Parenting the Wild Way Course
Parenting the Wild Way - CHANGING THE LENS THROUGH WHICH YOU PARENT
Group Course / 6 sessions / 1.5 hrs per session / online
The Course is designed to empower families and professionals with a deeper understanding of neurodivergent children and young people, as well as those who have experienced trauma.
This course provides the tools and knowledge to address anxieties, manage challenging behaviours, and navigate conflict. By fostering a more profound understanding of their neurotype and their experiences, the course allows you to develop your understanding and create the right environment for your child to thrive.
LEARNING INTENTIONS:
What you will achieve by completing this course:
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How the intolerable build-up of anxiety can be the primary driver of melt-downs, how to spot signs of anxiety and how to de-escalate situations before they reach crisis point
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How to talk about and analyse ‘critical incidents’ in a non-judgmental, non-shaming way with your child
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An understanding of how our nervous systems can deeply affect our reactions and how to begin to move into a more responsive and regulated state
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How to spot signs of Emotionally Based School Non-attendance - and what to do about it.
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To understand how to set necessary boundaries in a healthy way that isn’t activating our young people’s nervous system or making anxiety in us or the children, worse.
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An understanding of how our children and young people are intrinsically motivated to learn, do well and flourish
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An understanding about demand avoidance - pathological or otherwise - and language and strategies that can be supportive
Course overview:
SESSION 1: Understanding my Anxious Child Anxiety often builds when a child feels overwhelmed, threatened, or out of control. This build-up can trigger the sympathetic nervous system’s "fight, flight, freeze, appease" response - which can lead to meltdowns. This session offers a deep dive into anxiety and the anxiety cycle, how it affects our ability to reason and how it drives us to react in particular situations.
SESSION 2: De-escalation and restorative conversations In this session, we will discuss strategies to de-escalate those situations that are starting to feel increasingly volatile - before they escalate into a meltdown. We will also be sharing the structure of restorative conversations, a non judgemental, ‘no shame, no blame’ approach to unpicking critical episodes that fosters trust between family members, as well as developing skills in interoception - our perception of the signals that the body is sending us.
SESSION 3: Demand Avoidance and Supportive Language Pathological Demand Avoidance (also known as a Persistent Drive for Autonomy) describes a profile of autism whereby direct and indirect demands can trigger an extreme anxiety response. Whilst we recognise that PDA is a neurodivergent trait in its own right - even if it is not yet universally recognised - overwhelming situations and extreme anxiety can trigger demand avoidance in a range of different neurotypes. In this session, we will be offering a framework to support our non-judgemental understanding of demand avoidance and figure out strategies to help our child navigate their personal experience of demand avoidance. We will also reflect on the language that can be supportive.
SESSION 4: Why won’t my child go to school? Our children have a variety of ways of telling us that they don’t want to go to school - they may tell us directly, they may develop physical ailments, or their behaviour may escalate into aggression. This session offers an analysis of the barriers that your child is experiencing when they indicate that they are really struggling with attending school. What’s going on for them? What can parents do to support them through this period?
SESSION 5: Celebrations Explores why celebrations can be challenging for neurodivergent children through examining parental expectations, sensory triggers, demands, routine changes, and anticipation.
SESSION 6: Why Rewards and Consequences don’t work We believe that all children have an innate desire to learn and succeed, but anxiety, stress, or unmet needs can inhibit this. This session will offer a practical exploration into the use of rewards and consequences in the home and in school, and how they can ultimately work against your child’s neurotype and become ineffectual. We will also be reflecting on alternatives to rewards and consequences.
By the end of the course you will feel more equipped, knowledgeable and competent in handling complexities within the home, armed with practical tools to create a supportive and understanding environment for your child.
Upcoming Events
Suzan Issa
Could you sum up the course in one sentence?
It's NVR done as a relationship building, connection building, collaborative strategy with your child.
What would you say to someone who is not sure whether this is right for them?
This course is not about shame or blame. There are limited spaces available to ensure a small community of families with the opportunity to support each other.
We are all here to achieve our own version of success.
We're still allowing our children the space to be autonomous human beings that they have every right to be and we're just there to guide them along the way. So, they don't get hurt and nobody else gets hurt in the process.