This ideal training program blends theory with strategies for parenting traumatized children was created by Dr. Kim Golding of the UK. This interactive program offers 54 hours of intensive training to help families who may be struggling in their day-to-day lives with their adoptive, foster or kinship children.

When I adopted my first daughter, 15 years ago, I was overcome with joy. I had waited for a long time to be her mother and I loved her instantly. But ….she wasn’t so sure how she felt about me. I was not the first person or second to “be” her mother. She had memories of this mother thing and she needed time to figure it all out. Before I knew and understood better what was happening in her little brain I wondered if I was being “oversensitive” and people told me that I was. But there was a quiet little voice inside of me that kept telling me, “something’s off”. I learned that children who had experienced fear, hunger, abandonment, or maltreatment in the first 2-4 years of their life did indeed live in the world differently. They were deeply impacted by what had happened to them as infants. They often had difficulties controlling their emotions, behaviour and bodies. This was both a great relief to me, knowing that maybe I wasn’t an awful mother after all but also a great worry. What now? As my life and journey into family continued, I was soon further challenged to find answers for my children. I have been a foster parent for over 18 years and am an adoptive Mom. I have travelled to orphanages overseas and held babies in my arms that stared back with empty eyes. I have rocked 7 year olds in my arms too terrified to go to sleep because of the memories that come back when their eyes close. I have felt hopeless, sad and at times angry because I didn't know what to do. My answers started to come over a decade ago when I found the book, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, by Dr. Bruce Perry. Since then I have spent many hours training in the United States to find ways to help children heal and families be able to live in harmony. I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Kim Golding at an ATTACh conference, and her empathic and gentle nature is very much a part of why this training is so effective with traumatized children. If you are parenting a child who has spent a significant amount of time in an institutional setting such as a hospital or orphanage, been exposed to neglectful and / or abusive parenting or has experienced multiple moves in foster care or kinship care settings then this training could change your experience of parenting and family life. I would love to share what I have discovered through the children who have come into my life with you.

A couple of decades ago, I began to foster children in care, adding to my family, hoping to offer love and stability for other children. It was hard. It was different than what I expected and I was certainly not prepared emotionally or practically with the skills those children needed me to have. It was not enough to love, nurture, protect and advocate. No, certainly not. So, I began to look for answers. Throughout the last two decades, I have found some answers but more than that, as a family we have grown in our empathy, compassion, resilience and understanding of ourselves and our children. The journey has been awesome in many ways; it has led my husband and me to conferences, workshops, books and mostly conversations with other parents who are on this journey. The journey took us to adoption knowing our daughter needed us for life.

Over the years, I have moved professionally into supporting adoptive parents and their children on this journey. When children are hurt, when they fear closeness and become defensive with anger or rejection, parenting will be more difficult. In fact, parenting may cause us to feel just those same feelings: hurt, fearing to get close to our child, and defensive with anger or rejection. Sometimes, we feel deep shame and sadness. This is not how we thought it would be. No one told us. No one could tell us.

This series of three weekend training workshops is intended to help parents feel supported and not alone on the journey. We will explore how it comes to be that our children can't let us love them so well and what that means to how we parent in return. The goal of the Nurturing Attachments training is just that: Laura and I hope to guide you to nurture your child's attachment to you, while we support you in nurturing your bond with your child.

Friday-

5pm-9pm- Introductions and training begins

Saturday

9am-noon- Training

noon-1:15pm- Lunch on your own

1:15pm-5pm- Training

Sunday

9am- noon- training

noon-1:15pm- Lunch on your own

1:15pm-3pm- Wrap up for week-end

Light, healthy snacks and beverages provided throughout the day.