Do You Believe?
by: Gari Lister Have you read the Attachment & Trauma Network‘s belief statement? I hadn’t until I went to the board retreat in January, and since then it has inspired me on a daily basis. It reminds me why ATN is important — why we need to fight for traumatized children and their families — […]
Tuesday Toolbox — Mama’s Room and Mama’s Bed
by: Gari Lister Yesterday’s Good Morning America featured a story on co-sleeping based on controversy a blogger sparked when she admitted to sharing a bed with her six year old son. The piece opened with a clip of a little girl whining that she was scared and wanted to sleep with mommy — and the […]
In Honor of Gregory C. Keck, PhD
We at the Attachment & Trauma Network were devastated this weekend to hear of the death of Gregory C. Keck, PhD, the founder of the Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio, and a leader in the treatment of early trauma. We plan to honor Dr. Keck with several memorial posts this week. Our thoughts and […]
Tuesday Toolbox: When You Have to Go Away
by: Gari Lister Changes in schedule and structure can be hard for many traumatized children, and when you combine changes in schedule and structure with a parent’s travel, everything can go haywire. As my husband put it this weekend when I came back from the ATN Board retreat, “when you’re not here, everything is weird for […]
Unselfie-ness
December 1, 2014 by: Julie Beem When ATN joined the #GivingTuesday campaign the idea of members posting their “selfie” photos that communicate why they support ATN really struck a cord. Not only because it is a simple, clever way to tell others about our work over social media. But mostly it was because I get […]
Tuesday Toolbox: Building Self Esteem Through the Special Olympics
by: D. Craig Peterson
My son Andrew recently had a week to shine at the Special Olympics USA Games – a personal success years in the making. And now three gold medals to his name!
I will never forget how far he has come.
In second grade he was the boy often confined to “the post” at recess. Not because he wanted to be bad but because he didn’t understand the rules of many games on the playground – he often accidentally pushed his peers.
A Meaning Behind the Suffering
November 13, 2014 By: Marc Deprey It is always hard to find meaning when under a stream of unrelenting suffering. The tragedy of early trauma, the resulting pain, and the stress, the strong feeling that some great potential is being lost—all this characterizes the experience of a parent of children of trauma. I certainly feel […]
Toolbox Tuesday: Bath Time Can be a Great Way to Build Attachment
by: Linda Forsythe
Mother and DaughterWhen my daughter came to live with me as an eight year old, she was not a happy camper. She wanted to stay with her foster mother, the fifth foster parent of five years in foster care. She was not impressed with another move, nor with the idea of adoption by me. We didn’t have much of a honeymoon before the troubles began. It was rocky! After about nine months of daily battles about almost everything, we were close to terminating the plan to adopt her and her biological brother.
Bedtime and Sleep Issues: Part II
By: Jennie Murdock
In my last post, I wrote about some of the things every parent with a child with attachment issues and a history of early trauma should consider if their child has difficulty going to sleep, staying asleep or nightmares. Some of those challenges are long-term problems that can’t be solved overnight. As we work with our children to help them heal, we still have to put them to bed every night. Here are some of my favorite bedtime remedies:
Christine Moers: Homeschooling a Child with Attachment Trauma
October 15, 2014 by: Gari Lister Christine Moers: Homeschooling a Child with Attachment Trauma As part of ATN‘s Educating Traumatized Children Summit, Christine Moers, a parent of both adopted and biological children and a parent coach, spoke about the benefits of homeschooling traumatized children. For so many traumatized children, school — even with well-meaning teachers, even […]