Focusing on Attachment: What Else I Didn’t Know

Focusing on Attachment: What Else I Didn’t Know

What happens once you know? What comes after “you don’t know what you don’t know,” anyway? Well, now, I think it’s “when you know better, you do better,” but that is now, not then. Back then, it took several steps. First, I had to grasp that I had more to figure out about my amazingly […]

Monty’s Day in Court

illustrated cover of courthouse with little boy. Title Monty's Day in Court

Helping children from hard places If you’re reading this blog, chances are that you are either parenting a child from a hard place or know such a child in some other way. Sadly, coming from a hard place can mean being the victim of a crime. It may even mean that the child has to […]

Child Abuse, Coronavirus, and Mental Health

Mental Health Awareness Month Every May, advocacy organizations such as Mental Health America come together to raise awareness around needs related to mental health. These needs have increased during the coronavirus pandemic. Now that we have entered the month of June, we should reflect on the lessons learned during Mental Health Awareness Month so we […]

ATN Wants You . . . To Share Your Story

hands typing at manual typewriter with paper in it

The Attachment & Trauma Network (ATN) seeks bloggers for the “Our Voices” section of our website, a.k.a. the ATN blog. Not sure if your story fits? Read on to learn more. Parents ATN was originally founded by parents, for other parents. We all have stories to tell, and we all need to know we’re not […]

Shame: One Mom’s Thoughts

boy with head in hands

In the world of therapeutic parenting and developmental trauma, we hear a lot about shame. Professionals write lots of great articles about it. This is my perspective as a mom. When I first read about shame in our kids, I was pretty positive that my often narcissistic son could not have that issue. I looked […]

When My Son Cries for His Birth Mom

Silhouette of a young boy

My son’s behavior has been improving. It’s really quite incredible when I think about the progress he has made in such a short amount of time. There has been no hitting. No biting. No long-lasting rages. Very little swearing. Still. When my adopted child cries for his birth mom, my heart breaks. He’s constantly agitated, like […]

Who Do You Trust the Most?

little boy with blond hair in shorts and blue jacket sitting alone on bench holding stuffed animal

During a session with your therapist, she hands you a paper with three concentric circles drawn on it. They represent relative levels of trust in relationships. The central circle is who you trust the most. She asks you who you would put in that spot. You don’t answer. She pushes. You remain silent. Finally, she suggests your parents. You nod. You know that she needs you to nod.

Those Adoption Books

picture of books with "adoption books: are they working?" written on it

For years, I felt frustrated by parents and therapists suggesting I just read fill-in-the-blank  adoption books by fill-in-the-blank authors. I’d already read all of those parenting books. I’d highlighted them and made notes in the margins.

But the well-worn copies on my bookshelf didn’t seem to help. Sometimes the most worthy book suggestions even seemed to hurt our family.

What Therapists Want Parents to Do

Parents and Therapists must work together to help their traumatized children.

–by Susan Ward, LPC Note from the blog manager: this is the promised and long-overdue follow-up to Susan’s popular post, What Therapists Want Parents to Know. Thank you to both Susan and our readers for your patience!   As the parent of a child with trauma and attachment issues, I understand first-hand how overwhelming your life […]

What Therapists Want Parents to Know

What Therapists Want Parents to Know

–by Susan M. Ward, LPC In April, ATN blogger Lorraine Fuller wrote a powerful post about what she would like therapists to know. I, like many ATN readers, knew exactly what she meant. Not all therapists are equipped to handle the complex needs of families struggling with attachment disorders and trauma. But there are good […]