Children & Focusing Roundtable Series - From Inspiration to Creation - The Beginning of a Journey with Children & Focusing

Wednesday, March 4, 2026 
1:00-3:00 pm NY Time
Times worldwide: convert to your time zone

Registration Closes Tuesday March 3 at 9am NY Time

Sometimes we just need an inspiration to find the courage to take our first steps and explore something new about Children and Focusing in our life.

During this Roundtable, we will explore how inspiration can gently turn into creation as we begin, or deepen, our journey of bringing Focusing to children. During the discussion, you will hear the personal story from our co-host Marian Bruen, how she created connections and maintained her inner spirit to move forward with her Children & Focusing work. We invite you to share your experiences, questions, and early steps, whether they are just forming or already unfolding.

Questions and themes we might explore together are:

• What inspires us to begin exploring Children & Focusing?
• How can inspiration support us in taking the first creative steps with Children & Focusing?
• What helps us to trust the process when we are just beginning this journey?
• How can we support one another as parents, caregivers, and professionals in moving from inspiration into lived experience?

Other topics and themes may emerge from our mutual exploration during the Roundtable.

Who might be particularly interested in attending this Roundtable?

Everyone with curiosity about Children & Focusing is invited!

If you are a Focusing-oriented professional working with children, or adults (parents, teachers, psychologists, caregivers, etc.) around children, and anyone interested in exploring the child within, you are warmly welcome.

CONNECTION>CONVERSATION>COMMUNITY

What to expect from Focusing Roundtables: Each Focusing Roundtable is designed to promote informal peer-to-peer conversation. Rather than acting as expert presenters, the Hosts will serve as conversation moderators to encourage sharing and exploration of the topics from the participants’ own perspectives.  All participants’ sharings are welcome and valuable, no matter what level of experience or knowledge you have on the topic. This Roundtable will be recorded. Normally and hereforwaard, to preserve the nature of informal conversation, Roundtables are offered live only. Registration is unlimited. Participants are encouraged to create follow up opportunities for connection among themselves after the Roundtable.

The TIFI Membership Committee is pleased to offer this series of Focusing Roundtables designed especially for members of the Institute. If you are not a member, please join at focusing.org/membership, then return to this page to register. This program will afford members a valuable opportunity to engage in casual peer-to-peer conversation with other members who share Focusing-related interests. 

About the Hosts

Laura Bavalics is an early childhood educator, play mentor, and drama teacher. She is a Certified Focusing Professional and a Focusing-oriented educator, who has been working with young children, parents, and professionals for over twenty-five years. She is a professional director of the Pendula inclusive kindergarten program for children in foster care and with special needs at the Világszép Foundation in Hungary. She is also teaching at ELTE University, Hungary, in their College of Education. Laura is a member of the International Leadership Council and the Children's Focusing Advisory Board.

Marian Bruen is a Primary Teacher for over 20 years. She lives in Ireland, with her husband and 4 children, 2 dogs and 1 cat. She is also a Yoga and Meditation Teacher. She is currently studying under the guidance of Tom Larkin to become a Focusing Trainer. Her dream is to bring Focusing into as many Primary School settings in Ireland as possible, and she has founded a new venture, called, Tranquil Teachers Calm Kids, to support, encourage and inform teachers how to use Focusing practices in their educational settings. Marian is a member of the Irish Focusing Network.

The Children & Focusing Advisory Group
Laura Bavalics is an early childhood educator, play mentor, and drama teacher. She is a Certified Focusing Professional and a Focusing-oriented educator, who has been working with young children, parents, and professionals for over twenty-five years. She is a professional director of the Pendula inclusive kindergarten program for children in foster care and with special needs at the Világszép Foundation in Hungary. She is also teaching at ELTE University, Hungary, in their College of Education. Laura is a member of the International Leadership Council and the Children's Focusing Advisory Board.

René Veugelers is a Coordinator specializing in Children’s Focusing, with an emphasis on the non-verbal world, René teaches parents, therapists, teachers and others how to be with children in a Focusing way, how to (re)connect to their own inner child experiences and how to integrate creativity and flexibility into their life and work. His work and experiences as a psychiatric nurse and as an art therapist with children, of any age, embraces an expanded richness of creative elements and supports a natural unfolding of creative process. René lives and works in the Netherlands, where he teaches Children Focusing and specializes in working with children with ADHD, ADD, trauma and attachment disorder.

Harriet Teeuw is a Focusing Coordinator and Art Therapist, working in her own practice with children and adults in The Netherlands. Teaching “Dynamic Expressive Focusing” and Focusing International Online (Dream) Workshops and Certification Program for Focusing Practitioners: http://www.childrenfocusing.org; www.deruimte-info.nl