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New Year's Transitions and The Art of Emotion Coaching
By Tracey Ward, CGE
As 2009 draws to an end, the frenzy
of New Year’s resolutions fast approach. With the post-winter break hustle of
school busses, bedtimes, and homework quickly working their way back into our
schedules, it can be difficult to follow through with that new exercise regimen
or the weekly family game night. The New Year marks a great time to implement a
fresh transition for parents and children as the second half of the school year
gets underway, so how about getting the whole family involved in a New Year’s
resolution that will last! How about a resolution of improved emotion coaching
at home? Whatever stage of development a child is approaching this January, it
is important that CGEs are up-to-date on the latest emotion coaching research
to provide parents with a great start to 2010. Continue reading this article on the BBH Website...
A Spotlight on The Research of CGE, Dr. Itziar Luzarraga Monasterio!
By Emily Nackley, BBH Program Coordinator
One
of the really neat aspects of seeing individuals become Certified
Gottman Educators is hearing about why they have chosen to do so. Our
CGEs have reported a variety of very purposeful reasons for becoming
CGEs that pertain to both their personal and professional lives. We’d
like to share with you the story of how one of our CGEs decided to join
the BBH family and how she’s contributed to our knowledge regarding the
transition to parenthood through the research she has done at the
Relationship Research Institute.
 The Bringing
Baby Home program would like to highlight CGE Dr. Itziar Luzarraga
Monasterio. Itziar came all the way from Bilbao, Spain in 2005 to
become a Certified Gottman Educator. Itziar came to the U.S. as a
visiting scholar from the University of Deusto in Spain’s Basque
Country. While Itizar was here, she completed her dissertation at the
Relationship Research Institute under the direction of Dr. John
Gottman. The results of Itziar’s dissertation are directly relevant to
CGEs who work with families undergoing the transition to parenthood
, so we want to take some time to share them with you. Continue reading this article on the BBH Website...
(Photo, from left to right: Dr. Itziar Luzarraga Monasterio, Renay Cleary-Bradley (RRI & BBH Director), Urko, and Dr. Daniel Yoshimoto (previous RRI Director)
A BBH Workshop Focused on Adoption
In
the fall, two of our CGEs in the Seattle region, Cindy Bouchard and
Katie Stallman, put on a BBH workshop for parents who have adopted or
plan on adopting a child. We asked them about their experience
presenting the BBH workshop with the focus of adoption. Here is some of
their feedback:
- Bringing Baby Home is applicable to ALL families, no matter how or when the baby enters their family.
- The
families genuinely appreciate the space to focus on their own
relationships. They also very much appreciate the information on
communicating and playing with baby.
- So
much of the adoption process involves focusing on the process of
adoption-which agency to choose, the cost, the wait, and the homestudy
process. It is easy for adoptive families to get lost in all of those
logistics.
- The
Bringing Baby Home program helped these families hone in on what the
process really is about-the baby and creating a supportive and loving
relationship to welcome and raise that baby.
- In
our workshop in particular, the families wanted to discuss open
adoption relationships and communication with birth families.
- We also found our participants really wanted to build community with one another.
- The "Honoring Mothers and Fathers" section was a huge hit.
- The
parents were all so eager to share their experiences with one another.
Several of the families have become friends as a result of their
participation.
We thank Cindy and Katie for
providing us with a glimpse into their workshop. It sounds like the
parents who attended the workshop went away with some additional tools
in their parenting toolbelt and made a few more friends!
The Bringing Baby Home team is interested in hearing the highlights
from the BBHworkshops you are providing around the country and around
the world. If you have an item of note to share from your experience
putting on a workshop, please email emilyd@rrinstitute.com
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