Session #3 – Healing the Traumatized Parent and Child with Evelyn Wotherspoon

Human infants have evolved to be exquisitely sensitive to non-verbal cues of fear such as facial expression, body language and tone of voice. Following up on the core story discussed in the first session, participants in this third session in the Children’s Mental Health Learning Series will learn about the biological mechanisms involved in the stress response system; how infants use the caregiver to regulate their response to threatening or frightening events and how trauma can be transmitted from the parent to the child. The presenters will explain how the infant body and brain respond to stress. Drawing on decades of frontline experience and current findings from the field of neurodevelopmental research, the presenters will use examples from the field to bridge the gap between science and practice. Participants will leave with specific strategies, resources, and evidence-based guidelines for working with high-risk young families.

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