“It is not often you find a master orator, teacher, mentor and friend who is also a master therapist, consultant and expert in the healing of children and families. It is difficult to express the kind of positive impact received by our staff and foster parents after their time with Juli Alvarado. She is not only an expert presenter with a well-researched message on the effects of trauma on the developing brain, but her first hand experience with special needs children and youth as a foster and adoptive parent is more than the “icing on the cake,” but an integral part of the motivational quality of her trainings. Of all our trainings with different presenters over the last several years, Juli is the first to assist our foster parents in feeling safe enough to become vulnerable about their own personal change and need for emotional growth, rather than make the focus about the child’s behaviors. Her emphasis on the “family” and its role in relationship attachment issues is profound and meaningful, framed with paradigms that are embraceable and easy to remember.
Our Foster parents are gaining increased empathy for the traumatized child, staying more “emotionally regulated” in the home, avoiding being triggered by the “severe behaviors” demonstrated when children are operating out of a “fear based emotion” and recognizing that their most important work is to “stay in relationship” with the child and youth so that the “seeds of attachment” can be transferred into adoption, reunification or other permanency goals.
Needless to say, I would recommend her highly. Her professional demeanor is exemplary, yet she has a poignant, personal aura that allows her to make connections with staff, administrators and foster parents alike. For the first time since my 3 year tenure as SAFY State Director, I am deeply excited about our ability to train our staff and therapists in assisting foster parents as they seek to avoid the placement disruptions that have plagued our industry for decades.
One Team, One Mission!”
-Donna Bolinger MS, LMHC
State Director SAFY Indiana
