connected parenting

Earned secure

When I work with individuals and families, I talk a lot about attachment. It’s the foundation for how we navigate life. Everybody’s goal should be to achieve earned secure attachment—the capacity to give care, receive care, negotiate needs, and be ok with autonomous self. Personally, I’ve been working very hard on this for a veryContinue reading “Earned secure”

Supporting Regulation

So I have another story for you today. I’ve been working with a family for about half a year now. When I first met Mom, she really wasn’t connected to her son. During our first visit, she leaned in and was teachable —bringing her son close, holding his hands, and speaking to him while lookingContinue reading “Supporting Regulation”

It’s the little moments of break through..

It’s in the little moments when, all of a sudden, a breakthrough happens. I have a beautiful story about a little boy who doesn’t have words. His mom shared a wonderful, moving experience with her son. She and another caregiver were driving in the car with him in the backseat. He was diligently playing onContinue reading “It’s the little moments of break through..”

There is a season for everything under the sun.

I’d love to tell you about a family. There is a lot of extended family involved, but in this case, it’s a grandma raising her grandson. It’s a hard story. When I met them, Grandma was preparing to have her grandson come live with her full-time. I began teaching her TBRI® before he moved in.Continue reading “There is a season for everything under the sun.”

Healing families

I work with all kinds of families—adoptive, foster, blended, and biological—but there’s one story that I want to tell you about. It’s about a little boy who experienced a medical trauma when he was just a year and a half old. In an instant, his voice was gone. He stopped speaking, and from that momentContinue reading “Healing families”

When you become a part of the family

I spend a lot of time in people’s homes, working one-on-one with families to implement Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®). It’s a deeply relational process, and over time, something special happens—there’s a moment when I know I’ve been fully welcomed into their world. It’s subtle, but unmistakable. I’m no longer just a visitor; I’m part ofContinue reading “When you become a part of the family”

Learning how to “stick together”

One of the greatest honors in my work is stepping into families’ homes and helping them implement Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®). At its core, TBRI® is about healing relationships through connection, and it’s guided by three simple—but powerful—relational rules: Recently, I had the joy of watching a family take on a deceptively simple challenge: buildingContinue reading “Learning how to “stick together””