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Early intervention is always better than crisis management - but it is never too late to do the right thing.

Don't wait for him to turn 10 before you reveal that you are not in fact the hired help whose job it is to clean up after him.

Removing a child from a traumatic environment does not remove the trauma from the child's memory.

Adolescence can be the cruelest place on earth. It can really be heartless.  ( Tori Amos)

If it  was going to be easy to raise kids, it never would have started with something called "labour".

The teenage years require a delicate balance between the young person's need to gain independence, and the parent's need to retain authority.

If there is no relationship - nothing else matters !

"The thing that impresses me most about North America is the way parents obey their children"    (King Edward VII , 1841-1910)

The challenge of adolescence is to balance the right of the parents to feel they are in charge with the need of the adolescent to gain independence.

We should not medicate the boys so they fit the school; we should change the school to fit the boy. (Leonard Sax, M.D. Ph.D)

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Depression – the stress “triggers”

 
THE STRESS “TRIGGERS”
 
“Bad” things happen to kids
                  – 1/2 of Canadian families go through divorce
                  – 1/4 of Canadian women report having been sexually abused
                  – parents, siblings, friends die
 
The overwhelmingly majority of children are remarkably resilient and emerge from the “bad” things relatively unscathed.
 
Those predisposed to anxiety and depression sometimes develop major depression after a stressful event.
 
 
 
Studies with animals corroborate this (mice, rats, monkeys)
                  – maternal deprivation
                  – social isolation
                  – maltreatment
                  ( these stressors caused changes in the structure and function of their brains similar to those
                   seen in adult humans with depression)
 
CHANGES  TO THE ADOLESCENT’S BRAIN
                                PLUS
THE STRESS CAUSED BY THEIR DEVELOPMENT TASKS
                            COINCIDE
WITH INCREASED RATES OF  MAJOR PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS 

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Workshops

+ Behaviour Management (now available online)

This full day or 2 evening workshop will introduce you […]

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+ A Parent’s Guide to the Teenage Brain

  A teenager’s brain is not just an adult brain […]

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+ Reading Rescue

A program for children with reading problems

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+ A Guided Tour of ADHD (now available online)

This workshop will present the facts, myths, misconceptions, controversy and […]

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See more of our workshops


Contact

2720 Rath Street, Putnam, Ontario
NOL 2BO

Phone: (519) 485-4678
Fax: (519) 485-0281

Email: info@rickharper.ca

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Parents' Comments

“We are foster parents who took in a 13 year old girl (going on 18!) and she ran us through the wringer. Rick helped us learn how to set limits that made the difference.”

(G.E. – Strathroy)