Dan Hughes: The importance of relationship expectations in childhood – how they develop & how they change

Cost plus VAT.

A very special online opportunity to spend time learning directly from and with the wonderful Dan Hughes. This day is open to anyone working with and / or supporting children & young people – this includes parents & carers as well as professionals, practitioners & volunteers.

Content Summary:

The initial interactions with the important people in a child’s life, cause the child to expect that similar interactions will occur in relationship to those people as well as people in general.

When the child has been hurt in these early interactions, the child’s brain quickly develops a bias toward protecting self through “fight, flight, or freeze” and often misses cues that this relationship willl create safety and opportunities for nurturing engagements.

These biases make it difficult to help the child to respond to and be influenced by caring and supportive interactions being provided by a new caregiver, teacher, or counsellor / therapist.  Routine frustrations and disappointments with these new adults are often experienced as being frightening, harsh, or even abusive.

In our efforts to assist these children in developing reciprocal positive relationships with others, we need to keep in mind that the child’s response to us may be primarily determined by their expectations based on past abusive experiences.

We need to relate in ways that generate safety and an openness to new learning.

We need to perceive and respond to the child’s inner life rather than to the behaviours that are problems and symptoms secondary to trauma.

We need to discover who the child was before being traumatized, who the child is underneath the traumatic symptoms.

These discoveries will help us to become engaged safely with the child and to invite him into relational experiences that generate new expectations of nurture, comfort, and joy.

This will be a rich, fun and inspiring day with Dan that will include time for questions and discussion, as well as the likelihood of some role play. Please note: Dan will be beaming in live from the East Coast of America – hence the timings of the workshop. We suggest you attend having already had lunch as there will only be two short breaks during the training in order to cover the equivalent of a full day’s content.

An uplifting, informative and transformational day with an incredible trainer – not to be missed!