Talks, Workshops,
Training and
Courses

Available as a facilitated course through the Neufeld Institute, The Alarm Spectrum, or as a presentation for your group’s needs, this topic covers the range of how alarm shows up, how we can support those we care for with these difficulties, and Nature’s answer to intensified alarm. Insights and responses to these concerns are relevant to all ages.

Often provided as a two hour or half-day presentation, this presentation includes insights about young children, emotion, play, and helping those in our care through this noisy and messy chapter of development. Participants often remark that this talk gave them greater compassion and ideas for supporting young children in their care.

How does one prepare for something so big? This presentation explores what Nature is already taking care of, with attachment and caregiving instincts in us and attachment and care receptive instincts in infants. Expectant parents will take away ready to apply practices to foster connecting with and providing for a young child’s preeminent need for contact and closeness. Usually offered as a 75 or 90 minute talk and discussion.

When children start to walk and talk, we sometimes make the mistake of overestimating what they’re capable of. With developing brains and bodies, the preschooler is prone to many expressions of their natural immaturity. Understanding what is developing and why they do what they do can be immensely helpful to those who care for young children. Understanding preschoolers also offers a window into making sense of those who are older than preschool age yet stuck in behaving rather like them. An essential for those who care for preschoolers and stuck people of any age. As a course or presentation the material is generally offered over a half or full day, or as a six week series.

The transition from young childhood to young adulthood is rife with change and development. Knowing what to anticipate eqips those who care for adolescents to make room for and invite the movement through several rites of passage This material is offered as a course over 10 weeks or as a full day presentation. See neufeldinstitute.org/ for more information. 

We talk about resilience, often when we’re describing someone who doesn’t seem bothered by life’s ups and downs. True resilience, characterised by a depth of feeling, is quite the opposite of the numb, unaffected image we sometimes mistake for resilience. For those curious about how we heal and recover from life’s bumps and bruises, this workshop or course would be an excellent option, particularly with the insights about what science confirms is at the heart of truly bouncing back; true resilience. This topic may be delivered as a presentation of 2-5 hours or taken together as a course.

Attachment, or connection, is our preeminent need, and yet, we are often lost when trying to restore connection from a child or other loved one who has become distant or detached. In this topic, we explore the gifts that the many forms of play, creativity, expressive arts, music etc. offer as excellent options for softening wounded or hardened hearts, and inviting connection even in deeply distressed relationships (even with ourselves). This material is usually shared in a half-day presentation or by exploring the course in full. Course details HERE. 

Even for adults bringing great warmth and generosity to the care of children who join our families or our lives, we may find ourselves perplexed, running into barriers to providing that care. This material explores some of the common experiences and protections Nature provides to children moved from one caregiver to a new caregiver. Understanding opens doors to how we can provide even the most protected of hearts a safe and enduring relationship to support a child’s growth and wellbeing. This material is shared over a full day presentation or through arranging a group to take the 8-session course with Michele’s support.  

One of the places we all start is this basic and essential question – how do I connect deeply with those I love? How do I help my children stay connected in a world with so many competing bids for their time and attention? The insights shared in this presentation are timeless, applicable to people of all ages, and based in hundreds of years of scientific observation, practice, and human nature. This presentation delivers key practices to foster and sustain connection, and how to answer our children’s deepest need. Content may be delivered in 90 minutes or up to full day. If interested, the content is also deliverable in small groups by taking an 8-hour course. 

This timely topic has been shared with a wide range of audiences. The question is on many of our minds – how come we keep feeling more and more alone in a world with so many ways to stay connected? What is the answer to reverse some of the loneliness troubling people in so many corners of the world, even in the company of other people? Presentation or course support may be tailored for your group, and is often delivered as a 90 minute or 2 hour presentation.

Emotions can be messy, and when we’ve grown up in an environment afraid of big emotion, or in contrast, run by big emotion, we sometimes arrive in adulthood unsure where to turn. When we care for others and encounter their emotional outbursts, we may find ourselves at a loss. Fortunately, Play offers many gifts and solutions for the messy or shut down emotions of being human. Usually a follow-up to the Play and Attachment material, this presentation or course explores how Play helps us take care of emotions while keeping relationships warm and caring. This presentation is generally delivered over a full day, or groups may take the full course with Michele’s support. More information about the content can be found here. Presentation or course support may be tailored for your group.

As handheld screens have become widespread, many have watched and wondered about the impact on our lives, and how adults can care for youth without harming relationships with those we hold dear. While the data and platforms keep being updated, insights about our nature and the way these devices tap into and approximate the connection we crave is well understood. We have the answers we need to raise our teens in a world with Apps, games and devices. This presentation may be delivered as a 90 minute or up to a 4 hour talk. Focus may be tailored for parents or professionals.