Parenting for Connection:
A Relational Health Toolkit

Focusing on what’s right with a child or teenager’s mental health can go a long way to combating stress and anxiety. By building strong, healthy relationships, parents and other caregivers can help make sure children and teens grow up resilient and minimize the effects of toxic stress. In this video by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Heather Forkey describes the idea of relational health and how it can combat toxic stress – things like trauma, child abuse or even the long-term effects of racism.

In this training video, we take a deep dive into the complex landscape of substance use and recovery, with a focus on enhancing the skills and understanding of behavioral health professionals.

Kids reach out to others when things get tough. This is called the affiliate response, which relies on our strengths, our brains and each other. It's the biology of connection. This video from the American Academy of Pediatrics explains how supporting families to engage in the affiliate response can help kids feel less stressed, build resilience and recover from trauma. Read more at https://www.aap.org/TIC

This video introduces caregivers to the cognitive triangle — the connection between our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors — and how these patterns show up in everyday parenting moments. By learning how to recognize and gently shift unhelpful thoughts, parents can respond to stress with greater calm and intention, strengthening their connection with their child.