"When parents learn a new way to respond to their kids and can address the fear beneath the behaviors,
the children heal, their brains heal," said Denise Combs, a licensed marriage and family therapist who has taught the workshops for agencies in Calaveras County. "That's the exciting stuff. A lot of times, parents have felt hopeless."
Demand for the training has grown to the point where Calaveras County Behavioral Health is bringing one of the nation's top experts on trauma and child development, Dr. Bruce D. Perry, to present a day-long workshop. And even before news of his presentation won widespread media attention, most of the 180 available seats in the San Andreas Town Hall on Feb. 21 are already taken.
"I had heard Dr. Perry speak and I had funding, an opportunity to do something for the community at large," said Joyce Peek of First 5 Calaveras, one of the agencies that has offered brain- trauma training. "So I wanted to open up more access to this information and bring Dr. Perry here."
Although the workshops have been promoted to foster parents, educators working with at-risk youths, adoptive parents, and grandparents raising grandchildren, the information is valuable for anyone caring for a child whose development has been impacted by trauma.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140120/A_NEWS/401200306
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