• Does your child have trouble managing big emotions including worry, anxiety, fear, frustrations, anger or overwhelm?



  • Do you get frustrated that your child gets upset over little things and just won’t calm down?


  • Do you feel helpless because you don’t know how to help your child when they are  experiencing such big emotions?


  • Does your child behave really well at school and then seem to explode when they arrive home?

 

Hi, I'm Kirsty.


I'm a mum of two young children with big emotions and an Occupational Therapist with close to 20 years experience working across all ages and with all levels of ability.


 

This 3-month, parent empowerment program is conducted via zoom with a

combination of 1:1 sessions and small group education sessions.

PROGRAM CONTENT


Three ways Growing Brains, Big Emotions will help you:


1: UNDERSTAND YOUR ABILITY TO BECOME YOUR CHILD’S EMOTION COACH


Parents play a crucial role in supporting their child's emotional development through their responses to their child's big emotions. Therefore, it is important for parents to understand their own feelings and reactions to these intense emotions. By recognizing the significant impact they have on their child's emotional growth, parents can develop the skills needed to effectively coach their child through big emotions.


There is a saying, “a dysregulated parent cannot effectively support a dysregulated child”, and therefore we take a look at how you are coping in your various roles and explore practical strategies to help you feel better equipped to manage when your child is experiencing big emotions.


 

2: UNDERSTAND THE WAY THE BRAIN PROCESSES EMOTIONS


We then learn about how social-emotional development occurs within the brain. Taking a basic look at neuroscience, we begin to understand why our children experience big feelings and to understand how we can support them through these feelings. If we understand why children act the way they do, we can change the way we respond.


You will learn practical strategies to support your child in the moment when they are experiencing big emotions that you can start applying straight away. You will also develop the ability to provide realistic expectations on your child’s ability to process their big feelings and empathise with how they are feeling, while using approaches and strategies that our children’s brains can process when they are experiencing big emotions.


 

3: UNDERSTAND HOW THE SENSORY SYSTEM IMPACTS EMOTIONS


As adults, we subtly engage in tasks that helps us stay focused, calm or alert, depending on task at hand. Sometimes we do this subtly through things like swinging on our chair, crossing our arms or going for a walk at break time. Our children can often struggle to manage sensory information around them, which can lead to overwhelm or meltdowns. Therefore, we develop an understanding of sensory processing with a focus on practical strategies that you can use to support your child to manage their big feelings.


This is explored through looking at each of the eight senses (vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, vestibular, proprioception and interoception) and how the different stimuli can be calming or alerting for each individual. Through this process, you will understand the different senses and have specific strategies that are relevant to your child and develop a tool box to support your child’s emotions.


By the end of the program, you will have developed a long-lasting plan for supporting your coregulating your child’s big emotions now and into the future.

INCLUSIONS


  • Three individual Occupational Therapy sessions throughout the 3 months to develop an understanding of your child's big emotions and triggers (if known); to support you to implement the strategies discussed into your life and brainstorm ways to overcome barriers to implementing strategies; and at the end of the program to ensure that your emotions plan is in full operation and to give you the opportunity to ask any additional questions regarding empowering you and your child to manage their emotions.


  • A sensory profile and an understanding emotions screen are completed to tailor the group information to your child’s unique situation.


  • Eight weekly small group education sessions to empower parents with the “why” of big emotions and the “how” we can support your child. Groups are capped at 8 families to allow you to develop a connection with other parents who are also trying to support their children with their big emotions. Information can be tailored to suit the interest areas of the group.


  • All sessions are evidence-based, using emotion coaching, neuroscience and sensory processing approaches to equip you with the knowledge and skills to reduce the occurrence of big emotions and transform your child’s overwhelm into more manageable emotions that the child can then take control of.


  • Access to an online communication tool for your small group to discuss strategies and barriers between sessions.


  • An illustrated workbook outlining all the information covered in the sessions for you to look back upon and reflect on whenever you would like to revisit the information discussed.


  • Lifetime access to an online portal with videos of the key themes of the program, activities and resources that can be viewed, printed and used with your child, now and into the future, to support their learning through the Growing Brains, Big Emotions process.

WHY THIS PROGRAM?


Some therapists work directly with children to improve their emotion regulation, but the children are often not able to process the information and strategies. They need someone to help them through the process of feeling big emotions when they are occurring. They need someone to help them understand what they are feeling outside of the therapy session and to prompt them to use the strategies.


They need an emotion coach, and they need this to be you! Often parents and caregivers are not provided with the depth of knowledge to support their children in the midst of big emotions and how to support healthy emotional growth. This program is different. It teaches you the why and the how, to help YOU be the emotion coach that your child needs you to be.


Not only that, but as humans, we connect through emotions, and therefore learning how to focus on the emotions rather than on the behaviour increases our connection with our child. This program therefore has the ability to strengthen your relationship with your child and improve the family dynamics in your household!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • Does my child need to have a diagnosis to make this program relevant?

    No. The program is aimed at supporting parent of children that have big emotions. While this is often a syptom of a lot of conditions, the content is not aimed at any condition as all strategies are relevant for both children with or without an underlying diagnosed condtion.

  • Is the program neuroaffirming?

    Absolutely!


    While the program is not specifically designed for neurodivergent kids or neurodivergent parents, all the strategies are based on empowering the child and parents to understand and manage the child's emotions. This is carried out in a very positive and strengths-based approach.

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  • Can the cost of the program be covered under my child's NDIS plan?

    Yes, as long as there are adequate funds available through Capacity Building and the plan is either self managed or plan managed. We are unable to take payments from participants whos funds are NDIA managed.

  • What is the time commitment for the program?

    The individual OT sessions last for 1 hour. Each week, the group sessions last for around an hour, although this could be a little more or a little less, depending on how many questions are asked within the session and whether we go off on tangents that are relevant for the group. We can tailor the sessions depending on the interest on the topic and the relevance to the group.


    There will also be tasks the parents will be asked to complete with their child throughout the week. These tasks are trialing the strategies in everyday life that have been spoken about during the sessions. It is not expected that the tasks will take more than 15-30 minutes in small incriments across the week.

  • What child age is this program aimed at?

    This program is designed for all ages. While the focus will be on primary-school aged children, the same strategies can be used for younger children, teenagers and children with addtional support needs. The information in the online portal will be for all ages, so you can find relevant activities to complete with your child for a refresher on the key themes to match their age.


    During our individual sessions, we can speak about specific strategies to meet the child's level of understanding.

  • Are the sessions recorded?

    The sessions are not recorded because we want to encourage members of the group to ask questions and contribute to conversation. To ensure everyone feels comfortable to contribute, we don't record the sessions.


    However, the key themes of each session are recorded and placed into your lifetime access portal so that you can review the recordings at any time that you would like to review the key themes.

  • Can both parents complete the program?

    Yes. It can be useful for both parents to attend so that there is consistency of the strategies implemented with your child within your home. 


    There is no additional cost for a second person attending the program.


    However, if both parents just, we ask that they share a computer so that it is clear to everyone that two people might be talking about the same child.

  • What happens if I can't attend one of the sessions?

    If you need to miss one of the sessions, there are a few options that you can choose from. 


    Firsty, the key themes of each week are recorded and available through your lifetime access of your course. 


    If you would like a more intense discussion about the session you miss, you can join the session the next time the program is run.

If you would like more information about "Growing Brains, Big Emotions" or if you are interested in joining, please contact Kirsty for a complimentary, non-obligation chat about the program and your child's emotions on 0499 183 612.