140. How to Teach Parents & Caregivers to Become External Regulators

In this episode, Lisa revisits the topic of parents and caregivers and discusses one of the most commonly asked questions that she is asked – how to support and offer parents and caregivers templates so they can regulate themselves and ultimately regulate with their child when their child is dysregulated.

Imagine being able to offer parents in the therapeutic journey co-regulatory moments to help repattern their nervous system and that supports them in being their child’s external regulator – It’s really so powerful!!

Here’s what you will learn in this episode:

How the parent/caregiver can show up in the therapy process in some form of dysregulation and what they need;
How to use the Synergetic Play Therapy concept of “The Set Up” or “Offering” to understand the parent at a deeper level;
Why it’s important to not dismiss the felt sense of what’s arising inside ourselves and how to connect with our own activation first before becoming the external regulator for the parent;
What it looks like to teach parents/caregivers to become external regulators including how to develop within them regulatory templates they can use when in relationship with their child;
Key things to recognize when working with parents/caregivers to create new templates and templates they may not have for regulation; and
Being able to support the parents/caregivers in shifting their perception of their child’s behavior in a way that allows for spaciousness and connection.

Join Lisa and consider this important question – Are we willing to do what we can to create new templates for parents and caregivers, and based on our therapeutic approach, how might we do that?

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