Parents, Clinicians and Educators Draw “The Big Picture” of Children’s Developmental and Mental Health, Together!
Recently a client called me from her car to relate two miracles her daughter achieved on the ride home from our session together. First, her daughter patiently waited for her mother to finish a 15 minute telephone conversation. Then, after my client rewarded her helpful daughter with lunch from Chick-fil-A (a favorite!), the daughter rewarded her mother with an even greater miracle. She, for the first time in her relatively short life, shared her food (specifically her fries). My client’s sobs of joy profoundly moved me as unmistakable acknowledgment of the monumental strides she and her daughter had made over the passing months.
Parents of children with special needs or other behavioral health issues pray to experience the kinds of small miracles that lead to big changes in overall functioning that my client and her child experienced together. Normally these parents must navigate the health care system alone and somehow divine how to piece together a patchwork of care for their child.
If you can relate to my client’s story or are interested in learning of a powerfully innovative new framework for addressing behavioral issues from infancy to adulthood you must attend Collier Childcare Resources’ (“CCCR”) upcoming Third Annual Early Childhood Conference Get the Big Picture: Mental Health, Early Intervention and Treating the Whole Child, March 27, 2010 from 8am-to-5pm at NCH’s Downtown Campus — Telford Conference Center. (Download Conference Brochure and/or Conference Registration Form)
The conference will explore a framework for dealing with mental health and behavioral issues that calls upon all the health care providers … OTs, PTs, counselors, pediatricians, teachers, speech pathologists, neurologists … to consult with each other, to put their heads together to think about your child and strategize WITH YOU about the best course of action to address your child’s and your family’s needs as you care for your child.
Author, educator and therapist Connie Lillas, PhD, MFT, RN, the visionary co-creator of the Neurorelational Framework (“NRF”) will be the featured presenter at this year’s conference. Dr. Lillas will demonstrate what is possible when parents, health care professionals and educators work within a common framework that enables them to work together to support a child special needs or mental health challenges to develop his or her full potential.
Dr. Lillas’ book Infant/Child Mental Health, Early Intervention, and Relationship-Based Therapies: A Neurorelational Framework for Interdisciplinary Practice is recommended reading for professionals by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, M.D..
The NRF is a framework to help health care professionals and educators work together and work with you, a framework informed by neuroscience principals, social-emotional developmental milestones and the nitty-gritty of real relationships. The NRF empowers parents with a map of the “big picture” of what is going on with their child in his or her brain and how this plays out in the world of relationships, stimulations and demands.
Dr. Allen S. Weiss, M.D., President and CEO, NCH Healthcare Systems says this year’s conference is “[v]itally important information for caregivers of children with developmental and behavioral issues.”
The NRF is the cutting edge in the field of infant mental health. It is a vision of comprehensive collaborative care for children’s developmental and behavioral health. It is a vision that does not belong to one clinic or provider but to a “clinic without walls” that includes the authority of parents as a main feature. It is an inherently sensible vision that finally and fully utilizes those who are among the most educated in the field of children’s developmental and behavioral health, the parents of special needs children and children with mental health issues.
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