"Less is More" - Children & Focusing Online Conference 2024

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Sometimes the most special moments are also the simplest.

Children approach Focusing instinctively, the most important thing we can provide is simply our empathetic, listening presence. It can be challenging to stand back and let the child’s process unfold on its own.

Join us in sharing moments and practices that show, oftentimes less is more.

This conference is designed for anyone interested in learning and deepening their Focusing wisdom. Whether you are experienced with the crossing of Children and Focusing or are simply curious to learn what others are doing.

This conference welcomes professionals working with children of all ages, from toddlers to teenagers, and of course parents, grandparents, caregivers, and anyone interested in learning more about how Children & Focusing cross. 

Tom Larkin, Dublin, Ireland.  Tom is a psychotherapist in private practice in Dublin. He is a Certifying Focusing Coordinator, a Children Focusing trainer and a Forest Therapy Guide.

A World in a grain of sand - Resourcing children’s resilience in these troubled times  through Focusing with nature
Many recent studies indicate that children and young people, 8 -18, in technological societies spend a lot of time on screens and very little time outdoors. At the same time this younger generation have been characterised as being generally anxious. I suspect there is a connection there. Many other studies have shown the benefits to children’s well-being of spending time outdoors in nature.

In this workshop I hope to point towards the ‘more-than-human-world’ in children’s locality as a potential place of calm and resourcefulness for them, particularly when entered into in a Focusing way. Drawing on a crossing of Focusing with the standard sequence of Forest Therapy and other ‘nature connection’ approaches we will explore ways of enhancing children’s relationship with the natural world around them.

Leonie Stewart, Sydney, Australia. Leonie  provides counselling, coaching & focusing sessions. She enjoys working with individuals, couples and also young people. Leonie believes we are all meant to belong and connect, to love ourselves and love others, and so to find meaning. She finds purpose in helping others find their own way forward to a happier and more hopeful life full of possibilities. www.hopeandpossibility.com.au

Using Felt Sensing (Focusing) Neuroscience & Parts theory to enable young people to unfold their ‘Big SELF’ and be beside whatever else is there. (And it works for you too.)
I believe everyone has a Big SELF (or Best SELF) and life is so much better when we can deliberately step into our Big SELF.

In this workshop, I will show you how to guide young people to get to know their 'BIG SELF' in a mind and body way or a left brain and right brain way. Their "implicit knowing" (right brain/body) will be integrated with their left brain knowing (mind/sense-making) using Focusing and neuroscience.

Once they know the ‘felt sense’ of their ‘Big SELF’ they can step into it and be beside whatever other part is also there. This process makes Focusing easier.

Joke Van Hoeck, Haacht, Belgium. has been a child psychologist and psychotherapist for more than 18 years. A  mother of three children (ages 7, 16 and 19), she can’t imagine a life without Focusing. She is a certified Focusing Professional and Focusing oriented therapist. Joke lives and works in Belgium and has a special interest in bringing Focusing to parents who are looking for a new way of dealing with the daily life struggles in raising children. Joke's podcast  'Ontspannen Opvoeden' can be found here: podfollow.com/ontspannen-opvoeden

Do Less, Be more
How many times have you been told as a child to shut up and listen to what the adults had to say?

How many times have you said or thought the same thing to your own child?

No wonder, because that is what you probably have learned from your own parents, teachers,… well society in general.
What if, in a difficult situation, you as a parent would stop talking and listen? Really listen to what you’ve just been saying to you child, listen to what is happening inside you, in your own mind and body?

After 20 years of working with children individually as a child psychologist and child psychotherapist I realised parents can do so much for their child and their own family than I can do in weekly 1h therapy sessions.

One of the ‘complaints’ that is mentioned a lot in my practice is: ‘my child doesn’t listen to me’. It brings parents a lot of stress, leads to a lot of discussions, anger, frustration, which is tyring in itself, and it sours the relationship between parent and child.

During my workshop I share with you one of my main very practical concepts that I use to help parents to understand the mechanism behind it and how focusing can help to change this disruptive cycle.

Afterwards you will understand why the answer is not some sort of parenting hack nor a straightforward answer to the question ‘what can I do so my child …..?’. It is much more about how  to be with yourself and your child. Do less, be more.

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