We Can Help

Now available, Specialized Consulting

We are excited to bring our combined 40+ years of mental health experience, including individual and family therapy, and hundreds of hours of specialized training to the consulting market.  We have created a unique healing approach to early trauma and attachment disruptions. This approach has been successful with some of the most difficult clients, including but not limited to parents with addictions, children from orphanages, and parents whose children are in foster care because of abuse and neglect. Please use the contact form, email, or phone to schedule space is limited.

Training

We offer specialized training to professionals and parents. Our twenty years of experience in early trauma combined with our successful views guarantees  both the needed theory and practical, healing interventions.

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Publications

Due to diverse audiences, we had the pleasure to create numerous supportive documents to reinforce ideas. Let us help you create concrete methods to reach your clients and/or family members.

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Support Groups

 With twenty + years of experience facilitating groups, we can offer either virtual and live groups to fit your audience. Sessions can be for training or to directly address current issues. Groups can be either short or long term.

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We make attachment and trauma research practical.

  • Identify origins of behaviors resulting from early trauma
  • Offer interventions that address these origins
  • Aid in designing a healing environment
  • Explore service options
  • Identify ways to engage: creative uses of games and props
  • Identify and guide in using assessment tools
  • Guide in parenting empowerment; resources and tools
  • Provide worksheets and forms to support treatment

Trauma training for Educators:

  • Linking early neglect and abuse and academic difficulties
  • Seeing the child through a trauma lens
  • Healing ways to intervene

30 Trauma training-Topics

  • Treatment options
  • Healing interventions
  • Team dynamics
  • Acquiring services
  • Negative working model
  • Types of trauma
  • Introduction to Reactive Attachment Disorder
  • Healthy sense of self
  • Parenting a traumatized child
  • Trauma and child development
  • Attachment activities
  • Improving communication
  • BHRS treatment planning
  • Top Ten Topics-therapeutic parenting
  • Measured goals-measured healing
  • Domestic violence: childhood trauma
  • In-home therapy
  • Food insecurities
  • Developing a support network
  • or we offer customized training to meet your needs!

Publications

Because millions of children experience early trauma and attachment disruptions, whether through death, physical or sexual abuse, domestic, community, or school violence, terrorism or other tragic losses, parents and professionals need not just vague theories but a proactive plan for healing relationship avoidant children.

A Book for Parents and Professionals

Healing Traumatized Children 

Authors Hall, Merkert and Biever have successfully merged mental health, trauma, and attachment, parenting and in-home treatment strategies into a single comprehensive resource for parents and professionals. The authors emphasize the importance of an in-home plan (where the healing must begin), outline how to effectively assemble a support network, provide the keys to the establishment of a therapeutic home environment, discuss psycho-education that identifies the six distinct Trauma Disrupted Competencies and provide multiple types of healing interventions.

Healing Traumatized Children confirms that without effective in-home intervention, many of these children will become involved in juvenile and adult justice systems and continue the intergenerational transmission of maladaptive relationships, abuse, and neglect. It is important to remember that these children will eventually become tomorrow’s parents.

Reviews

“Clear language and thorough explanations make this book widely accessible, especially for the adoptive and foster parents of traumatized children.”

View the full review at https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/healing-traumatized-children/

Awards

“Award-Winning Finalist in the “Parenting & Family” category of the 2015 USA Best Book Awards” -USA Book News

Children’s Book

 A Tale of Two Babies and Their Mommies: How babies learn how to handle fear

Clinical Goals: A Tale of Two Babies

  1. To give insight into the child’s early experiences
  2. To introduce the concept of an individual having “parts”
  3. To demonstrate how experiences are integrated into the self
  4. To reduce the child’s shame by identifying how the child learned to need control the environment
  5. To provide an experience of why/how the child did not develop trust in care giving adult
  6. To reduce blaming birth parents, as they have “hurts” that prevent consistent positive care giving
  7. To give understanding of the child’s view of being moved from one home to another
  8. To help the new family understand their child’s behaviors
  9. To demonstrate internalizing the parent
  10. To develop empathy for this child
  11. To help other children in the home reflect on their early relationships
  12. To help parents attune to their child’s emotional states and triggers
  13. To enforce the need for help from care givers and therapist
  14. To spur discussion about a child’s past
  15. To give hope for the future

An excerpt from: A Tale of Two Babies

First Mommy

One bright and sunny morning, a tiny baby was born. The loving mommy looked into her baby’s eyes and smiled, and promised to take care of her every need.

As all babies, this tiny child learned about herself from her mommy’s eyes, loving smiles, and tender touch, each coming straight from mommy’s heart. This mommy knew she could take good care of her baby and keep her safe from others who may hurt her. This mommy could see a bright future for herself and her baby.

Everyday, this tiny baby needed mommy’s love and care. With fright from noises-the baby feared danger.

Each time her mommy came, mommy shared the fear and helped the fear go away. This tiny child learned from her mommy’s eyes, loving smiles, and tender touch that she was precious, mommy could be trusted, and she was safe.

 

Second Mommy

One bright and sunny morning, a tiny baby was born. The mommy looked into her baby’s eyes and promised to take care of her every need.

As all babies, this tiny child learned about herself through her mommy’s eyes and touch, each coming straight from the heart. But, this mommy’s heart was hurt. Sometimes, she could not take good care of her baby. Sometimes, she did not stop others from hurting her baby. This mommy could not see a bright future for herself or her baby.

Everyday, this tiny baby needed mommy’s love and care.

With fright from noises, the baby feared danger.

This tiny child learned from her mommy’s hurt heart. Mommy did not always come to help baby. At times, mommy’s hurt heart kept her from being gentle with baby. Baby became more afraid-even afraid of mommy. Sometimes, strangers came and made baby more afraid. Baby’s fear seemed to grow and grow.

Support Groups

Meeting on the first Tuesday evenings of each month, this support group focuses on teaching and reviewing parenting skills necessary to maintain a therapeutic home environment designed to heal the hearts and minds of children and teens affected by early trauma.

More Info

Time & Date

First Tuesday of each month
6:30pm-8pm

Location

Community Bible Church
331 Anderson Ferry Rd
Marietta, PA

Cost

Cost: $10 per family unit
*Cash or check payable to JFS of Harrisburg