TBRI Tip #17: Review and Catch Up
Today’s TBRI Tips will take a pause on new information and discuss where we’ve been since our last review. This is a time to catch up and consider new techniques that previously weren’t relevant. Or we maybe we’re ready to pivot from what we’ve already implemented and add in something new. I encourage you to use this however meets your needs most now.
TBRI Tips since our last Review:
9 Infant and Adult Attachment Styles
10 Rituals
11 Sensory Needs
12 Proactive Strategies
13 Check in
14 Connection
15 Connection Part 2
16 Physiological Strategies
What do all these TBRI Tips have in common? Like with our previous review, each of the concepts we’ve covered are foundational in helping your child heal from trauma. As we come to understand our kids and their needs more, we can begin to shift the chemicals that lead to feeling fearful to the chemicals that lead to feeling safe. The cornerstone of TBRI is felt safety and for our kids to feel safe they need to feel it at a gut level. It’s not about knowing you’re safe, it’s about feeling safe inside. TBRI Empowering Principles utilize Strategies that help a child optimize the way they feel by adjusting what’s happening inside and outside of them. These are called Physiological Strategies (Tip #16) and include Sensory Needs (Tip #11). Both of these are ways to observe and optimize the internal environment of your child. There is also Ecological Strategies which help to change things in their external environment that help them to feel safe. These would include the Proactive Strategies (Tip #12) and Rituals (Tip #10). Incorporating these into your day can help to make a trauma-informed environment.
Understanding our Attachment Style (Tip #9) helps us see where our particular style of parenting came from. TBRI Connecting Principles (Tip #14) reminds us that without being honest about our past and letting it go, we can be the barriers to connection with our child. As we work towards the second part of Connection (Tip #15) with our child we can use the 5 Engagement Strategies to guide us. Finally, utilizing Check-in (Tip #13) questions is great way to connect with your child in an easy, fun way. For further, in-depth information go to www.child.tcu.edu.