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Peer Group Training – Managing Emotions: How to Manage Challenging Emotions Through Family Togetherness
Presenter: Dr. Alina Hernandez, OTD, OTR/L | Pediatric Occupational Therapist
Foster parenting comes with unique emotional challenges and opportunities. This course is designed to help foster parents understand and support the emotional needs of young children in their care. Participants will explore how early experiences and trauma can affect a child’s ability to regulate emotions, and how co-regulation—adults helping children manage their feelings—plays a vital role in healing and development. Grounded in the principles of Polyvagal Theory, the course explains how a child’s nervous system responds to safety, stress, and connection, and how foster parents can be powerful agents of emotional stability. We will also emphasize the importance of creating a sense of family togetherness and belonging, and how these consistent, nurturing relationships can positively shape a child’s emotional world. Through tools and guidance, this course empowers foster parents to build strong emotional connections and promote resilience in the children they support.