I smiled as I watched Allan, my 15 years old adopted son, sitting contentedly at the dining room table surrounded by art supplies. He was sketching a course where he could ride his BMX bike through the back woods. He talked excitedly about the steepness, he timidly pointed out the trees that...
Jeff and I have had another busy year and are thankful for the many opportunities we have had and the wonderful people we met. In June, we presented at the National Council on Adoption in Atlanta. https://www.adoptioncouncil.org/ Jeff gave the “two baby talk” which in reality has grown...
Welcome Our desire is to provide the tools for dedicated parents and professionals to facilitate the healing of traumatized children in a family setting. The Emotional Cognitive Trauma Model (ECTM), developed by Faye Hall and Jeff Merkert, utilizes a targeted set of evidence based psychological...
Jeff and I have been blessed this year with many training opportunities. These opportunities offered parents and professionals a deeper understanding of the impact of early trauma, healthier was to parent, more appropriate services with improved systems of care, and healing ways to interact with...
“The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice” Peggy O’Mara www.TheSilverPenn.com During a recent search on Pinterest, I stumbled over this quote causing me to stop and reflect on its’ implications for the families in our family based service. How do we talk to our children? What...
For the past few years Faye Hall, the mother of four children (including one who has reactive attachment disorder or RAD), has been diligently working to help adoptive parents heal children who suffer from RAD. Together with Jeffrey Merkert, a therapeutic support professional, she has co-authored...