How was your Christmas? I’m not sure that a drama-free Christmas is possible for families raising children with significant early trauma....

A reminder that children who are grieving continue to grieve over Christmas. Adults too. In our home, Christmas needs to be a quiet and...

I saw this on Bluesky and was very moved. It's hard living with children who were hurt in the most awful ways and still respond from that...

I love Suzanne Zeedyk's analogy of tigers and teddy bears to explain attachment. Unique and highly personal neural pathways significantly...

One of my favourite quotes is from one of Dan Siegel’s earlier books - parenting from the inside out. He explains that it isn’t what...

In an NVR group for kinship/connected carers we talked about the importance of venting. Sometimes we don’t want advice - we just want to...

The stories we tell ourselves matter. Whether emotions shape our narrative or our narrative shapes our emotions is up for debate. But one...

Let’s face it - expressions of anger in our children can be overwhelming. The shouting, stomping, crashing and banging. The “I hate you...

Disenfranchised grief in adoption (and other similar family set ups) is a topic close to my heart - grief that society (and often family)...

Today started with a school meeting. Usually, families are referred to NVR to learn different ways to parent in very difficult...

I have great respect for Brene Brown & love her perspective here. She’s all about family values - taking children on a loving journey...

Emotion coaching has come up a few times this week in work with parents. When the first emotion we see and feel from our children is...

Deciding where to set our expectations for our children can be tricky when there's trauma, disabilities, and other things going on like...

Learning to feel safe after a lifetime of being on guard is going to take time. In adoption, fostering, or kinship care - “a lifetime of...

Carl Jung said everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves. It’s true. Sometimes things...

Those of us parenting children who’ve experienced relational trauma can sometimes struggle to decide how to respond to behaviours that...

When children are experienced as delightful, when that’s communicated through words & actions, children experience themselves as...

I love this quote by Karyn Purvis - an expert in developmental trauma, attachment difficulties, and therapeutic approaches. She was one...

Today I did something I've been meaning to do for a while. I set up a Facebook group for parents who've completed an NVR parent group...

Children’s brains are wired differently to adult brains. The bits of the brain that help us manage our emotions and impulses, reflect on...