Be the Parent You Want To Be

Karyn is the mother of three children; one by birth, and two via adoption. She has over 16-years experience in the field of pre and post-adoptive family education, training and support. Karyn first became interested in learning more about the neurobiology of early trauma, or how trauma effects the developing brain, when she experienced first-hand the necessity to develop a different and ever-evolving parenting approach for each of her three children. This expanded into offering training and resources to schools on how to create trauma-informed classrooms, as well as developing programs aimed at understanding and decreasing bullying using an evidence-based approach. . 

Early in her parenting journey, Karyn was introduced to the work of Dr. Gabor Mate, and dove into his extensive research on early trauma, the body-mind connection behind disease, and the link between early trauma and addictions, ADD/ADHD, etc. She then completed a Master's thesis on intergenerational trauma in the South African context. Her thesis was greatly informed by Dr. Mate's work, as well as other mind-body trauma experts such as Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and Peter Levine. 

After completing her Master's degree, her focus shifted to the healing of early trauma, and so immersed herself in Dr. Mate's  year-long intensive course exploring a healing modality known as Compassionate Inquiry (CI). CI is psychotherapeutic approached used to "uncover the layers of childhood trauma, constriction and suppressed emotion embedded in the body, that are at the root of mental and physical illness and addiction." 

She has since gone on to complete a 16-week program titled Beyond Addiction (developed and facilitated by Dr. Mate and Sat Dharam Kaur), which is a "program designed for individuals seeking to develop healthy habits and overcome addictive behaviour, for health professionals and yoga teachers who work with addiction and for certified Kundalini Yoga teachers who would like to teach a yoga-based addiction recovery program."  

Karyn has also completed several courses and training by child development expert, Dr. Gordon Neufeld, completing courses such as Neufeld Intensive One: Making Sense of Kids, The Art and Science of Transplanting Children, Bullies: Their Making and Unmaking, and Making Sense of Anxiety. 

She has developed and facilitated workshops and training for adoptive/foster families, social workers and mental health professionals on topics such as The Neurobiology of Early Trauma, Parenting your Teen with an Early Trauma History, and Allyship and Social Justice for Adoptive Families. She also spearheaded a program targeted at families open to adopting children living with HIV, and provided education, resources and support to support these complex placements.

Karyn has most recently become a Certified Parenting Coach through the Peaceful Parenting Institute, and is currently completing an ACCSA certification on Addiction Counselling.