Empowered to Connect 2016

Dan and I were again blessed to be able to attend the Empowered to Connect parenting conference this year. Dr. Karyn Purvis (who entered heaven just three days after the conference to a resounding "Well done, my good and faithful servant!") has tirelessly researched and developed the TBRI (trust based relational intervention) approach to parenting children from hard places with a trauma background. It was essentially the same conference as last year, but still felt like drinking from a fire hose.

Little by little, we're able to implement more strategies, and we've noticed big changes in every member of our family in the past few weeks. Even discipline has been more productive with happier endings and less stress.

One of the biggest victories I saw was in a little one who absolutely did not want nor need an hour of quiet time...but could she just snuggle instead? In less than two minutes, this happened:

and it lasted about an hour. No fear. No anxiety. A little girl who was so completely relaxed and experiencing felt safety.

We haven't arrived, and I'm sure we'll be drinking a little more from the fire hose in the future. But we're making progress and moving forward more than we're sliding back.

I can't recommend the resources enough to my friends who are parenting, grandparenting or teaching children with trauma histories.

http://www.empoweredtoconnect.org