John Heltzel

Parents are never taught how to get along with their children. How to play and get the most from them. How to shield and protect them. How to connect with them deeply. Every parent wants this, but many times, the only training parents have is what they learned from their own parents. And many passed on harsh punishments. Shame. The feeling that "children should be seen and not heard." Added to this is the tripwire of challenges daily life piles on today's parents, building up in toxic stress where breakdowns and dysfunction follow. Hand in Hand exists to stop cycles of shame, violence and struggles in raising children. Our Certified Instructors and Professionals Intensive graduates work with families around the world and in many different languages. Five core tools provide a whole care team with resources to reach, connect and heal. Continuing on from relationally-oriented clinical concepts from D.W. Winnicott, Wilfred Bion, John Bowlby, Stanley Greenspan, Jane Ayers, Bessel Van der Kolk, Allan Schore, Heinz Kohut, and others, Hand in Hand Parenting operationalizes psychodynamic theory. We are an attachment-based, emotion-focused, resiliency-building program that addresses all of the domains outlined in the Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC) model for trauma-informed care. Parents experience greater emotional connection with their children, and see their children gain emotional and social strength and improved behavior. The tools work across social and economic divides, bringing a profound change in trauma-informed classrooms and family therapy as they have with teenage moms in low-income communities and slums in India. They are used by medical professionals and clinicians, family therapists, social workers, teachers and councillors, occupational therapists and psychotherapists - in fact, anyone who seeks to connect and support with children and their families.