Many children who have experienced prenatal or postnatal stressors such as trauma, alcohol, and drug exposure also have challenging behavioral symptoms, requiring support from their parents and caregivers that is often more intensive than “typical” parenting. Parents and caregivers are then required to shift their parenting from a traditional behavioral lens to one that is focused on their child’s unique neurobiology. This workshop will teach participants how parents and caregivers can set themselves up for success as it relates to the care of their child, so as to avoid burnout and compassion fatigue, so they can thrive in their parent experience, feeling more resilient over time.

Eileen Devine is a licensed clinical social worker and founder of Brain First Parenting. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two teenage children, one of whom lives with FASD. She has over 20 years of clinical experience and for the last ten of those years, has focused solely on supporting parents who have kids with neurobehavioral conditions. In addition to her clinical work with parents, she facilitates dozens of workshops and trainings each year for parents, teachers, and mental health professionals and is a trainer for the Center for Adoption Support and Education’s (C.A.S.E.) accredited Training for Adoption Competency (TAC) Program, where she instructs other clinicians across the state of Oregon on what it means to be an adoption and foster competent therapist.