Courses & Training
FLAGSHIP Parenting Course
CHANGING THE LENS THROUGH WHICH YOU PARENT WITH NVR PRINCIPALS
Group Course / 7 sessions / 1.5 hrs per session / online
The Raising a Wild Child Flagship Course is designed to empower families and professionals with a deeper understanding of children with neurodivergence. This course provides the tools and knowledge to address anxieties, manage challenging behaviours, and navigate conflict. By fostering a more profound understanding of their neurotype, the course allows you to develop your understanding and create the right environment for your child to thrive.
LEARNING INTENTIONS:
What you will achieve by completing this course:
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How the intolerable build-up of anxiety can be the primary driver of melt-downs, how to spot signs of anxiety and how to de-escalate situations before they reach crisis point
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How to talk about and analyse ‘critical incidents’ in a non-judgmental, non-shaming way with your child
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An understanding of how our nervous systems can deeply affect our reactions and how to begin to move into a more responsive and regulated state
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How to spot signs of Emotionally Based School Non-attendance - and what to do about it.
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To understand how to set necessary boundaries in a healthy way that isn’t activating our young people’s nervous system or making anxiety in us or the children, worse.
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An understanding of how our children and young people are intrinsically motivated to learn, do well and flourish
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An understanding about demand avoidance - pathological or otherwise - and language and strategies that can be supportive
Course overview:
SESSION 1: Understanding my Anxious Child Anxiety often builds when a child feels overwhelmed, threatened, or out of control. This build-up can trigger the sympathetic nervous system’s "fight, flight, freeze, appease" response - which can lead to meltdowns. This session offers a deep dive into anxiety and the anxiety cycle, how it affects our ability to reason and how it drives us to react in particular situations.
SESSION 2: De-escalation and restorative conversations In this session, we will discuss strategies to de-escalate those situations that are starting to feel increasingly volatile - before they escalate into a meltdown. We will also be sharing the structure of restorative conversations, a non judgemental, ‘no shame, no blame’ approach to unpicking critical episodes that fosters trust between family members, as well as developing skills in interoception - our perception of the signals that the body is sending us.
SESSION 3: Where’s the Lion?! A gentle delve into how nervous systems work, how they can bounce off one another and how they can compel us to react in defensive ways that can escalate situations further. Understanding how ‘triggers’ can push us into old patterns of defence, as we create stories based on past experiences, rather than what is happening in the present moment. There will also be an opportunity to gently enquire into your own nervous system responses.
SESSION 4: Why Rewards and Consequences don’t work We believe that all children have an innate desire to learn and succeed, but anxiety, stress, or unmet needs can inhibit this. This session will offer a practical exploration into the use of rewards and consequences in the home and in school, and how they can ultimately work against your child’s neurotype and become ineffectual. We will also be reflecting on alternatives to rewards and consequences.
SESSION 5: Why won’t my child go to school? Our children have a variety of ways of telling us that they don’t want to go to school - they may tell us directly, they may develop physical ailments, or their behaviour may escalate into aggression. This session offers an analysis of the barriers that your child is experiencing when they indicate that they are really struggling with attending school. What’s going on for them? What can parents do to support them through this period?
SESSION 6: Demand Avoidance and Supportive Language Pathological Demand Avoidance (also known as a Persistent Drive for Autonomy) describes a profile of autism whereby direct and indirect demands can trigger an extreme anxiety response. Whilst we recognise that PDA is a neurodivergent trait in its own right - even if it is not yet universally recognised - overwhelming situations and extreme anxiety can trigger demand avoidance in a range of different neurotypes. In this session, we will be offering a framework to support our non-judgemental understanding of demand avoidance and figure out strategies to help our child navigate their personal experience of demand avoidance. We will also reflect on the language that can be supportive.
SESSION 7: Over to you – how are things going? Q and A session - a chance for you to reflect, clarify and/or question anything that has come up for you over the duration of the course.
By the end of the course you will feel more equipped, knowledgeable and competent in handling complexities within the home, armed with practical tools to create a supportive and understanding environment for your child.
Up-coming Courses
PDA NVR Course
Group Course / 7 sessions / 1.5 hrs per session / online
The course offers a therapeutic approach to NVR (Non-Violent Resistance) parenting, and has been designed specifically for parents of children with Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA). The course is designed to deepen parents' understanding of the PDA profile, offering tools to support themselves through challenging and difficult times
Cost:
We are in the remarkable position to have received some funding to support families with PDA. The course is typically £450.00 but with the funding received it is subsidised to £200.00.
Course overview:
Understanding PDA: To educate parents about PDA as a profile, including its characteristics, causes, and impact on behaviour and family dynamics.
Effective Communication: To teach parents how to communicate effectively with their child using approaches that reduce anxiety and resistance, creating positive interactions.
Emotional Regulation: To support parents with managing their own emotional responses in challenging situations, as well as supporting and understanding your child’s emotional regulation, particularly during challenging episodes.
Flexibility and Adaptability: To encourage parents to adopt flexible approaches that can reduce demands placed on the child, thereby minimising resistance. - take these 3 words out?
Building Trust: To focus on creating a trusting and safe environment in which the child feels understood and supported, which can reduce avoidant behaviour.
Developing Routines: To guide parents in establishing consistent yet adaptable daily routines that help their child feel secure without overwhelming them with demands.
Enhancing Parental Support: To create a supportive community among parents, allowing them to share experiences, strategies, and encouragement. Coping Strategies: To equip parents with coping strategies for themselves, helping them manage the stress and challenges associated with parenting a child with PDA.
By the end of the course, parents should feel more knowledgeable and competent in handling the complexities of PDA, equipped with practical tools to create a supportive and understanding home environment for their child.
PDA NVR Course -
January (1) 2025
Tuesday, 14 Jan I Zoom
PDA NVR Course -
January (2) 2025
Tuesday, 22 Jan I Zoom
Both our January courses are now fully booked.
PDA NVR Course -
April (1) 2025
Tuesday, 1st April I Zoom
DATES: April Course 1
Tuesday 12-1.30pm
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April 1st - pre-meet session
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April 22nd - session 1
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April 29th - session 2
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May 6th - session 3
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May 13th - session 4
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May 20th - come as you are session
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June 3rd - session 5
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June 10th - session 6
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July 8th - wrap-up session
PDA NVR Course -
April (2) 2025
Wednesday, 2nd April I Zoom
DATES: April Course 2
Tuesday 10-11.30am
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April 2nd - pre-meet
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April 23rd - session 1
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April 30th - session 2
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May 7th - session 3
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May 14th - come as you are session
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May 21st - session 4
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June 4th - session 5
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June 11th- session 6
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July 9th - wrap-up session
Why Raising a Wild Child?
I am one of the wild children, diagnosed at 40 as Autistic with a heavy sprinkling of PDA and hefty dose of ADHD to complete the potion. School stopped being an option for me at 11, I was angry and afraid, but most of all, utterly exhausted by it.
What do you do?
I am the CEO at Raising a Wild Child. I work alongside families to navigate the journey of discovering and understanding their child’s neurotype… finding ways together to ensure that every member of the network around the child feels understood and empowered to create a harmonious home.
Could you sum up the course in one sentence?
It's NVR done as a relationship building, connection building, collaborative strategy with your child.
What would you say to someone who is not sure whether this is right for them?
This course is not about shame or blame. There are limited spaces available to ensure a small community of families with the opportunity to support each other.
We are all here to achieve our own version of success.
We're still allowing our children the space to be autonomous human beings that they have every right to be and we're just there to guide them along the way. So, they don't get hurt and nobody else gets hurt in the process.
“Things are really really good. Like we’ve turned a significant corner. She is back in school and it’s going well. Thank you for everything. There are a million other smaller wins, too many to mention but I wouldn’t be where we are today without you.”
"We all know that parenting our wild spirits can be a crazy, challenging, adrenalin fuelled rollercoaster of a ride and you appear to have developed a unique, compassionate, intelligent and effective approach which is robustly underpinned by neuroscience and psychology - and it works! It really work"
Thank you for the training this morning, I have learned more from you than any other book or training session in the last 8 years. Not only for my future patients, but also for me and my family!