neufeld continues to be an international speaker, a best-selling author (Hold On to Your Kids) and a leading interpreter of the developmental paradigm.
Dr. Neufeld has a widespread reputation for making sense of complex problems and for opening doors for change. While formerly involved in university teaching and private practice, he has devoted the best part of the last two decades to creating courses for parents, teachers and helping professionals. These courses are offered primarily through the Neufeld Institute – an online educational institute and world-wide charitable organization devoted to applying developmental science to the task of raising children.
Dr. Neufeld’s life’s work has been to help adults provide the conditions for children to flourish. He is a father of five and a grandfather to eight.
Overview of Dr. Gordon Neufeld's theoretical approach and contributions
Dr. Neufeld is widely considered to be a leading interpreter and communicator of the developmental approach. He provides a comprehensive model that has evolved from years of synthesis and distillation. The result is an integrated developmental approach rooted in depth psychology, grounded in the developmental paradigm, saturated in attachment theory, congruent with current neurological research, and honed by over 40 years of professional practice, parenting and personal reflection.
In a world of fragmented knowledge, esoteric terminology, strategies divorced from their philosophical moorings, and a smorgasbord approach to treatment, Gordon Neufeld is a welcome relief. His integrated developmental model is a refreshing alternative to the current cognitive behavioural fare as well as to the medical ‘disorder’ approach. His model has clear and profound implications for parenting and teaching as well as treatment.
In the words of one fellow psychologist, “The uniqueness of Gordon is that in a day of focusing on the superficial and specializing in the specifics, he goes for depth and the big picture. He leads us to a way of thinking and seeing that penetrates to the very essence of things and then opens doors for change.”
Dr. Gordon Neufeld has
- developed groundbreaking theories of aggression, counterwill, bullying and anxiety that have received national and international recognition
- developed a comprehensive theory of attachment that includes six stages in the development of the capacity for relationship, the construct of polarization that explains both shyness and defensive detachment, and an understanding of the alpha/dependent dimension that explains a host of phenomena including bullying and the increasing prevalence of difficult-to-parent alpha children. His model of attachment is universal in both its application (adults as well as children) and implementation (school as well as home). Although this model was inspired by the pioneering work of early attachment theorists such as John Bowlby, Konrad Lorenz and Harry Harlow, it also is informed by other theories of human togetherness as well as by current brain science and the physical sciences where the drive for proximity is also preeminent. Students find Neufeld’s model of attachment highly congruent with their own cultural traditions, providing the conceptual underpinnings to their natural intuition. They also find his model refreshingly devoid of the esoteric language that tends to plague the discipline, often rendering it inaccessible to the adults most in need of a consciousness of attachment and a language of relationship.
Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers
By Dr. Gordon Neufeld
This book, written by Dr. Gordon Neufeld, is about the pivotal importance of children’s relationships to those responsible for them and the devastating impact in today’s society of competing attachments with peers.
However it is much more than a book on peer orientation: it is about parenting with relationship in mind.
This book restores parents to their natural intuition, confronting such relationship-devastating devices as time-outs and using what children care about against them.
Previous Speaking Engagements
Dr. Neufeld has delivered hundreds of keynote addresses at educational conferences and mental health conferences both nationally and internationally. He has addressed parliaments in a number of countries and has been extensively involved in training educators, psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, therapists and counsellors. Dr. Neufeld has also done numerous speaking tours in various countries on almost every continent.
Some of his speaking highlights include:
- Biology of Belonging Conference in Glasgow in May 2025
- Balkan area speaking tour with the Novak Djokovic Foundation in October 2024
- Kyiv First Ladies Summit in September 2023
- Ukrainian mothers and volunteers in Poland in 2022
- Sarah McLachlan's School of Music for Troubled Kids in Vancouver in 2019
- International Congress on Education in Kazakhstan in 2017
- International Conference on Infants and Toddlers in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2015
- United Nations Year of the Family Anniversary Address in Stockholm in 2014
- First Nations Schools Conference in Vancouver in 2014
- National Conference for Canadian Private Schools in Victoria in 2014
- Brussels Address at the European Parliament on Well-Being in Children in 2012
- Fourth Global Conference on Human Values in Monterrey, Mexico in 2012
- Dalai Lama Center Series on Anxiety in Vancouver in 2012
- First Global Conference on Home Education in Berlin in 2012
- Conference on the Freedom of Education in Berlin on 2011
- European Conference on Youth Delinquency in Dresden Germany in 2011
- European Commission on the Family in Lisbon in 2010
- International Conference on the Child and Society in Dusseldorf, Germany in 2010
- Canadian National Montessori Conference in Vancouver in 2009
- Circle of Courage Conference in Victoria in 2008
- International Conference on Attachment in Frankfurt in 2007
- National Canadian Education Conference in Vancouver in 2006
- California Homeschooling Conference in Sacramento in 2006
- International Conference of La Leche League in Washington, D.C. in 2005
- National Conference of Parent Educators in Ottawa in 2004
- First National Symposium on Bullying in Ottawa in 2002
- Educational Symposium on Education in Japan in 2001
- International Counselling Congress in Baltimore in 1996
- First National Symposium on Youth Violence in Ottawa in 1994
- World Conference on Family Medicine in Vancouver in 1992
Gordon Neufeld has created 30+ courses to help make sense of kids
Whether you're a parent, educator, or helping professional, our courses are designed to deepen your understanding of children — and yourself — through the lenses of today’s sciences of attachment, emotion and development.
All courses are grounded in Dr. Gordon Neufeld’s attachment-based developmental approach.
Visit the Course Catalogue to see all courses listed alphabetically, with descriptions and cost. Or use the Course Finders to search by category, query, role or budget. We hope these guides can help you select the course that best suits your particular needs and interests.
Browse our courses
Recent Editorials by Gordon Neufeld
Upcoming Events and Conferences
Dr. Gordon Neufeld and Tamara Strijack present at
ParentEd Fest 2025 in Bucharest
- October 4 + 5, 2025
Gordon Neufeld and Tamara Neufeld Strijack present at
Jack Hirose's Conferences on
Developmental and Emotional Challenges with Children and Adolescents
- November 5 - 7, 2025 in Victoria, British Columbia
- November 18 - 20, 2025 in Calgary, Alberta
Making Sense of Kids: developmental science in practice
in over 35 languages
Neufeld's attachment-based developmental approach is grounded in over five decades of work as a clinical psychologist, university instructor, and developmental theorist. In 2004, he shared some of these insights in the book Hold On to Your Kids, which helped awaken parents and professionals worldwide to the importance of attachment and developmental science. Many who first discovered the approach through the book have gone on to deepen their understanding through the Neufeld Institute’s 30+ courses. Today, a growing network of language programs and dedicated language directors actively bring these life-changing insights to communities in their own languages and cultural contexts.
Inquiries
If you have questions or require additional information that you cannot find on our website or FAQ page, you may contact our office on our Inquiries page.
Charity & Non-Profit Status
The Neufeld Institute is a registered Canadian charitable organization under the name Neufeld Institute Foundation and is also registered as a NPO in British Columbia. If you would like to make a contribution to us, please go to our donation page.
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