What a wonderful, enriching and inspiring three days!
As mentioned in the welcoming address, the theme of this year’s DDPI conference was “The Power of Deep Listening to Heal, Connect and Transform: Insights from DDP and Beyond”. The conference highlighted a crucial and defining skill of DDP, namely the ability to stay present with children who have been abused and neglected in order to know and appreciate the confusion, loneliness and shame they have experienced. DDPI conference presenters focused on demonstrating how we can listen in ways that reach beyond protective walls that traumatized children have built in order to survive. Through such deep listening, we can help children and their families turn these unbearable experiences into stories that transform lives.
This conference was presented by KidsTLC in collaboration with DDPI this past September 9-11th. Kudos to George Thompson MD and the folks from KidsTLC who put on such a powerful conference. After years of intentional work, KidsTLC has recently become a Certified DDP Organization.
The preconference day (September 9th) gave conference attendees 4 different options to immerse themselves in a particular topic: Dan Hughes provided an introduction to DDP, Deb Dana presented on the Polyvagal Theory, KidsTLC allowed people to experience first-hand how DDP is integrated in its residential program, and Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg and Kelley Hunt led people on an experiential journey of The Song and Story in Your Heart and Mine.
The following two days of the conference provided a variety of presentations that showcased ways that DDP is being implemented, the power of listening, as well as the neurobiology of DDP by our resident self-proclaimed ‘neurobiology nerd’, Jonathan Baylin. Check out the DDP website for presentation slides and information.
One of the aims of the conference was “to provide people with empowering information and also to give people a feel for the open-hearted nature of dyadic developmental psychotherapy, parenting and practice. And in so doing to support people as they in their practices seek to provide the best possible care to the children and families they journey alongside.” The conference more than met its goals! It was a great three days of learning, of connecting and building community. Together we seek to bring healing and transformation to the world, “one PACE at a time!”
Plans are already underway for the 2020 DDPI conference – in Toronto, Canada, October 19 -21, 2020, sponsored by the George Hull Centre for Children and Families (www.georgehullcentre.on.ca) in collaboration with the DDP Institute.
Betty J.B. Brouwer
Chair of DDPI Board
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- Betty J.B. Brouwer
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- Kim Golding
