There is hope
"You can't reason your way to love but you can love your way to reason" (Anonymous)
At crossing the divides i offer Play and drama based therapies guided by the polyvagal theory & Neuroscience
www.youtube.com/watch?v=br8-qebjIgs
Through the application of body psychotherapy Using touch work, dramatic play and story telling I build trust in the family as a securely attached entity. I do this by working with parents to be experts on their children and how to hold space for them as they traverse their big emotions, giving them tools and insights into recognizing their children's nervous system states of fight, flight and freeze and the different ways of navigating those states. engaging in this strategically, with a honed understanding of the nervous system, developmental neuroscience and Somatic pre and perinatal psychology I assist families to heal and nurture new pathways to resilience.
trauma and your child's developing brain
We hear so much about genetics these days and how our genetics underpin everything that we are capable of being. This is true. It is also true that the human brain mediates our movements, our senses, our thinking, feeling and behaving and that the amazing, complex neural systems in our brain, driven by our early experiences determine who we become (Perry, 2005). The brain's potential is developed through love, co-regulation, correcting faulty neuroception (sense of of whether people are safe, dangerous, or life threatening) and interoception (the sense of the internal state of the body) and the establishment of safety by the parent with the child (Porges, 2014). This early nurture determines how our genetic potential is expressed and whether it reaches its potential. It is how we nurture our children's nature, that unlocks that potential.
The Brain and the Impact of Traumatic Events on its Development.
If the fetus and infant are not regulated by loving caregivers it sets them up for mental health issues and traumatic responses to their world and development throughout their life. This impact on development and the expression of your child's genetic potential begins in utero as the brain begins to develop.
The brain stem develops first. It is like the foundations of a building. It creates the foundation for later development and stability and controls heart rate, body temperature, and other survival-related functions. It is also the storage facility for anxiety or arousal states associated with traumatic events throughout life. Without the strong foundation of a calm, loving and nurturing environment the brain stem cannot develop to its capacity and the rest of the brain cannot be stabilized.
The diencephalon sits on top of the brain stem and has its major development occurring between 6 months to 2 years old. It regulates the motor pathways and emotions, controls sensory perception, mood, sexual function, metabolism and the reliable generation of motor commands. Without its healthy development through nurture, secure attachment, love, stable caring, regulated interaction and play opportunities, many of these functions may be impaired and the mental health and well-being of the child in your care will be impacted in a multitude of ways over time.
The Limbic the next layer of the brain, has its major development between the ages of 1 and 4 years old and a further huge restructuring and growth during adolescence. It is is critical to judgment, insight, motivation and mood. It stores emotional information and is the part of the brain involved in our behavioral and emotional responses. It develops earlier and faster than the cortex, at all stages of development, meaning that until the cortex can catch up with the limbic system, the desire for rewards and social pressures overrides rational thinking (Steinberg, 2007; Galvan, 2007; Casey, 2007). Great care then needs to be taken during these periods to ensure that caring, nurturing and inclusive responses take precedence over the use of reward based systems because while the child responds well to them it can also set up a pattern of responding for life, that may see the young adult reaching for rewarding stimulus, like for example drugs and alcohol, to release feel good hormones in their bodies and to be able to feel good about themselves. Therefore special attention needs to be taken to build the right emotional environment when children are young to build the foundational emotional functioning in the early years to ward against for the volcanic disruptions that will come in adolescence.
Also situated in the Limbic is the amygdala. The amygdala is an almond like structure of neurons. It is often referred to as the brain's smoke alarm or security alert system. The amygdala sounds an alarm when it detects danger in the environment. This sets off fight, flight and freeze responses which are necessary for survival. However, if the infant, toddler or child is in contact with overwhelming events, events that are punishing and where they have no autonomy, or are isolated or deprived of social engagement, during the development of the limbic system or during earlier developmental phases of the brain, the amygdala may give out false signals of danger when there is none, fail to turn off when the danger or perceived danger has passed, remain buzzing and on alert all the time or when the system is completely overwhelmed fail to give out a signal of danger when there really is danger, because there is so much familiarity with danger that danger isn't perceived. This over or under activity can lead to either withdrawal and anxiety, fight responses sometimes with little to no perceivable stimulus, the person being in a continuous state of freeze and/or engagement in risky behavior to make them feel alive. Consequently, creating a strong healthy container of safety and inclusion for a child during this critical period is essential for the child's sense of safety, their ability to keep themselves safe and to make rational decisions throughout their life.
The Neo-cortex , the next in line for development controls abstract thought, the ability to think rationally and develop cognitive memory. This area of the brain begins to develop between the age of 3 to 6 years old and continues to develop until the age of 25. Unless this part of the brain is developed on a healthy foundation it is unlikely that it will reach its best potential. Also while your child may grow to be academically effective their home, relationships or inner life may be hugely disrupted and unhappy. For without the solid foundation of a highly organized brain stem and diencephalon working to organize it and a Limbic area that is stable and capable of the accurate inner and outer perception of danger and emotional regulation, engaging and developing this area of the child's brain may be like building on a foundation of soft sand. This increases the likelihood of collapse or burn out later on.
This isn't about Parent blaming.
Of course, no parent wants their child's brain and development to be damaged or compromised. No Family starts out with parents' wanting to get parenting wrong or wants their child to lose out. However, with all the best intentions in the world there are many things that are beyond our control. Many of these traumas are part and parcel of our modern world. Maternal stress levels during pregnancy, birth complications, premature birth, maternal depression, anxiety, conflict between parents, postnatal and postpartum depression, poverty, trauma and attachment issues in the parents own family of origin, psychological and biological history. When these impact the infant, in the pre and perinatal period (the first six months), and up the age of seven, it won't just work itself out. It will require careful therapeutic and coaching intervention wih the whole family specifically targeting these areas of the brain to heal and a therapist to guild the child and her parents or caregivers to mend the attachment ruptures caused by early trauma.
The work we will do together is child centered family therapy. I work with the whole family not just the child.
If the fetus and infant are not regulated by loving caregivers it sets them up for mental health issues and traumatic responses to their world and development throughout their life. This impact on development and the expression of your child's genetic potential begins in utero as the brain begins to develop.
The brain stem develops first. It is like the foundations of a building. It creates the foundation for later development and stability and controls heart rate, body temperature, and other survival-related functions. It is also the storage facility for anxiety or arousal states associated with traumatic events throughout life. Without the strong foundation of a calm, loving and nurturing environment the brain stem cannot develop to its capacity and the rest of the brain cannot be stabilized.
The diencephalon sits on top of the brain stem and has its major development occurring between 6 months to 2 years old. It regulates the motor pathways and emotions, controls sensory perception, mood, sexual function, metabolism and the reliable generation of motor commands. Without its healthy development through nurture, secure attachment, love, stable caring, regulated interaction and play opportunities, many of these functions may be impaired and the mental health and well-being of the child in your care will be impacted in a multitude of ways over time.
The Limbic the next layer of the brain, has its major development between the ages of 1 and 4 years old and a further huge restructuring and growth during adolescence. It is is critical to judgment, insight, motivation and mood. It stores emotional information and is the part of the brain involved in our behavioral and emotional responses. It develops earlier and faster than the cortex, at all stages of development, meaning that until the cortex can catch up with the limbic system, the desire for rewards and social pressures overrides rational thinking (Steinberg, 2007; Galvan, 2007; Casey, 2007). Great care then needs to be taken during these periods to ensure that caring, nurturing and inclusive responses take precedence over the use of reward based systems because while the child responds well to them it can also set up a pattern of responding for life, that may see the young adult reaching for rewarding stimulus, like for example drugs and alcohol, to release feel good hormones in their bodies and to be able to feel good about themselves. Therefore special attention needs to be taken to build the right emotional environment when children are young to build the foundational emotional functioning in the early years to ward against for the volcanic disruptions that will come in adolescence.
Also situated in the Limbic is the amygdala. The amygdala is an almond like structure of neurons. It is often referred to as the brain's smoke alarm or security alert system. The amygdala sounds an alarm when it detects danger in the environment. This sets off fight, flight and freeze responses which are necessary for survival. However, if the infant, toddler or child is in contact with overwhelming events, events that are punishing and where they have no autonomy, or are isolated or deprived of social engagement, during the development of the limbic system or during earlier developmental phases of the brain, the amygdala may give out false signals of danger when there is none, fail to turn off when the danger or perceived danger has passed, remain buzzing and on alert all the time or when the system is completely overwhelmed fail to give out a signal of danger when there really is danger, because there is so much familiarity with danger that danger isn't perceived. This over or under activity can lead to either withdrawal and anxiety, fight responses sometimes with little to no perceivable stimulus, the person being in a continuous state of freeze and/or engagement in risky behavior to make them feel alive. Consequently, creating a strong healthy container of safety and inclusion for a child during this critical period is essential for the child's sense of safety, their ability to keep themselves safe and to make rational decisions throughout their life.
The Neo-cortex , the next in line for development controls abstract thought, the ability to think rationally and develop cognitive memory. This area of the brain begins to develop between the age of 3 to 6 years old and continues to develop until the age of 25. Unless this part of the brain is developed on a healthy foundation it is unlikely that it will reach its best potential. Also while your child may grow to be academically effective their home, relationships or inner life may be hugely disrupted and unhappy. For without the solid foundation of a highly organized brain stem and diencephalon working to organize it and a Limbic area that is stable and capable of the accurate inner and outer perception of danger and emotional regulation, engaging and developing this area of the child's brain may be like building on a foundation of soft sand. This increases the likelihood of collapse or burn out later on.
This isn't about Parent blaming.
Of course, no parent wants their child's brain and development to be damaged or compromised. No Family starts out with parents' wanting to get parenting wrong or wants their child to lose out. However, with all the best intentions in the world there are many things that are beyond our control. Many of these traumas are part and parcel of our modern world. Maternal stress levels during pregnancy, birth complications, premature birth, maternal depression, anxiety, conflict between parents, postnatal and postpartum depression, poverty, trauma and attachment issues in the parents own family of origin, psychological and biological history. When these impact the infant, in the pre and perinatal period (the first six months), and up the age of seven, it won't just work itself out. It will require careful therapeutic and coaching intervention wih the whole family specifically targeting these areas of the brain to heal and a therapist to guild the child and her parents or caregivers to mend the attachment ruptures caused by early trauma.
The work we will do together is child centered family therapy. I work with the whole family not just the child.
