TBRI® is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. TBRI® uses Empowering Principles to address physical needs, Connecting Principles for attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors. While the intervention is based on years of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research, the heartbeat of TBRI® is connection. (Taken directly from The Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development www.child.tcu.edu)
TBRI intervention is designed specifically for children who have experienced trauma, abuse or neglect. It is also helpful with typical children and those with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
The Empowering Principles look at the child’s physical and environmental needs and seeks to be attuned to those needs, to empower the child to be able to make positive decisions and exhibit healthier behavior. This includes empowering them through food, water, times of rest and regrouping, preparing for transitions, etc. When a parent becomes attuned to these needs in their children, parents can usually report positive changes in their children’s behavior and ability to operate on a higher level in their daily life.
The Connecting Principles are the heart of TBRI. We believe that in order for a child to heal, they need to develop a secure attachment with their safe parent(s)/caretaker(s), which can take 3 years for a child who has suffered from trauma, abuse and/or neglect. The child needs to learn how to trust, how to relinquish unhealthy and harmful coping strategies (manipulation, control, violence) and to use their voice to communicate what they need and what they are feeling. For a child who has come from a hard place, this is an arduous process, but it is worth it!
Correcting Principles are structured ways to disarm fear-based behavior. When parents learn to look beneath the behavior to what the child is communicating, the parent can then move into his/her child and use the experience to correct and then connect back with the child. Karyn Purvis states that correcting is never done until the parent has connected back with the child. Correcting strategies include both proactive and responsive strategies, and they guide you as to when to lower the bar and how to balance structure and nurture in any situation.
CPRT (Child-Parent Relationship Therapy), a 10-week parenting class teaching parents attunement and connection to their child, was originally created by Garry Landreth and Sue Bratton. Geared toward parents of young children, it was found highly successful, even those suffering from the effects of abuse, trauma, divorce and other difficult life experiences. Parents were taught the skills of a play therapist, and through a weekly play session at home, parents grew in their skill set as well as confidence.
Several years ago, Diane, along with a small group of masters’ level students, received the Quality Initiative Faculty and Student Research Grant bestowed by Palm Beach Atlantic University, expanding the Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) filial group therapy to meet the needs of adolescents and their parents. The parents involved in this 8-week group reported increased connection and self-confidence in parenting their adolescent children.
At Kid’s House of Seminole, a child-advocacy center where Diane was a therapist for 3 years, the group was further expanded to meet the specific needs of parents and caretakers of traumatized children and teenagers, foster and adopted children, those with Autism Spectrum Disorders and ADHD. The parent group was run 3 times a year to accommodate the needs of parents, with many opting to take the group 2 or 3 times to become fluid in the skills. Teaching parents these skills appeared to enhance the therapy process while lessening the actual time the child remained in therapy.
Diane and Brianna continue to offer this group at KCA as a vital component in empowering parents to connect with their child while gaining skills deepen their attunement to their child’s needs and increase confidence in dealing with difficult situations. They have expanded the parent group to include the impact of trauma on the child's brain and behavior, and to deepen the parents' understanding of how their own history impacts the child-parent relationship.
To contact KCA for more information, email Diane at diane@kca-counseling.com or Brianna at brianna@kca-counseling.com.
We at Kimball Counseling Associates are here to help you navigate the difficult and puzzling times.
