Introducing the Integrated Core Needs Approach

A collaborative and integrated clinical approach, shaped by the needs that matter most.

• Developed by Symon Oliveri, is a collaborative and integrated clinical approach, shaped by the needs that matter most.
• It brings together attachment theory, schema therapy and interpersonal neurobiology, and is influenced by Circle of Security.
• The approach provides a way of understanding mental health and wellbeing through the lens of core emotional needs. These needs are universal and continue throughout life. How they are met, both in our early relationships and in the present, influences our wellbeing, relationships and ways of coping.
• The perinatal period is a time of unique challenge and opportunity. Pregnancy, birth and early parenthood bring significant changes in identity, relationships, emotional needs and capacity to cope. Earlier experiences and patterns may also come into sharper focus.
• The first 1,000 days offer an important opportunity to support parent and infant mental health, early relationships and infant development.
• The approach supports clinicians to work collaboratively with parents to explore their own emotional needs alongside those of their infants, what may be getting in the way of meeting those needs, and what might help.
• Designed to integrate with existing clinical practice, the approach provides a shared focus on core emotional needs while allowing clinicians to draw on their existing knowledge, skills and therapeutic interventions.
• By supporting parents to better understand, notice and respond to their own needs alongside those of their infant, the approach offers an understanding that can extend beyond treatment, supporting wellbeing and relationships across generations.

At the heart of the Integrated Core Needs Approach are four guiding questions:

• What does this parent need?
• What does this infant need?
• What might be getting in the way?
• What might help?

The answers may not always be simple. But by working alongside families to explore these questions, we can develop a shared understanding of their experiences and begin to identify a meaningful way forward.

At the centre of the Integrated Core Needs Approach are two visual resources: the Cups of Wellbeing and the Map of Wellbeing.

Together, they provide a shared lens for understanding core emotional needs, wellbeing and relationships.

Drawing together knowledge from attachment theory, schema therapy, interpersonal neurobiology and our understanding of the nervous system, the approach identifies ten core emotional needs, represented visually as ten Cups of Wellbeing.

The Cups provide a way of understanding how core emotional needs shape wellbeing throughout life. They offer a practical lens for exploring how needs are being met, recognising which may require greater attention, and identifying ways to support wellbeing.

The Map of Wellbeing illustrates how core emotional needs are met within relationships, and how secure relationships provide a foundation of safety, stability and unconditional acceptance that supports flexible movement between connection and autonomy.

It also helps parents explore their own Internal Map, how earlier experiences have shaped the way they navigate connection and autonomy, and the kind of relational map they want to nurture for their infant.

This creates an opportunity to support their infant's developing sense of safety and attachment security from the very beginning.

The Integrated Core Needs Approach began with the development of the New Beginnings parent resources.

Through engaging watercolour illustrations and compassionately adapted language, the resources make complex psychological concepts accessible and relatable for parents navigating the transformative perinatal period. They support parents to explore their core emotional needs and attachment patterns, and how early life experiences can shape their wellbeing, relationships and parenting.

Designed to encourage curiosity and meaningful reflective conversations, the resources are particularly valuable when complex circumstances, competing priorities or barriers to engagement might otherwise limit opportunities for this exploration.

The Integrated Core Needs Approach provides practical tools and resources to support clinicians across different stages of therapeutic work.

Understanding the parent and infant

Explore core emotional needs, earlier experiences, attachment relationships and the factors influencing current emotional wellbeing and the developing parent–infant relationship.

Understanding what might be getting in the way

Explore how unmet needs, schemas, critical and anxious self-talk (Inner Critic messages), nervous system responses (the Internal Alarm) and Protective Coping Responses may contribute to presenting difficulties or make it harder for emotional needs to be met.

Identifying priority needs

Work collaboratively with parents to recognise which emotional needs may benefit most from attention, connecting clinical understanding with meaningful therapeutic goals.

Guiding treatment and intervention

Use a shared formulation to inform treatment planning and practical therapeutic support, drawing on existing approaches such as schema-informed, attachment-focused and needs-focused interventions.'

Working flexibly across settings

Adapt the visual framework, clinical tools and parent resources to different settings, therapeutic goals and the time available with families, from brief interventions and parent–infant work to longer-term therapy and established parenting programs.