Workshops

All Workshops

A Child’s Song is pleased to offer workshops for many audiences.

If your agency, school, or community group would like to book a workshop with one of our presenters please reach out to the office through our Contact Us page and let us know who your audience is, what content you are hoping for and when you would like to host a workshop.

Brain Architecture Game

A Child's Song is pleased to offer this unique, hands on and experience for anyone supporting children and youth with early trauma.

Workshops for Professionals

‘Please Move These Kids’: Responding to Foster Caregiver Crisis

Every social worker dreads the call from a caregiver in what appeared to be a stable placement indicating that they are in crisis. At this point foster parents are often indicating that they don’t know how to manage the child’s behaviour or are insistent the child be moved immediately. Managing this call with confidence and […]

‘When Kids Don’t Have the Words’: Responding to Preverbal Trauma in Older Children

Children who experienced preverbal trauma and loss (ages of 0-3) carry these memories with them long after they find safety and security in permanent homes. Preverbal trauma is stored in the body and is easily triggered through senses like vision, touch, taste, smell as well as the auditory and motor systems. This workshop will provide […]

Assessing the Child for Best Outcomes in Matching and Transitioning

This workshop was designed to provide social workers with practical instruction on how to assess children prior to considering a permanency placement as well as throughout the transition process. Participants will learn how to identify key aspects of child development and current functioning to be considered when determining the best fit between child and caregivers. […]

Big Feelings, Little Bodies: Understanding Grief and Loss for Infants and Toddlers

Grief and loss for infants and toddlers is a lot like big feelings in little bodies that have limited options for expression. Children who experience loss during preverbal stages of development grieve deeply even though they are unable to talk about their experiences. We see this grief in the way they behave, the way they […]

Birth Family Contact in the Adoption Process

Assessing and planning for long term birth family relationships is an important aspect of creating successful permanency plans for children. This workshop will discuss the role that birth family relationships can play in the adoption process and how to factor in birth family contact throughout the matching, transition and post placement stages of adoption. Participants […]

Crisis of Adoption Breakdown: Critical Needs of the Child in a Transition-Out Plan

When all resource and support options have been exhausted, and extenuating circumstances are leading to a placement breakdown, it is important for social workers to have a process they can follow that will allow them to support all parties. It is critical that a child’s grief is adequately acknowledged and that experiences of closure are […]

Discipline Strategies for Children with Trauma Histories: Why is it so different?

This workshop explores the implications of a child’s early history, and how it offers insight into what children need in order to build secure relationships with caregivers. The presenter will discuss some of the common behaviour concerns frequently exhibited by children in care, and the trauma informed/attachment-based responses that have proven effective.  Participants will better […]

Emotional Experience of the Foster Parent

It is crucial that foster parents understand and know how to process their own grief around loss when children come and go from their care. Their experiences often mirror the experience of the child who feels a loss of control and a loss of familiar relationships. This workshop looks specifically at the difficult emotional experiences […]

Exceptional Parenting: Caring For Traumatized Children

If you are a parent through adoption, fostering, or raising a relative – you know that a high level of care giving is required to meet the needs of your child. All children who have been abused, neglected, witnessed violence or had multiple caregivers have experienced some degree of trauma. These experiences can interfere with […]

Managing Crisis Post-Placement: Recognizing Warning Signs and Responding Effectively

Crisis in a family, post-placement, can at times build slowly, with awareness of the increasing tension, while other times, can appear with what seems to be no warning signs at all. It is important to assess new formed families for indicators that the placement is in trouble and to continue reinforcing conversations about permanency. Understanding […]

Overview of Parent-Child Therapies and Adoption Specific Services for Adoptive Families

A Child’s Song provides a variety of services that are specifically tailored to meet the needs of all members of adoptive and foster families. We offer education, consultation and therapeutic services for adoptive families and professionals caring for adoptees or adoptive parents. As a therapeutic team, we believe that parents are the key to the […]

Preparing Foster Families for Transitions

In planning for post-adoption visits, consideration needs to be given to the child’s social and emotional development and previous attachment experiences. This workshop explores what we know, through both research and clinical experience, about the way children transition between caregivers, how they process grief and loss and what eases the pain of these changes. Practical […]

Preparing Older Children for Adoption (4-11)

This workshop will explore the uneven development of children who have experienced early loss and trauma and how this impacts preparation for adoption. Talking to children about adoption requires a level of attunement to their complex experiences. Participants will learn how to offer clear, direct and compassionate explanations the help children to form connections between […]

Responding to Eating Difficulties in Children with Early Trauma and Relational Losses

This workshop will address common concerns for children whose early experiences included food deprivation or food scarcity. Participants will understand how to look at the relationship between current feeding challenges and how they relate to safety, attachment and relational security. Attachment based strategies for responding to difficult eating and feeding behaviors will be presented and […]

Responding to Sleep Difficulties in Children with Early Trauma and Relational Losses

This workshop will demonstrate relationships between early trauma, implicit memories, and sleep issues. Environmental adaptation in early brain development prepares children for the perceived risks involved with sleep resulting in behavioural patterns that are hard to shift. Participants will learn how to intervene with trauma informed, attachment based interventions when children persist in maladaptive sleep […]

Settling the Alarm System through Play and Sensory Strategies

Children with early histories of trauma and attachment disruptions are chronically dysregulated and this makes them difficult to parent. Foster parents need strategies that will calm the nervous system of the child and make it possible to build trust and connection. This workshop looks at the use of play and sensory interventions that help to […]

Special Considerations in Matching:  Race, Culture, Religion, and Family Composition

Matching, in adoption and permanency planning, requires a depth of understanding how race, culture, religion and family composition factors impact not only the child, but the whole adoptive family, post-placement. This workshop will explore some of the tough questions about how race matters, as well as how religious or cultural beliefs should influence matches. We […]

Transitioning Babies Toddlers in Foster Care and Adoption (0-3)

Given what we know about how babies and toddlers experience big losses, particularly the loss of a primary caregiver, our transition practices need to reflect this understanding. Practical information about best practices for this age group will be discussed. The Guiding Principles of Transitioning will be applied specifically to planning transitions for babies and toddlers […]

Transitioning Children from Foster Care to Adoption: Best Practices

Transitioning a child from foster care to adoption is a complex process with significant implications for the future development of the new parent-child relationships. Planning transitions based on current “best practice” can be slow, confusing and at times discouraging for those involved. Participants will receive new information that will assist them in understanding the needs […]

Transitioning Children from Foster Care to Adoption: Role of a Foster Parent

Transitioning a child from foster care to adoption is a complex process with significant implications on the future development of the parent-child relationship. Supporting transitions for children in your care can be a confusing, and at times, discouraging process for caregivers. The purpose of this presentation is to explore the needs of children transitioning from […]

Trauma Informed Matching In Adoption: Strategies for Assessment

Understanding the implications of how an adoptive parents’ historical trauma will interact with a child’s early experiences is crucial in successful matching. New research on the impact of trauma on brain development, and subsequent relationship dynamics, can offer insight into the more subtle factors that are difficult to identify and assess in the matching process. […]

Understanding and Advocating for the School Needs of Children With Trauma and Relational Losses

Children who have experienced early trauma and caregiver losses often encounter difficulties in their school environment.  Multiple factors contribute to children feeling emotionally unsafe, and unable to tolerate the feelings of shame, and lack of competence, that they encounter in this setting. This workshop will assist professionals in assessing whether a child is able to […]

Understanding and Managing Difficult Behaviors: Strategies for Temporary Caregivers

Managing difficult behaviors is one of the greatest challenges for foster parents. Many children in care have received harsh and abusive treatment from someone that was meant to keep them safe, and subsequently, have difficulty trusting caregivers. The behaviors they exhibit developed in response to their previous environments and are therefore quite adaptive in nature. […]

Understanding the Complexity of Birth Family Relationships

Many children in foster care have the opportunity to remain connected to members of their biological family, and we know that these relationships are so very important to the child’s sense of identity and wellbeing. Navigating the specifics of visitation with birth family can be very stressful for both professionals and caregivers. This workshop explores […]

Understanding the Complexity of Birth Family Relationships

Many children in foster care have the opportunity to remain connected to members of their biological family, and we know that these relationships are so very important to the child’s sense of identity and wellbeing. Navigating the specifics of visitation with birth family can be very stressful for caregivers and decision makers. The needs of […]

Understanding Trauma and the Brain with the Experiential Brain Architecture Game

This workshop is an experiential activity that builds understanding of the powerful role of experiences on early brain development—what promotes it, what derails it, with what consequences for society. The goal is to build a brain that is as tall as possible, which represents functionality, and as sturdy as possible, which represents the ability to […]

When Social Workers Experience Trauma: Impact of Complex Decision Making

The impact of working with the complexity of human relationships can be heavy, intense and traumatic, leaving social workers feeling at a loss for control or numb to their experience. Left unprocessed, the social worker’s trauma is often mistaken for burnout which leaves the underlying root unresolved. This workshop will provide social workers with a […]

For Adoptive and Permanent Families

Attachment Basics for Adoptive Families

This workshop offers essential information for adoptive parents, and their extended family, about how attachment forms in adoption, and the key points of connection, that will ensure attachment security between parents and children. Workshop topics include: the difference between secure and insecure attachment, the impact of early attachment experiences and navigating the existing relationships your […]

Birth Family Relationships: Navigating the Complexities with Courage and Compassion

This workshop is for prospective adoptive parents who are considering openness, adoptive parents who anticipate open relationships in the future, and those who are currently in relationships with their child’s birth family. A child’s knowledge and understanding of those with whom they share biology undoubtedly plays a role in shaping who they become. Adoptive parents […]

Brothers and Sisters in Permanency: Attachment Strategies for Parenting Siblings

Sibling relationships are the longest relationships in our lives and play a significant role in forming our future relationship templates. Whether siblings are joined together through adoption and/or birth or step parenting – each child will have unique needs specific to their early experiences. Knowing how to prioritize, and meet the unique needs of more […]

Discipline Strategies for Adoptive Parenting: Why is it so different?

Making decisions about effective discipline is often confusing for adoptive parents. While it is clear that there are differences in how we need to respond to children with trauma histories, it is often not so clear exactly how to do that.​ This workshop explores the implications of a child’s early history, and how it offers […]

Exceptional Parenting for Adoptive Families

Whether you are a parent/caregiver through adoption, fostering or raising the child of a relative, you already know that a high level of care giving is required to meet the needs of your child. Children who have been abused, neglected, witnessed violence or have had multiple caregivers have experienced some degree of developmental trauma. These […]

Healthy Transitions for Adoptive Families

If you’re a prospective adoptive parent looking for practical strategies to ensure a successful transition for your whole family – this workshop is for you. The focus of this workshop will be on families (local or international adoption) who are soon to be in transition – you have received a proposal for a child or sibling […]

Hurt Kids, Hurting Parents

Parenting a child who has experienced early trauma can be confusing, and often, very challenging. Parents may find themselves feeling manipulated, rejected or victimized by their child’s behavior and questioning their ability to respond effectively. When parents are triggered by their child’s behavior, they often find themselves responding in ways that are uncharacteristic – leaving […]

Making Sense of the Emotional Experience of Parenting Your Adopted Child

This workshop speaks to the unique emotional journey of adoptive parents. Research and clinical experience informs us that adoptive parents, particularly those parenting children with a history of abuse and trauma, have a unique set of emotional experiences. Adoption brings unique and powerful dynamics into the parent-child relationship. Parents often find themselves triggered by the […]

Parenting Adolescents: Enhancing the Attachment Relationship

Parenting adolescent adoptees has its own unique joys and challenges. This is a crucial stage of development for maintaining a strong parent-child connection. Whether your child was an infant or an older child at adoption, they will encounter struggles that are specific to their early history, and unique to the experience of adoptees. This workshop […]

Parenting an Anxious Child: Why It’s Different with Adoptees!

Research shows that adoptees are more vulnerable than the general population to anxiety and depression and yet often don’t receive the help they need. Parenting a child with anxiety can be a confusing and stressful experience. Often typical interventions don’t seem to work for adoptees and can even make things worse. In this workshop, parents […]

Raising Black Kids in Multiracial Families

This workshop offers practical information and strategies for parents who are navigating the complexities of being a multi-racial family in an interracial world. As adoptive parents, we are faced with the challenge of raising our black children in a society that forces them, and ourselves, to come face to face with what it means to […]

Therapeutic Play to Strengthen Parent-Child Connection

Early child therapists theorized that playing with a child, in a non-directive way, would encourage a secure relationship between the parent and child, while providing the child freedom and room to express him/herself. In the context of non-directive play, children are free to express their innermost thoughts and feelings. A child’s behavior and self-expression within […]

Understanding and Advocating for the Needs of Adoptees in School

Children who have experienced early trauma, and caregiver losses, often encounter difficulties in their school environment. Multiple factors contribute to children feeling emotionally unsafe, and unable to tolerate the feelings of shame, and lack of competence, that they encounter in this setting. It is important for adoptive parents, and the professionals that support adoptees, to […]

For Early Childhood Educators

Teaching the Hurt Child: Preschool

New research has demonstrated the impact that trauma and attachment has on behaviour, socialization and learning. This workshop was designed by a therapist specializing in early childhood trauma and attachment and a special education teacher. The combination of these two areas of specialization has led to a dynamic and practical workshop. Participants will leave with […]

The Power of Play: Relationships Between Play, Learning and Social Development

Research clearly indicates that children need opportunities to play, in many different ways, to facilitate crucial areas of brain development that will give them the necessary skills to succeed academically and socially. This workshop looks at the different types of play that are important for children’s development and how play impacts overall development. Parents and […]

Understanding and Supporting Toddlers with Anxiety

Children develop adaptive responses to manage their environment, and the way they feel about it. Often symptoms of anxiety become evident when children enter a childcare or preschool environment. The behaviors that result from their ‘big feelings’ can be difficult for caregivers to respond to effectively. This workshop reviews the symptoms of anxiety in young […]

For School Professionals

Managing Anxious Behaviors at School (K – Gr. 7)

Anxiety is the most common mental health concern for children and can leave adults feeling helpless to make things better for a child. This workshop is designed to provide educators with an understanding of what anxiety is all about and how it impacts a child’s overall development and specifically the way they learn.  Strategies to help […]

Teaching the Hurt Child: Educating Youth with Early Trauma and Attachment Disruptions (Gr. 8-12)

New research has demonstrated the impact trauma and attachment has on behaviour, socialization and learning. This workshop was designed by a therapist, specializing in childhood trauma and attachment, and a special education teacher, with expertise in working with the most difficult of school-based behaviours. The combination of these two areas of specialization has led to […]

Teaching the Hurt Child: Relationships between Trauma, Attachment and Learning (K-Gr.7)

New research has demonstrated the impact that trauma and attachment has on behaviour, socialization and learning. This workshop was designed by a therapist, specializing in early childhood trauma and attachment, and a special education teacher, with expertise in working with the most difficult of school-based behaviours. The combination of these two areas of specialization has […]

Understanding Adolescent Brain Development: Impact on Learning

This workshop is a great opportunity to go deeper into the adolescent brain, and is a great follow up to the information presented in ‘Teaching the Hurt Child’. Participants will hear about new insights into the adolescent’s brain development that impact their decision making and learning. We take a look at the three top reasons […]

Understanding and Advocating for the Needs of Adoptees in School

Children who have experienced early trauma and caregiver losses, often encounter difficulties in their school environment. Multiple factors contribute to children feeling emotionally unsafe, and unable to tolerate the feelings of shame, and lack of competence, that they encounter in this setting. It is important for adoptive parents, and the professionals that support adoptees, to […]

Understanding and Responding to Racism in the Classroom (K – Gr. 7)

This workshop was developed for school staff to increase awareness and understanding of what racism looks like and how it impacts children at school (K-7). The curriculum is a combination of current research and the findings of our own interviews with families across the lower mainland whose children have experienced racism in their classrooms.  Important concepts […]
604-562-8308
Surrey
Victoria
Winnipeg
Mon-Sat 9am - 4pm
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