Kim Barthel Educational Series

Become a Behavioural Detective.

Exclusive (and Free) to STAR Family Health Teams’ community of parents, caregivers and professionals.

Who is Kim Barthel?

Kim Barthel is a renowned teacher, therapist and speaker and has developed a series of impactful topics for the adoption, kinship, and customary care community.

Description of each of the video courses:

Becoming a Behavioural Detective:

There is always a reason for the behaviour! Based on Kim Barthel, OTR’s most prolific and well-attended workshop in her career, this online 11.5-hour pre-recorded workshop (with 90-minute live Q&A) will provide a deeper understanding of why people do what they do. The focus will be on complex and challenging behaviour, and using clinical reasoning to look well beyond the surface actions we observe.

Conscious Parenting:

Seeing our kids experiencing stress, sadness, anxiety, loneliness, or suicidal ideations is hard; and it’s even more difficult to co-regulate our children when we are ourselves triggered by their behaviour. Self-awareness and self-compassion are the key components of conscious parenting. This 90-minute session encourages emotional safety for the whole family, with an introduction to attachment theory that nurtures mindful collective resilience. The focus on emotional safety, within the whole family, is one of the key foundations for optimum child development.

Connection and Resilience:

Human biology is wired for connection and social engagement. The evolutionary design of our brain has epigenetically coded neural networks that function at their best when the sparks of love, empathy, compassion and co-regulation are present. Though our biological priority is to survive, relationship with each other through acceptance and belonging is fundamental to our thriving. Fostering resilience and adaptability through healthy connections is highlighted in this 90-minute session.

Aggression toward Family/Caregivers in Childhood and Adolescence:

Aggression toward Family/Caregivers in Childhood and Adolescence deserves more attention than it is getting. This 90-minute session discussed what can lead to this dynamic: trauma histories, intense transitions, developmental disabilities, among others. We will hold space for the toll it can take on all family members, both physically and psychologically. While there are reasons this hasn’t been talked about more, by bringing it to light the stigma will be decreased. Families will hear it happens much more often than expected, and explore strategies to make it easier for everyone involved.

The Impacts of Sexual Abuse:

This session brings compassionate awareness to this often-unspoken topic. Sensitive discussions are about the impacts that sexual abuse can bring upon behaviour, emotional development, and relationships, potentially through the lifespan. Supportive suggestions to parents and caregivers will be highlighted during this 90-minute session.

Self-Harm and Suicide:

This session also brings compassionate awareness to this often-unspoken topic. The impacts that self-harm and suicide ideation can bring upon behaviour, emotional development, and relationships, potentially through the lifespan, will be explored. Supportive suggestions to parents and caregivers are highlighted during this 90-minute session.

Grief and Loss:

Inherent in being a parent or caregiver is supporting your kids through their emotions. Grief and loss (not only from adjusting from one family setting/situation to another) stem from many situations throughout the lifespan – and impact us all. This 90-minute workshop describes the many faces of grief and the value of acknowledging it, and offer helpful tips on how to stay present even in difficult times.

Addiction:

This 90-minute session brings compassionate awareness to the often-unspoken topic of addiction, in its many forms. Discussions surround both its root causes and the impacts that addiction can bring upon behaviour, emotional development and relationships. Supportive suggestions to families and caregivers are highlighted.

Community of Support:

As humans we are ultimately wired for connection. When things go well, when things go terribly, what matters is the people around us. Increasingly the study of interpersonal neurobiology is proving what we know intuitively – we are physically and emotionally healthier and more resilient when we feel we belong and we have a way to share whatever it is that we need to share. Among other examples, this 90-minute workshop highlights the mindful work of Adopt4Life’s network of parents: and how any community can share resources, successes, and challenging experiences that they likely have in common.