I'm going to be...

I'm going to be a Post Institute Certified Instructor for "The Great Behavior Breakdown!!!!" One day I might be included on THIS page!

If you're an AAI family you know who Bryan Post is. If not, you can learn about The Post Institute HERE. I first heard of Bryan Post when AAI sent me their required adoption education packet, including a 4 DVD educational series by Bryan Post. If you've sat through a lot of videotaped seminars you know how boring they can be. Not this. It was riveting information from beginning to end. What I learned completely changed the way I think about behaviors in my children.

Here are some tidbits that have been most revealing to me:

*Poor behavior (in anybody, not just kids!) is based in stress.

*At the core, there are two emotions: love and fear. All behaviors are rooted in love or fear.

*Oxytocin is a chemical in the brain that helps us to regulate stress.

*By giving our kids oxytocin-rich experiences, we can help them to regulate their fear/stress, therefore leading to more love-based responses rather than fear-based responses.

Isn't that cool stuff?!

Not long ago I got an email from The Post Institute describing upcoming events right here in Tulsa. Right here in my town, I could attend the training to become a certified instructor! There was that little issue of the $500 price tag, but this was such a great opportunity I didn't let that dissuade me.

Thankfully, my employer has offered to pay for the training!

I am not excited about this because I want to be all "bah-dee-da" about having a certification. I am excited because I truly believe in The Post Institute teachings and I WANT to know more. I want to know how better to communicate with the families I work with on understanding the stress model and how it can help their kids to heal AND help the parents to cope in the meantime! [Sorry, long confusing sentence.] I feel like this is life-changing stuff.

NOW--here's the thing--I AM COMPLETELY INTIMIDATED!!! Did you see the bios of the current instructors? Yikes. Here I am with my music education degree, plus "field experience." It will be interesting to see if I can keep my head above water with folks who have special letters after their names!

I have known for a few years now that I would like to go back and get my masters in social work. But I've also known for a few years that there is no way I could swing it right now (financially, but even more so because of homeschooling 4 young children and working pretty much full time.) Without a SW degree, I was hoping to at least add some sort of counseling certification or *something* that would beef up my resume for the work I love. I had no clue what that would look like. Now I do!

The Post Institute training is something I would have wanted to do regardless of anything else. It's just an extra special plus that it will look good on my resume! Please pray that I will represent AAI well and that my life experience will carry me through to certification!

P.S. Sorry for the blank post earlier! It was an edgy "enter" finger!