Empowered to Connect Podcast

It happens to the best of us - we have everything laid out the way it's supposed to go and it completely falls apart. The family vacation ends in disaster, the Target run ends with someone on the floor melting down, we sit at night and wonder how we were so wrong about what life would look like by now. Expectations - we all have them and when they're unrealistic or misguided in their formation, they can be detrimental. There's good news, though! By recognizing and identifying expectations we've had, we can begin to evaluate them and reset appropriate expectations - and maybe most importantly, begin to teach our kids the same skills. We cover all of this and more today as we unpack another foundational piece of one of our connecting practices: Setting Appropriate Expectations.

To learn more about ETC, check out empoweredtoconnect.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube!

As anyone with Netflix has seen in the last week or two, there's a famous ETC Principle in the newest Jennifer Garner movie - The Yes Day. No, ETC didn't make a movie, but there is lots to learn from the movie! JD, Tona and Mo sit down to talk about one of the most foundational principles in the ETC world - the power of saying yes. 

"Isn't that just permissive parenting!?" "If you give these kids an inch, they're ALWAYS going to take a mile." "We aren't trying to spoil our kids." All very common responses to the principle of giving our kids 'yes' often. Yet research and experience from 15 years of ETC Parent Training will tell you otherwise. Join JD, Mo and Tona and learn why 'Yes' is a superpower in your parenting arsenal!

During the interview we reference several different resources on this topic - below we've linked those articles as well as some other resources from ETC on the Power of YES: 

https://empoweredtoconnect.org/the-privilege-of-saying-yes/
https://empoweredtoconnect.org/building-trust-by-saying-yes/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SF6GmV7zg0
https://www.mindful.org/dr-dan-siegel-hearing-yes-childs-brain/

To learn more about ETC, check out empoweredtoconnect.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube!

We've all done it. We've lost our temper, checked out, popped off, said something we shouldn't have or didn't say something we should have in a moment of weakness. If you're like us, you've probably already had a moment (or several) moments like this today - it's ok. Take a deep breath and let Marriage and Family Therapist Carissa Woodwyk and ETC's Tona Ottinger walk you through how to repair when you've ruptured something with yourself, your partner or a kiddo. Special heads up - be sure to listen all the way to the end to hear Carissa's perspective on this as an adoptee when she shares an intimate moment of self discovery related to her own story - you don't want to miss it. 

To learn more about Carissa and her work, be sure to check out her first appearance on the show here or follow her on Instagram or Facebook!

To learn more about ETC, check out empoweredtoconnect.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube!

Our guest today is quite literally one of the most influential figures in the work we do at Empowered to Connect! Dr. Tina Payne Bryson is the Author of Bottom Line for Baby and 4 other co-authored books including two New York Times Bestselling works, The Whole Brain Child and No Drama Discipline. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Connection and the Play Strong Institute.

Tina joins us to talk about what kids need most from their parents and how we can create the felt safety in our homes to allow our children to heal and grow as whole people. Tina is a fantastic teacher and she walks us through everything from navigating meltdowns to creating felt safety in relationship with teens. 

For more on Tina's work and her new parent group: Office Hours with Tina, click here!

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, visit us on our website, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and now find all of our episodes on our YouTube channel!

Our guests today have bios too long to fit in this section, but many of you know their work. Steven Curtis Chapman is the most decorated Christian Music Artist of all time. With over 11 million albums sold, 49 #1 hits and 5 Grammys, Steven's been making music successfully for the better part of 3 decades. His wife, Mary Beth Chapman is a New York Times Bestselling Author for her book Choosing to See and the President of Show Hope - a non profit organization aimed at reducing the barriers to adoption.

While many of you may be familiar with Steven's music or the work of Show Hope, you may not be familiar with the story behind the Chapmans themselves or Show Hope's origin story (and we think you'll love it). Steven and Mary Beth join us to talk about everything from how they met to a 10 year old upending their lives, the founding of Show Hope and the transformation the organization has undergone since it began in 2003. 

We also announce the exciting news about the Hope for the Journey Conference (formerly the Empowered to Connect Conference) and talk about the format for this year and some of the featured speakers - including our own Mo and Tona Ottinger! The one-day event is happening April 9th and will be viewable for two months after it premieres! You won't want to miss this opportunity, register today!

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, visit us on our website, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and now find all of our episodes on our YouTube channel!

We've spent a lot of time this year on the show talking about self - looking at adult attachment styles, considering what we need to offer ourselves as coregulators to our children, even talking about self-compassion as the true and better version of self care. Why, then, do we now look at self awareness!? We're glad you asked! Larissa Gregory is the head of LG Educational Consulting and works with individuals, teachers, administrations and families helping create safe, empowered spaces for children and families. After years in academic leadership, she joins us to talk about why she believes that Authentic Self Awareness is the Key to Empowered Families. Larissa gives several concrete, practical tools for us to walk away with to help restore relationship after conflict, to help restore our own mental spaces as self doubt and stress invade and more!

You can learn more about Larissa and LG Educational Consulting here!

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, visit us at empoweredtoconnect.org, on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube!

Self care is a hot topic these days - in fact, it's been a topic of conversation on our show several times. What happens, though, when your self care doesn't cut it? When you still find yourself empty and searching for what you need to care for your people well? Marriage and Family Therapist and longtime friend of ETC Carissa Woodwyk joins us to talk about how we have to move beyond self care to self compassion to be whole. 

To learn more about Carissa's work and thoughts, follow her on Instagram @weneedoneanother or like her on Facebook !

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

Our guest today got our attention when she wrote a blog post entitled "Self Regulation Doesn't Exist" (you should definitely read it)! Robyn Gobbel is a therapist, speaker, podcast host, webinar creator and more and she joins us today to do a deep dive into the topic of self regulation and what is actually happening in the brain when we are distressed and then brought back in to regulation. You'll also hear Robyn call this phrase by a different name that helps bring clarity to what is actually happening when we help our kids (or our grownups) learn to regulate.

To learn more about Robyn's work and to check out her podcast as well as the amazing collection of resources she's compiled, visit her website here and don't miss out on signing up for Parenting after Trauma: Minding the Heart and Brain. Registration opens on the 16th for this powerful online, self-paced course www.robyngobbel.com/parentcourse

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, visit us on our website, find us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram or check out all of our podcast episodes and video resources on YouTube!

This week we continue our conversation with TCU's Dr. Casey Call about attachment by talking through attachment styles and cycles. If you missed our first episode with Dr. Call, you will definitely want to listen to it before listening to this one! Dr. Call walks us through attachment styles and cycles and discusses the healing potential of when attachment is disrupted. A huge thank you again to Dr. Call and the team from the KPICD for helping us through this conversation!

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, visit our NEWLY BRANDED website empoweredtoconnect.org, find us on Facebook here, follow us on Instagram here or check out all of our video content as well as every podcast episode on here

2021 is here and it's not solved all of our problems (cue the sad horns). Have no fear though, because we are starting our new year with one of the leading experts in the field of Attachment Research and Theory, Dr. Casey Call from the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD). In today's episode Dr. Call walks us through what we need to know as caregivers about how human beings attach and why it's important. This is a critical piece of understanding when it comes to caring for ourselves and other humans and you don't want to miss it!

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, visit our NEWLY BRANDED WEBSITE at empoweredtoconnect.org and you can find us on Facebook @connectedchild, on Instagram @empoweredtoconnect AND NOW ALSO at YouTube.com/empoweredtoconnect !