I have been going back in forth on what to email you in regards to the differences with CALO and where I am currently employed.  I have thought long and hard as to what to write about. More...

I started my career at a Residential Treatment Center that was much more behavioral and "in your face." I worked to create a different paradigm on my caseload of girls and worked to have a much more relational focus. I am grateful for that early experience. I got some good training and began the process of creating a different kind of residential treatment that was much more nurturing. I would not want to go back to those old ways but, again, I am grateful for what I learned in that very different system.

While at that RTC I got to work with a young lady with some issues around self-image, communication, and anger. She also had a significant eating disorder that almost took her life. Working with this young lady, I will call her "Maddy," was alternately painful and exhilarating. We made some nice strides but Maddy could be emotionally abusive and destructive at times. All of us caring for her kept at it and after a year and a half or so Maddy was ready to go home. She went home but it did not go well. Lots of old coping mechanisms came out. We tried a tune-up at the RTC with mixed results. Finally, Maddy went to a therapeutic boarding school for another year. After graduating from there Maddy had some More...

If you are reading this blog, by now you probably understand the importance of healthy attachment.  Defined, healthy attachment is “a reciprocal process by which an emotional connection develops between an infant and his/her primary caregiver. It influences the child’s physical, neurological, cognitive and psychological development. It becomes the basis for development of basic trust or mistrust, and shapes how the child will relate to the world, learn, and form relationships throughout life.”

“Okay” you may be thinking, “I know my child has interrupted attachment.  What can I do now that he is a teen?”  There are handfuls of interventions you will learn in treatment from your CALO therapist but something specific to start with is attunement. 

Attunement is More...