hope Archives | Attachment and Trauma Network

Oct 2019

Jeannie’s Brave Childhood – There is Hope

A story of hope Last week, I wrote about Janyne McConnaughey’s story. This week I want to focus on my own. I could probably write a book of my own on the many insights I gained, but for the purposes of this post, in which I want to give hope to parents and kids alike,

Posted by Laura Dennis | Posted in Attachment, Book Reviews, Our Voices, Parenting Traumatized Children, Trauma | Tags: attachment, book review, books, change, dissociation, healing, hope, lying, Parenting, parenting traumatized children, play, RAD, storytelling, therapy |

Dec 2017

Give the Gift of Healing Through Literature

–by Janyne McConnaughey, PhD Manager’s note: A few years ago, I started buying my kids’ Christmas gifts to the mantra “something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read.” Here are some ideas for the “read” part. Look for other ideas soon, as well as tips for trauma travel. And if

Posted by Janyne McConnaughey, PhD | Posted in Book Reviews | Tags: bonding, books, emotions, gifts, holidays, hope, relationship, trauma |

Aug 2017

Are Traumatized Children Hopeless?

–by Julie Beem I’ve been to a handful of post-adoption conferences this spring and summer. After working with ATN for over a decade, I have been excited by the number of workshops and speakers addressing early childhood trauma, and in some cases citing the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study. I remember all too well the

Posted by Julie Beem | Posted in Advocacy, Attachment, Trauma | Tags: ACEs, adoption, ATN, Attachment & Trauma Network, Attachment Awareness, behavioral problems, Developmental Trauma Disorder, education, hope, neuroscience, parenting traumatized children, trauma |

Jul 2017

Stronger in Spirit Than I Ever Imagined

–by Donald Craig Peterson Manager’s note: you can read the original post on Craig’s own blog, Adopting Faith: A Father’s Unconditional Love. Craig also has a forthcoming memoir, Adopting Faith: A Father’s Unconditional Love, and you can follow his son Andrew’s story by clicking “Like” on the Facebook page, Andrew Peterson Goes for the Gold. ____________ The past month

Posted by D. Craig Peterson | Posted in Our Voices, Parenting Traumatized Children, Therapeutic Parenting | Tags: adult children, anger, anxiety, behavioral problems, dysregulation, hope, hospital, medication, parenting traumatized children, relationship, therapeutic parenting, therapy |

May 2017

Finding Light in the Darkness

–by Lorraine Fuller Raising kids who have experienced early trauma is hard. It’s scary, defeating, isolating, messy, stressful, overwhelming… It’s dark and depressing, sometimes so dark you feel like you can’t breathe or take another step. Your friends, family, and neighbors don’t understand. You feel like a failure. You hear criticism from everyone from your

Posted by Lorraine Fuller | Posted in Parenting Traumatized Children, Therapeutic Parenting | Tags: hope, humor, parenting traumatized children |

Oct 2016

ATN Angel: Dr. Ken Huey

In celebration of ATN’s 2016 Angels in Adoption award, we’re profiling ATN members who have helped ATN win the award — and who have themselves been Angels to families and children. by: Sandy Davis I am nominating Dr. Ken Huey as an ATN Angel for so many reasons. I first met Ken years ago through

Posted by Guest Author | Posted in ATN News | Tags: ATN, ATN Blog, Attachment & Trauma Network, hope, teens, trauma |

Mar 2013

Hope Overcomes Heartbreak

By: Gari Lister

My post last week was scary and sad for some of you, but please do not confuse heartbreak with a lack of hope. I have a huge amount of hope for our kids, and for the progress that we are making in helping them. For every child like my Katya, there are many, many more children who can and who do heal. My youngest, in fact, is a poster child for healing – at 10, she is perhaps a little odd, and she is certainly a little quiet. But she has an amazing sense of humor, she loves to ice skate and take ballet and she can talk my ear off when she wants to – a far cry from the little girl who screamed for hours every night when we brought her home and from the 5 year old who didn’t and wouldn’t talk. Now, yes, we haven’t lived through her teenage years, so perhaps there are crises yet to come.