by Cathy Tompkins, MA | Mar 17, 2022 | Thoughts for Families
Foster parents have a unique role in a foster child’s life. It is, by definition, a time limited relationship. Can love happen when the end is inevitable? Does the transient nature of a relationship imply anything about the quality of the commitment involved? I’d like...
by Cathy Tompkins, MA | Feb 14, 2022 | Thoughts for Families
I’m no expert in the field of neurology but I wrote my Master’s Thesis on Adolescence and spent many years of my career working with them and their parents as a therapist. There is an opportunity during this time to make a huge difference in the life of a young person...
by Cathy Tompkins, MA | Jan 12, 2022 | Thoughts for Families
One’s mental health is a fluid element of life. It includes our emotional well-being, our social relationships and our inner life, our sense of self. We come into the world with a brain more or less ready for the world then our experiences, both prenatal and upon...
by Cathy Tompkins, MA | Dec 15, 2021 | Thoughts for Families, Uncategorized
I’m going to focus on a concept possibly unfamiliar but worth your attention. Dosing is a word used by Dr. Bruce Perry of the Neurosequential Model to describe the role a caregiver has in controlling how much stress children with chronic trauma histories can...
by Cathy Tompkins, MA | Nov 11, 2021 | Thoughts for Families
I should apologize now. This feels more like a term paper than a blog but in my effort to be as clear as possible, it just became more and more academic sounding. I will try to wrap up in simpler language by the end! Last week in a support group, something was said...
by Cathy Tompkins, MA | Oct 11, 2021 | Thoughts for Families
I used to explain way too much by referring to hypervigilance. These days, I’ve come to understand better the variety of factors that can cause the meltdowns we see in our kids from hard places. I want to briefly explore: the intimacy barrier, sensory overload, will...
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