We've been waiting for this one
for a while - we're so excited to have the one and only Daren Jones from The Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development on the show today! If you are unfamiliar with his work, Daren is part of the team
that delivers Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI)
training literally across the globe. From his work in a
therapeutic day treatment program with children to
training judges and District Attorneys on the brain
science of trauma, Daren has a ton to talk about when
it comes to systems change.

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, check out our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube!

Let's talk about consequences.Spoiler alert: we want to encourage you to make consequences your last resort. You read that right, we at ETC think there are lots of other tools in the toolbelt to help you keep peace in your home and maintain connection with your kiddo and we want to talk about it today! 

Becca McKay and Tona Ottinger from ETC join us as we talk about the the bigger picture of why we are so quick to want to hand out consequences and what we can do instead to address inappropriate behaviors.

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, check out our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube!

Dr. Jim Henry is one of the most fascinating people you will ever meet. He is a Professor at Western Michigan University and the Program Director of the Children's Trauma Assessment Center. For over 20 years, Dr. Henry has been sitting with and hearing the stories of precious children from across the country who have survived unimaginable things. 

How, then, can Dr. Henry still be doing this work?? We asked Dr. Henry to be with us today to give some insight into what has allowed him to continue to be completely present with children and how he protects himself from burnout. Dr. Henry explains the importance of building bridges from our hearts to those around us instead of walls around our hearts that seal us off from the outside world in relationship. Trust us - this is not an episode you want to miss!

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, check out our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube!

ANOTHER attachment episode, c'mon ETC! Isn't there more to parenting than attachment!? We're glad you asked. In today's episode, we have one of the best researchers in her field, Dr. Jamie DeLuna from the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development, explain why understanding your own attachment style may be the most important thing you can do for your parenting. We talk about the neuroscience behind attachment, the different adult attachment styles, how they form and how you can 'earn' secure attachment, no matter what your childhood was like.

To check out the book Jamie recommended ('How We Love') and more resources like it, you can click here. 

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, check out our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube!

Season 2 rolls on, today with Dr. Nicole West! Dr. West is a therapist with the Memphis Family Connection Center in Memphis, TN and amongst lots of skills and certifications she holds, she is a certified Play Therapist. Dr. West joins us today to not only unpack the benefits of play therapy but also to walk us through WHY play is so important for the brain, for processing through hard things for kids and how we as parents can incorporate play (and healing) into our homes.

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, check out our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube!

It's here! The premiere of Season 2 - and who better to help us kick it off than the one and only Mona Delahooke?? Mona is a Pediatric Psychologist and the author of Beyond Behaviors among several other books. If you've ever read Beyond Behaviors, you know how brilliant she is! Mona joins us today to talk about the Brain - Body - Behavior connection and why it is absolutely essential for parents and caregivers to understand. Struggling with perplexing behavior in your home? This may be the episode you've been waiting for. 

We also talk about Mona's NEW book coming out in early 2022 and at the end of the episode we reveal instructions for how YOU could win a pre-order of it! To enter, you must be following @empoweredtoconnect on Instagram or have Liked Empowered to Connect on Facebook and tag us in your Instagram or Facebook stories today telling us something you loved from the interview with Mona. That's it! We'll pick 5 winners at random and pre-order the book to come straight to your house!

Wanna learn more from Mona? Buy her book Beyond Behaviors here, sign up for the Beyond Behaviors course Mona teaches here or head on over to her website to learn more about her there!

One of the most surprising things about parenting is the way we grow in the midst of trying to grow our children. Oftentimes, setting out to help them process through a trying emotional time or teach a life lesson reveals something about ourselves as well. Today on the show, Mo and Tona talk about the necessity of celebrating our children in several key ways and how they've grown in the process. This episode will make you laugh, make you cry and hopefully help you think about some of the ways we can celebrate our children in ways we haven't yet. 

To learn more about ETC, check out our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube!

For most of us Summer Break is in full swing. Kids are out of school and you might be out of patience! If that's you, rest easy, you're not alone. Today we take one of the principles discussed by Dr. Karyn Purvis in last week's episode and look at why predictability is such a big deal for our kids. Some of us have major scheduling needs - we need to know what's happening at every moment. Some of us can only handle knowing the big picture and letting the day flow freely where it will - and the same is true for our kids. Jesse Faris and Tona Ottinger join us today to talk about how and why making things predictable can breathe life and peace into our kids' lives. 

To learn more about ETC, check out our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube!

One of our most watched YouTube videos of all time features Dr. Karyn Purvis giving parents and caregivers some advice about how to handle manipulation and control from their kiddos. There's a reason 160,000 people have watched this video - the content is gold. 

Today on the show, Tona Ottinger and JD Wilson from ETC sit down to do a deep dive on the ideas Dr. Purvis lays out in the video. How does this play out in everyday life? Tona and JD share practical tools and tips for understanding and redirecting our kids who may be using manipulation and control as an adaptive strategy for survival. 

To watch the full video from Dr. Purvis, click here. To learn more about ETC, check out our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube!