HELPING KIDS THRIVE BEYOND TRAUMA
Support, educate, and communicate with kids who have experienced childhood trauma by forming strong relationships and helping them build the skills they need to navigate life.
Does your child have trouble adjusting to new environments, coping with stress, managing academic expectations, or regulating emotions?
According to the American Psychological Association, a significant number of children in American society are exposed to traumatic life events.
Trauma during childhood not only affects children's behavior, but also their ability to learn, cope with stress, and form healthy, positive relationships with others.
If traumatic experiences are ignored and left unaddressed or when trauma-sensitive care is lacking, children retain poor coping strategies that can negatively impact their long-term mental, physical, and emotional health.
Trauma during childhood not only affects children's behavior, but also their ability to learn, cope with stress, and form healthy, positive relationships with others.
If traumatic experiences are ignored and left unaddressed or when trauma-sensitive care is lacking, children retain poor coping strategies that can negatively impact their long-term mental, physical, and emotional health.
Children who have experienced chronic stress or trauma often lag behind their peers in areas such as academics, self-regulation, and social skills.
They may -
appear unfocused or inattentive
have trouble remembering or following directions
seem defiant, inflexible, or uncooperative
withdraw and resist connecting with peers or loved ones
Parents, teachers, and caregivers may mistakenly assume that these children need firmer discipline or more structure.
In reality, they are struggling with powerful fears, feelings of disconnection, anxiety, and/or sensory overload which they are unable to manage alone.
As the parent, teacher, or caregiver of a traumatized child, you can be a catalyst for healing that will help a child feel safe and secure.
Supporting children who have experienced a painful or frightening past requires us to reframe our thinking about behavior and address our own reactivity to become more tolerant of the range of emotions traumatized children experience - especially their hyper-sensitivity to stressful situations.
Children who have experienced toxic stress might:
be fearful, anxious, or display repeated negative behaviors in response to stress.
suffer from impairments/deficits in emotional/cognitive processing and awareness.
have one or more diagnoses (ADHD, SPD, ASD, FAS, etc.).
You might feel unprepared to handle the intensity of your child's behaviors.
You may be worried that the apparent lack of motivation, disruptive behavior, or explosions of anger (which seem to appear without cause) will never stop without consequences.
My program will show how the young brain adapts to stressful situations and why negative behaviors like inflexibility, resistance, yelling, and emotionally shutting down are protective mechanisms we can shift.
This series will show you how relationship and compassion for a child's experience can prompt the brain to "catch up" - building new neural connections and strengthening skills.
Children have the potential to thrive beyond trauma - if you focus on the three critical areas of support outlined in this program.
TRAUMA-SENSITIVE MODEL OF CARE
SUPPORTIVE RELATIONSHIPS
STRESS MANAGEMENT
SKILL DEVELOPMENT
THE TRAUMA CONNECTION: Understanding the Mind of a Foster Child
In this recorded online session, you will learn:
How trauma affects behavior, and shapes development, and informs the child's ability to self-regulate.
Strategies for using storytelling and play to decode behavior and calm persistent fears.
Rituals and routines that promote connection and increase positive behaviors at home and in school.
How to recognize and engage a child stuck in fear-mode and help them adapt to change and obstacles with more ease.
HELPING KIDS ADAPT, COPE, & CATCH-UP: Trauma & Brain Development
In this recorded online session, you will learn:
What the brain needs to grow new connections and make long-term changes in behavior.
To help kids manage their emotions through your connection - instead of consequences.
How the senses can become easily overwhelmed causing inflexibility and negative behaviors.
How the body is triggered into fight or flight and how to stop the alarm system with mindfulness.
Tools for creating connection, building positive coping skills, and learning to tolerate difficult times.
ATTACHMENT MATTERS: Changing Behavior through Relationship
In this recorded online session, you will learn:
How to use discipline that doesn't create disconnection and resentment.
How healthy attachment promotes positive behaviors and reduces stress in the whole family.
How to promote a secure emotional connection by removing judgment and evaluations from your language.
How to help children build caring relationships with adults and peers.
MANAGING YOUR ANGER & STRESS: Helping You Cope with Challenges
In this recorded online session, you will learn:
How to communicate with an angry, sensitive or resistant child.
Why we get angry and how we can use anger to make necessary changes in our lives.
Why knowing your family history will help you teach/parent children more effectively.
What you need to set-up a safe environment that provides tools for kids to manage their anger.
To implement a program of daily self-care to help you shift your perspective and stay emotionally available.
How to set personal boundaries for your mental, emotional and, physical well-being.
CONSCIOUS COMMUNICATION: How to Talk to Kids
In this recorded online session, you will learn:
Why kids "don’t listen" and what you can do to make sure your limits and requests are heard.
How to view behavior through a non-judgmental lens and support children as they practice new skills.
How to express care and concern without trying to control or force your child to change.
A 4-step framework for trauma-sensitive communication that eliminates arguing, negotiation, and permissiveness.
EMOTIONAL NEEDS OF CHILDREN: Building Resilience with Empathy
In this recorded online session, you will learn:
How emotional, mental or physical trauma shapes a child’s perspective of the world and others.
Tools for using empathy to connect and heal misunderstandings and navigate conflict.
Strategies for accessing compassion and strengthening empathy in children.
What to do when empathy seems like it isn’t "working" and how to talk to your child's teachers.
As a parent, caregiver, educator or staff member you will learn to:
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Create behavioral change through a trusting relationship with your child.
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Address the root cause of behavior without anger or punitive consequences.
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Feel competent and capable of handling your child's stress + school challenges.
Children will learn to:
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Feel and understand the purpose of their feelings.
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Heal the pain from past experiences.
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Self-regulate their emotions and behaviors.
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Problem-solve peacefully and cooperatively.
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Expand their tolerance for frustration.
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Form healthy relationships with peers and adults.
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Build skills which help them focus, learn, and remember.
We love Lori’s trauma-sensitive programs and have used them for several years to train our staff and offer to our community of parents.
Rachelle Touzard, Ph.D., LMFT, Project Director, Los Angeles County Office of Education
Lori has a gift for taking the ideas of conscious parenting and making them concrete by teaching us how to communicate in new ways.
Dr. Shefali Tsabary, Clinical Psychologist & Author of The Conscious Parent
Our parents raved about Lori's classes.
Linda Flores, Children's Bureau, California
You have transformed our house.
Diane Dawson, California
Everything I have ever read about parenting previous to discovering your work has never felt right to me. Reading your work and listening to your classes has helped me to see that my inner voice was right all along. Everything I am learning in your classes resonates with me on a spiritual level. Thank you so much for making this invaluable information available!! You are truly changing the world with the work that you do!
B. Stanley, California
Thank you so much, Lori , for this valuable, supportive and very helpful information. My husband and I feel empowered and comforted ourselves knowing that we now have better tools to be better parents to our son.
Melanie de Assis, California
I can't say enough about the practical advice you get from this seminar! Not only by what Lori teaches, and not only by the examples she offers, but the way she problem solves with the seminar participants and also, just the way she speaks and her demeanor during the seminar! I learned how to speak much calmer and clearer (perfect for kids!) by listening to her example! This seminar helped my parenting take a swift turn in the right direction. It's worth every penny.
Soni Albright, California
Meet Lori
Founder & Child Advocate Lori Petro
Lori Petro is the founder of Teach Through Love and the creator of the Conscious Communication Cards. She holds a Bachelors in Elementary and Early Childhood Education and a certification in trauma-informed parent education.
While on her own healing journey, she founded Teach Through Love as a vehicle to support parents and provide a new framework for communicating with kids.