My guest this week is Tammi Van Hollander, a licensed clinical social worker and Registered Play Therapist Supervisor. She spent over 20 years working with children, families and individuals. Her work and creative interventions in the field of play therapy have been published and internationally recognized. Tammi is the author of a multi-sensory, attachment-based children's book titled, Casey's Greatness Wings: Teaching Mindfulness, Connection, and Courage to Children. The success of the book inspired her to create Casey's Greatness Sticks & Greatness Cards to be used in schools, counseling and in the home. She specializes in attachment, sand tray play therapy & sensory integration work with infants, children, families, and adults. She is a certified Advanced Trainer for the Nurtured Heart Approach, a certified FirstPlay practitioner and a founding board member of The World Association for Sand Therapy Professionals.

In this episode, Tammi and I discuss the Nurtured Heart Approach. This is the relationship-focused approach to supporting kids with challenges (also works for children without a diagnosis). When we talk about behavior challenges, so often our focus goes to the negative, but it really is true that the things that we focus our energy on tend to become bigger. And as you'll hear in this episode, that's one of the big reasons why there is a focus on the positive and on greatness in the Nurtured Heart Approach. We want to spotlight positives and focus our relational energy and interactions on the good in ourselves as well as our kids. Behavioral psychology is such a fascinating field and what I like about this method is that it helps to change everyone for the better. Learn more about Tammi here.

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Episode 134: How To Celebrate Your Child's Intense Behavior Instead Of Criticizing It