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Empowered To Connect

@empoweredtoconnect

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Trauma-informed resources & training for parents and professionals 🤝
𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐄 | 𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐏 | 𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑
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Can you believe something with your whole mind and still struggle to trust it with your heart?

Our guest Melinda Cathey spent decades as a counselor and missionary before one idea changed how she worked with hurting kids and the adults who care for them: belief and trust are two different things. Belief lives in the head. Trust gets built through experience, one met need at a time.

In this conversation, we talk about faith. Melinda shares her Christian perspective as we walk through the attachment styles and how they can shape the way we see God, why caregivers often need to start with their own stories, and what it looks like to become a corrective experience for a child who has learned that people can't be trusted.

If you've ever wondered why trust comes so hard for some of us, this one is for you.

Comment PODCAST to listen to the full episode.

#AttachmentStyles #TraumaInformedParenting #Faith #FosterCare #Adoption taken in Memphis, Tennessee by @empoweredtoconnect

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21 hours ago

We had a great time connecting with all of you who were at CAFO last week!

If you’re interested in bringing ETC’s trauma-informed and attachment-focused training to your group or event, type TRAINING and we’ll send you more info!

#CAFO #adoption #fostercare #vulnerablechildren #conferences #traumainformed taken in Atlanta, Georgia by @empoweredtoconnect

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2 days ago

Posh spice behavior: the eye roll, the "you're so embarrassing," the sudden certainty that everything about you is uncool. If you're raising a teen or tween, you've probably been on the receiving end this week.

Pulling away and pushing back is a big part of how young people build an identity. Deciding "I'm not just like them" is the work, even when it stings.

We can make room for their own taste and opinions while still holding a loving limit around basic respect. Skip the angry lecture, share power where you can, and model what respectful conversation sounds like. Underneath the spice mask is someone trying to figure out who they are.

Save this post for the next eye roll, and share it with someone you love who’s raising a teen or tween.

#ParentingTeens #TeenParenting #ConnectedParenting #AdolescentDevelopment #ParentingTweens taken in Memphis, Tennessee by @empoweredtoconnect

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5 days ago

We're not going to pretend our kids' big, emotional moments don't scare us sometimes. Yelling, slamming doors, the sharp edge in their voice, it's okay to admit that's hard to be around.

That big emotional response is often a nervous system caught in a stress response rather than a kid trying to make life difficult. And a stressed kid can't just calm down because we ask them to, they need to borrow our calm first.

That's why responding thoughtfully, pausing, centering ourselves, then engaging, matters so much more than reacting in our own anger and stress. When we are able co-regulate with kids, we’ll end up seeing the child beneath the scary spice mask.

Save this post for the next big blowup, and share it with a friend who could use the reminder.

#TraumaInformedParenting #EmotionalRegulation #ConnectedParenting #FosterCare #ParentingTeens taken in Memphis, Tennessee by @empoweredtoconnect

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6 days ago

The kid who can't stop moving isn't trying to make your day harder. Climbing, crashing, jumping, and roughhousing can look like aggression or "too much energy," but a lot of the time it's a body seeking regulation.

Movement and sensory input (think climbing, jumping, deep pressure) are how some forms of sensory dysregulation find their way back to calm. When we take movement away as a consequence, we're often removing the exact thing their body needed more of.

Build movement and sensory breaks into the day proactively, before things unravel, instead of only reacting once they have.

Save this post for your next can't-sit-still moment, and share it with someone who gets it.

#SensoryProcessing #TraumaInformedCare #ConnectedParenting #FosterParenting #ChildDevelopment taken in Memphis, Tennessee by @empoweredtoconnect

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7 days ago

Every caregiver has had that moment: your kid, who was doing just fine being a big kid five minutes ago, is suddenly talking in a baby voice and wanting to be carried. It's easy to read that as backsliding, or worse, as manipulation. It's probably neither.

Regression under stress is a nervous system doing what nervous systems do: reaching for the oldest, most familiar way of coping (and most memorable bid for nurture) when things feel like too much. And it shows up at every age, not just in little kids.

The move isn't to shame it away or panic about it. It's to meet the need underneath, offer nurture, comfort, connection, before worrying about "age-appropriate" behavior. Once a kid feels safe and connected, the bigger-kid skills often come right back.

Save this for the next baby-voice moment, and share it with a caregiver who needs to see it.

#TraumaInformedParenting #ConnectedParenting #FosterCare #AdoptiveFamilies #ParentingSupport taken in Austin, Texas by @empoweredtoconnect

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8 days ago

This week, ETC is headed to the first ever Trauma Disrupters Coalition Conference (TDCC)!

Dr. Rachel Peterman will be in Austin leading Tuesday breakouts on “The Art of Mending” and “Building Trauma-Informed Ministries that Create Belonging.”

Will we see you there? Let us know below or type TRAINING to learn how we can bring our expertise to your church, organization, or event!

#tdcc2026 #conferencespeaker #traumainformedcoaching #connectedparenting #traumainformedministries taken in Austin, Texas by @empoweredtoconnect

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9 days ago

"I suddenly realized: I'm not parenting a bad kid, and I am not a bad parent." That's the moment everything shifted for FASD specialist Sandra Flach, after years of thinking she was failing her sons.

If you've ever carried that same weight, wondering what you did wrong or what's wrong with your kid, this might be the reframe you need too. The behavior isn't the whole story. In fact, it's only the prelude.

Comment PODCAST to listen to the full episode.

#FASD #FetalAlcoholSyndrome #TraumaInformedParenting #FosterCare #Adoption by @empoweredtoconnect

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12 days ago

You can't tell someone has an invisible disability by looking at them, and that's exactly the problem.

FASD specialist Sandra Flach breaks down some of the assumptions that keep kids with invisible disabilities misunderstood, labeled as defiant, lazy, or inconsistent, when their brains are just working differently.

Save this one for the next time you catch yourself thinking a kid should just be able to do something.

Comment PODCAST to listen to the full episode.

#FASD #FetalAlcoholSyndrome #TraumaInformedParenting #FosterCare #Adoption taken in Atlanta, Georgia by @empoweredtoconnect

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13 days ago

We'd never make someone using a wheelchair take the stairs to prove a point. So why do we expect a kid whose brain processes information differently to keep up without any support?

FASD specialist Sandra Flach walks through everyday accommodations that look small but change everything for a child whose disability just happens to be invisible: fewer words, quieter spaces, one instruction at a time.

Save this one, then go hear the full conversation for what's actually happening in the brain behind each one.

Comment PODCAST to listen to the full episode.

#FASD #FetalAlcoholSyndrome #TraumaInformedParenting #FosterCare #Adoption taken in Memphis, Tennessee by @empoweredtoconnect

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14 days ago

Did you know FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) affects one in twenty people, and as many as seventy percent of kids in foster care? Most of us know almost nothing about it, and neither did our guest Sandra Flach, until her own sons were diagnosed.

Sandra spent years thinking her boys just needed to try harder, until she learned their brains were working differently, and that changed everything: how she disciplined, and how she saw them.

This conversation walks through what FASD actually looks like, why it hides behind labels like defiance and laziness, and how real accommodations, not more consequences, change everything for a child whose brain works differently.

Comment PODCAST to listen to the full episode

#FASD #FetalAlcoholSyndrome #TraumaInformedParenting #FosterCare #Adoption taken in Memphis, Tennessee by @empoweredtoconnect

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15 days ago

This week, ETC is headed to CAFO!

Mark Ottinger will be in Atlanta leading a breakout on Thursday morning called “Relational Leadership That Works” – trust us, he practices what he teaches!

Will we see you there? Comment below or type TRAINING to learn how we can bring this topic to the leaders in your organization!

#conferencespeaker #traumainformedcoaching #relationalleadership #ConnectedTeams #CAFO2026 taken in Atlanta, Georgia by @empoweredtoconnect

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16 days ago