Approach
I take a nervous-system–informed, attachment-aware approach – which means I’m less interested in managing behaviour and more interested in understanding what’s underneath it.
Behaviour is communication – it always arises from somewhere. When we can begin to understand what a child’s nervous system is trying to do, things start to make a lot more sense.
My work centres around the idea: when people feel safe, they can grow. That applies to children, parents and professionals equally(because we are all human mammals navigating this complex world!) My role is to help build that safety – through relationship, curiosity, education and connecting families and teams to resources they can draw on outside of our sessions. Understanding what’s actually going on beneath the behaviour is the foundation.
Humans are inherently social, we live our lives in ecosystems of nervous systems.
Ideally, I work with the whole system around a child, not just the child themselves. That means supporting parents to make sense of what’s happening and look after their own nervous system in the process and working with care teams to build a shared understanding/consistent approach and deepen the professional’s tools of reflective practice. When everyone around a child is operating from the same lens, it makes a profound difference.
The foundations I work from
- Nervous System Regulation
- Polyvagal theory
- Interpersonal Neurobiology
- Neuroception, relational safety and sensory systems
- Attachment theory
- Trauma and traumatic stress
- The Neurosequential model
Informed by the work of: Deb Dana, Ross Greene, Stephen Porges, Bessel van der Kolk, Kristy Forbes, Stuart Shanker, Somatic Experiencing, Mona Delahooke, Bruce Perry, Philippa Perry, Dan Siegel, Trauma Geek, Peter Levine, At Peace Parenting, The Occuplaytional Therapist & more
