Building strong connections with children and youth who have experienced trauma starts with understanding how the brain heals through safe enough relationships. Then next step is making a commitment to intentionally and repetitively offer new experiences to override early learning and build new pathways. These new experiences or ‘redo’s are an invitation to feel safe, known, and held by a parent. They are the foundation on which relational security is built.

You’ve worked hard to build a secure parent-child relationship and then your child moves into a new developmental stage, and you find yourself struggling all over again. During these times children and youth may push away, engage in risky behaviors, spend less time with family, or question their identity and connection to you. These can be scary times, and you wonder if the relationship you have will get you through. Join Andrea for this afternoon session where she discusses how to take what we learned about building a strong foundation and use that to weather the inevitable storms. Whether your child is pushing back a little or has left the family home and everything in between, these strategies will help you continue to connect and parent with confidence.