Creating a Loving Home as Foster Care Providers
See Beyond Behavior
Erin and his wife Lisa found themselves contemplating a life-changing decision. In this episode, Erin dives into their journey in becoming foster parents to two young children at a time in their lives they were finding a sense of normalcy within supporting a child with Williams Syndrome - a syndrome impacting both physical health and developmental aspects - as well as the challenges that come with becoming a new parent.
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Meeting Basic Human Needs: COVID-19
See Beyond Behavior
Jessica Swain-Bradway is the executive director for NWPBIS (North West Positive Behavior Intervention Supports) and has a great deal to offer in the way of meeting basic needs at a time it is most critical. Jessica and Torri dive into a conversation about how to best support ourselves and one another during these unprecedented times. We also talk about the importance of relationship and connection between school supports and home.
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End the Stigma: Autism and Cannabis
See Beyond Behavior
Torri interviews Rhonda Moeller, co-founder of the nonprofit organization WPA4A (Whole Plant Access for Autism). WPA4A is focused on educating families and medical cannabis industry professionals about the science behind & benefits of cannabis for autism. WPA4A has grown to be an amazing support group, giving a place for families to share access to information and connect on just about anything autism-related. Cannabis as medicine has the potential to raise the quality of life for everyone involved.
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Inclusion Practices: Building Community
See Beyond Behavior
Torri interviews Jason Hobson, the Director of Student Services in Estacada, about his work & perspective around inclusion and creating a sense of community for families who often experience isolation. They discuss inclusion practices that Jason's district have implemented, and how this can increase the level of community collaboration involved in educational systems. It is through conversation that we can bring more awareness. Questions or comments? Contact Torri by email at [email protected] or via LinkedIn
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A Chat with the Founders of BEHCA
See Beyond Behavior
Learn more about the founders of BEHCA, Torri Wright & Michael Krol, as they talk about the development of BEHCA. This process opened their eyes to learning more about each other's worlds and fascinating discoveries of human behavior.
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Shifting Perspectives on Poverty and Behavior
See Beyond Behavior
What are the links between generational poverty and human behavior? Throughout her career, Dr. Donna Beegle has worked hard to shift perspectives around poverty; urging everyone to look beyond the surface and understand there is a culture, system structures, and common variables, creating recurring barriers that keep people from pulling themselves out of poverty.
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Coming to Terms: Advocacy
See Beyond Behavior
In this episode, Torri covers Advocacy; the ins-and-outs of what it can look like for both parents and professionals to connect to services, gain school supports, seek community awareness and engagement, and feel an overall sense of belonging. Being an advocate is more than fighting for “justice”; it is about supporting caregivers at different stages of their journey--providing resources or simply being part of their tribe or community of support. #SeeBeyondBehavior
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Accessing DD Services
See Beyond Behavior
Host Torri Wright speaks with Toi Gibson to get an insider's view on accessing social services & supports for your child with a diagnosed intellectual or developmental disability.
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Neurodiversity in the Workplace
See Beyond Behavior
Neurodiversity exists everywhere--even at work. In fact, toxic office environments can manifest when people don’t recognize their staff, fellow colleagues, outside partners, etc. may be wired to think or act differently than they do. On this episode, host Torri Wright speaks with Lori Eberly, LCSW, executive coach, author, and owner of Radius ECD to explore neurodiversity in the workplace, and how it can impact both relationships and quality-of-life. Learn more about Lori's work at https://radiusecd.com
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Coming to Terms: Neurodiversity
See Beyond Behavior
Coming to Terms are shorter bonus episodes to help define and demystify the unique language of the behavior space.
info_outlineComing to Terms are shorter bonus episodes in the See Beyond Behavior podcast series. In the behavior space, we often use unique terms, acronyms, and jargon. For many people, these may be unfamiliar or even misunderstood. So with that in mind, we hope to use our podcast to help define and demystify this language, so we are all on the same page and you are prepared for future conversations (and episodes).
Here Torri dives into Co-Regulation; a term that came up recently in our conversation with Dr. Henson, discussing trauma-informed care (episode 2). Here’s a bit of background on co-regulation, so you will have a better idea of what it looks like and why it’s important to always keep in mind.
One way to define co-regulation, is as the conscious shifting of one's’ own physical & emotional response in order to support another person who has become dysregulated (e.g., not in control of their emotions or body).
What co-regulation might look like:
- Reflection of one's energy or calmness, rather than a lack thereof, and how others are responding to you.
- Being aware and mindful of physiological responses within the body and consciously shifting them. eg. increased heart-rate; incorporate deep breathing to slow heart-rate and anxiety.
- Awareness of the tone of voice (use of words or sounds) and body language (arms crossed, standing over, stern look on face), as these are all non-verbal cues a person who is dysregulated can pick up on.
- Understanding the person who is dysregulated may not have the skills or ability to redirect themselves or incorporate calming techniques, therefore as the adult/person supporting, we must calm our own energy/presence as much as possible, helping the other person have a safe space to work through their process without an exchanged (reactive/intense) interaction with another person.
Why co-regulation is important:
- What is our responsibility to the exchanges and interactions?
- Are we adding to the increased or prolonged dysregulation with how we are responding/reacting?
- What can we control and what is our plan when we have been triggered ourselves, to stay in a calm place?
- How can “we” support or be a positive, calming presence for those who struggle with dysregulation?
- When another person is there, not involved or wrapped up in the unraveling events, there is grounded energy that person can feel (biochemical) and will eventually connect to that, to help them begin to calm their body as well.
- The more we can see the dysregulation is not about a conscious desire to create chaos or dysfunction, rather a neurological process that is automatically happening, the better we are able to not get attached and do our job in being a calm presence.
Co-regulation will likely come up again in future episodes, and we may also say things like; reflective, self-aware, personal check-in, how grounded is your energy, or other adults supporting someone who may be dysregulated.
Are there other behavior terms that would be helpful to cover on the podcast? Send your ideas to [email protected] or on our Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/behca_app
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