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I’m so grateful that you’re considering joining me on the journey of connected caregiving. This lifestyle has transformed our home to a warm, (mostly) peaceful haven of safety where we enjoy each other and want to be together.
Isn’t that what we all truly desire for our families?
My husband and I first embraced connected caregiving after we adopted our daughter from China in 2011. The hodge podge of traditional parenting tools we had picked up while raising our two biological children did not work for our new daughter. In fact, it was the opposite. Those tools failed miserably and they created chaos in our home. I really didn’t like the mom I was with our new daughter, and I knew it was me who needed to make the changes, not my daughter.
After months of not knowing how to build a trusting relationship with her, I finally dusted off all of the connected caregiving resources that I had scoffed at before she came home. I naively thought I didn’t need those tools because my husband and I knew what we were doing after raising two healthy, well-attached, well-adjusted, well-behaved children.
I was wrong.
I poured over the resources with fresh eyes and a yellow highlighter. Light bulbs began to go off like spot lights in the dead of night. I finally understood how connected caregiving could transform our home.
My husband and I slowly started reframing our mindsets and embracing new connecting practices. It felt counter-intuitive at first, but it began to transform our home and change our relationship with our daughter. It was so transformative that we started using the practices with our biological children, too.
Over time, connected caregiving revolutionized the relationships with our children. We still get it wrong and make mistakes regularly, but this philosophy takes the burden off of us to be perfect parents. Because let’s face it … there are no perfect parents. Using the tools helps us repair our wrongs so we can focus on maintaining the connection with our children, which is absolutely paramount.
My husband and I are so passionate about connected parenting that we became parent facilitators for Empowered to Connect in 2016 and then re-certified in 2022 when the material was updated to the current Cultivate Connection course. It has transformed the way we do relationships with our children (and with others!) and I know it can do the same for you, too.
It just works.
What is connected caregiving?
Inspired from the Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) work of Dr. Karyn Purvis, this philosophy was intended to meet the needs of children with hard starts – those who have had adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). At it’s most fundamental core, connected caregiving focuses on nurturing the relationships with our children so they can learn to trust, heal, and grow. It’s truly a wonderful model for all relationships and can be adapted to all areas of our lives.
The Cultivation Connection Course
Cultivate Connection provides the community and support you need, right where you are. You’ll have space to breathe, find some joy, and feel more empowered to meet daily challenges. Over 18 modules, the course gives helpful parenting practices and strategies for kids of all ages, with plenty of time to discuss ideas and ask questions along the way. These practical skills are rooted in research on brain based parenting, attachment, trauma, sensory processing, and more. The purpose of Cultivate Connection is to empower parents and caregivers to be confident, calm, curious, compassionate and connected.
An outline of the modules is as follows:
- MODULE 1 | WELCOME
- MODULE 2 | EXPLORE: PARENTING STYLE
- MODULE 3 | EXPLORE: ATTACHMNETS CYCLES
- MODULE 4 | EXPLORE: ATTACHMENT STYLES
- MODULE 5 | EXPLORE: EXPECTATIONS
- MODULE 6 | EXPLORE: STRESS, TRAUMA, & ADVERSITY
- MODULE 7 | EXPLORE: PLAY
- MODULE 8 | EXPLORE: BEHAVIOR
- MODULE 9 | CONNECT: INTERNAL NEEDS
- MODULE 10 | CONNECT: EXTERNAL NEEDS
- MODULE 11 | CONNECT: PRESENCE
- MODULE 12 | CONNECT: COMMUNICATION
- MODULE 13 | CONNECT: COLLABORATION
- MODULE 14 | CONNECT: CO-REGULATION
- MODULE 15 | CONNECT: CORRECTION PART 1
- MODULE 16 | CONNECT: CORRECTION PART 2
- MODULE 17 | CONNECT: IMPLEMENTATION
- MODULE 18 | AN INVITATION TO CHANGE
What other types of parent training do you offer?
In addition to being certified to lead the Empowered to Connect Cultivate Connect courses (in-person and online), my husband and I are also available for one-time speaking engagements and shorter workshops in the northern-Maryland area. We can tailor a connected caregiver training or workshop to your audience’s specific needs and can also share about how to foster a trauma-sensitive ministry. We consider it an honor and joy to share this lifestyle and philosophy with other families. We know it’s not an easy journey, but being in community with others who are doing the same hard work is so necessary. We look forward to doing life with you, too, as we walk this road together.
Please contact me at Nicole@NaturallyWholistic.com to discuss your specific training, workshop, or speaking engagement requests. Our goal is to partner with all caregivers who can benefit from the connected strategies that have transformed our family so much.
