Empowered to Connect Podcast

Long time friend of the program Mona Delahooke is a Pediatric Psychologist and the author of her NEW book Brain-Body Parenting as well as the groundbreaking  Beyond Behaviors and several other books. If you've ever read Beyond Behaviors, you know how brilliant she is! Mona joins us today to talk about the Brain - Body - Behavior connection and why it is absolutely essential for parents and caregiv...

Today, we go back to an episode from Season 1 of the show that can be particularly helpful in the throes of Spring parenting. Lets face it…sometimes our kids' behavior is perplexing .  We have no idea why they are doing what they are doing. We have no idea how to make them stop and w e can walk away feeling confused, defeated and even like a failure. We have behavioral expectations and i f we're n...

We've talked for weeks now on the show about how Trauma Informed Care and a Trauma Informed Approach is changing systems and societies across the globe. Today, we return to where it all started for us - Trauma Informed Parenting. We asked Mo and Tona Ottinger to share their story of moving from traditional parenting to a Trauma Informed Approach and what they shared will blow you away. Spoiler ale...

One of the toughest things to do in the midst of running a youth outreach program is to change course - especially when it means re-training everyone involved. Despite the intense level of difficulty, however, Philip Walkley and Ally Velderman of Service Over Self in Memphis, TN knew they needed to make a change. They weren't equipped to walk with the kids they were working with through life. Hear...

Our guest today works with an incredible organization leading the charge to end human trafficking and care for survivors of it. Coasy Hale is the Director of Survivor Services at Restore Corps - a non-profit organization in Memphis, TN doing everything from working to introduce new legislation to therapeutically receiving survivors into care to begin the road to recovery. We talked with Coasy abou...

We continue our conversation about trauma informed systems today with a look at children's ministry. Mo Ottinger and Paula Powell served together on staff at a church for years and we asked them to tell the story of transforming the child care system at their church into a trauma informed environment where every child could feel safe. You won't want to miss this episode - listen for practical appl...

How do educational systems change? How can educators, administrators and parents/caregivers partner together to help meet the unique needs of every child in school? We've asked Becca McKay, long time school social worker and Dean to come help us begin to unpack some big picture and practical ways to start the trauma informed journey in your school.   Tune in to hear some practical advice for anyon...

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...

Mo & Tona Ottinger join JD to talk about the huge shock we all felt as new parents learning that attachment is a two way street, not a finite 'start and finish' interaction. Why do our own histories and patterns of attachment matter in parenting children? How does that affect our kids and their attachment patterns and styles and what if it's too late to form a strong attachment with my child??...

We're beginning a brand new series on building attachment and as we prepared for the series with our team we just couldn't think of a better way to lay the foundation of understanding than to throw it back to one of our favorite episodes with Dr. Jamie DeLuna from the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD) at TCU.   In today's episode, one of the best researchers in her field, Dr. Jam...

In case you've missed the exciting news, one of our favorite authors on planet Earth, Mona Delahooke, has a new book that comes out NEXT WEEK (March 15th, 2022)! Mona joined us to tell us all about the new book and walk us through what she calls the 'bottom-up' approach to understanding the nervous system-brain connection. We talk about behaviors as indicators of needs being expressed and how when...

We step back from our earlier series today for a conversation with a young mom we've admired from a distance for a while now! Lisa Jean-Francois, better known to 61,000+ Instagram followers as @lisaalamode joins us today to tell the story of her journey from experiencing trauma as a child to now parenting her kids based on knowledge of connection and attachment, something she often refers to as "g...

Let's talk about lying. It's time. Every time we mention lying there are exponentially more shares of content, comments, questions, dm's - all of it - so it's time to talk about it! And who better for us to talk about it with than our good friend Robyn Gobbel??   Robyn joins us to talk about ALL OF IT - why do our kids (and you and I, let's be honest) lie, how do we deal with it, what are we missi...

The Fawn Response! The least known of all the stress responses! We relied on the work of Pete Walker from his incredible book: PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving  as we crafted this episode. Stela Sinanaj, Clinical Therapist from the Memphis Family Connection Center and Becca McKay, Program Director of the ETC Institute join us to explain the ins and outs of the fawn response as well as how to bette...

I'm OUT and you can't thaw me - the Freeze Response is one of the toughest to handle as a parent, friend or caregiver. It can disguise itself in lots of ways, but don't worry, we're here to help! Expressive Arts Therapist Jill Stockberger and ETC Staffer Becca McKay join us to discuss how we can support ourselves and those we love when they freeze

The Stress Responses - you know - Fight, Flight and Freeze...well, you may be surprised to learn that there are actually 4 stress responses ("Fawn" is the fourth - don't worry, we'll cover it in great detail in a few weeks). We'll look at how you can support both yourself and those you love IN those responses! Today, we dive into the "Flight" Response. Those who experience a flight stress response...

The Stress Responses - chances are, you've heard of them - Fight, Flight and Freeze...well, you may be surprised to learn that there are actually 4 stress responses ("Fawn" is the fourth - don't worry, we'll cover it in great detail in a few weeks) and we are taking the next several weeks to do deep dives into each of them! We'll look at how you can support both yourself and those you love IN thos...

Today, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day, we felt it would be appropriate to bring back one of our favorite episodes, our episode with Dr. Charles McKinney from Season One. How did we get here? College Professor, Author and Civil Rights Historian Dr. Charles McKinney joins us to discuss the history of the civil rights struggle in America, being a black parent in 2020 and advice for transra...

One of the most highly commented on episodes of the year featured a guest we admire greatly. That person is therapist, speaker, teacher, advocate and so much more - Cam Lee Small. We've long admired his work on social media (@TherapyRedeemed on Instagram) and after meeting him for this conversation our respect and admiration of him has skyrocketed. Cam takes us into the world of mental health and...

Happy New Year! We're so excited to bring you one of our favorite episodes of 2021 with one of our favorite humans on earth, Daren Jones! Daren works with the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD) at TCU and is passionate about seeing the systems that are INTENDED to keep our children safe - actually do so. For YEARS now, he's worked in, on and around systems that care for/protect so...

We spend a lot of time on this show talking about examining self - looking at adult attachment styles, considering how to offer ourselves as co-regulators 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! Earlier this year, we asked Larissa Gregory to come join us to explain. Larissa...

Ah the sights and sounds of the holidays! Blaring music everywhere, lights and red stuff all around us - for people with heightened sensory systems, this time of year can be a lot. That's why we wanted to replay one of our favorite episodes of this past year - our episode with Occupational Therapist Mistie Hanks walking us through the body's sensory systems.  Mistie joins us as we take a deeper di...

In case you didn't know, for nearly all of us reading this, the holiday season is in full swing. For those of you who feel the fearful holiday twitch coming on, don't worry - we're here to help you out! Mo and Tona Ottinger join us today to talk about the imporance of making memories and the role the brain and our sensory systems have to play in that process. It is a fascinating conversation and o...

With Thanksgiving behind us, we're officially in full 'Holiday Season' mode. For some of us, it's the most wonderful time of the year - for others, it's very much not. The Holidays can be hard, especially if you throw kids (not to mention this pesky global pandemic) into the dynamic. As we prepare for a month of gatherings, get togethers and family traditions, we thought it'd be wise to share this...

This Thanksgiving week, we wanted to recognize that sometimes grief gets in the way of gratitude - it comes uninvited into our lives all the time and we need to know how to walk through it when it comes.   Therapist Rocky Anthony discusses what grief is and how we begin to process it in our personal lives, relationships and with kids - Rocky lays out the big picture and some beautifully practical...