debor016

I have just returned from completing a Risking Connection in Denver, Colorado for Devereux Cleo Wallace. I met many great people who are caring, compassionate and thoughtful about children. I look forward to participating the the agency’s continuing evolution. We were fortunate to have Dr. Jerry Yager, PsyD. participate in the training. Dr. Yager is a consunt to the agency, as well as working at the Denver Children’s Advocacy Center (DCAC). He has studied extensively with Dr. Bruce Perry. Dr. Yager has a blog at: http://www.drjerryspeaks.blogspot.com/ . Dr. Yager is a Clinical Psychologist with more than 25 years of experience in the assessment and treatment of traumatized children and adolescents. He specializes in working with adolescents who exhibit self-destructive behavior and who have severe mental illness such as clinical depression, bipolar mood disorder, post traumatic distress disorder and psychosis. Before joining DCAC as Director of Education and Training, Dr. Jerr...

Pat Wilcox was honored with the 2011 Social Worker of Year Award by the Connecticut Chapter of NASW. At the awards banquet, Pat was recognized as a national leader in the area of trauma treatment, especially in congregate care treatment settings that work with the most psychiatrically complex children. At Klingberg Family Centers, she initiated and oversaw an organizational transformation process from a traditional, control oriented token economy treatment approach to one that is based on state-of-the-art knowledge of trauma and attachment. She is the primary creator of the Restorative Approach, a trauma-informed alternative to point-and-level systems in child congregate care. She helped bring the Traumatic Stress Institute and Risking Connection to Klingberg and has grown the programs to national and international status. She accepted the award among family, friends, and her many Klingberg colleagues and mentees.  

As I discussed in previous posts, I am very interested in Bruce Perry’s Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (http://www.childtrauma.org/ ). I am thinking about rhythmic, rewarding, repetitive activities that we could add to or emphasize in our programming. These activities should be done with an engage, happy adult. I will list what I have so far. Please consider both your programming and the lives of your own children or children you have known, and give me any more ideas you can think of. • Dance • Wii dance • Music • Rapping • Clay • Throwing balls • Rocking • Swimming • Pets • Gardening • Exercise • Children’s games • Jump rope • Peek a boo • Hand clapping activities • Hopscotch • Side by side walking • Bouncing on "swiss ball" (exercise ball) • Tossing a tennis ball back and forth • Throwing wadded up paper in a garbage can repeatedly like shooting baskets • Quick shoot basketball setups where you can repeatedly shoot baskets over and over • Toy where you put 1 foot in...

I took a long trip to Hawaii to teach Risking Connection Train-the-Trainer. The people are great, exemplify the aloha spirit. The diversity seems a source of richness appreciated instead of a source of conflict. We had some fruitful discussions on culture and VT. The thirteen hour flight and the six hour time difference really messed up my body. If I ever go again I won’t fly there, work three days, leave the night of the third day, and fly all night to get home. Thankfully I did get a little chance to drink in the beauty.