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Parenting Tips & Tools To Reduce Toxic Stress

Parenting Tips & Tools to Reduce Toxic Stress Presented by Allison Davis Maxon, M.S., LMFT

Allison Davis Maxon, M.S., LMFT is a nationally recognized expert in the fields of child welfare and children’s mental health. Specializing in Attachment, Trauma and Permanency/Adoption, she has over twenty five years of experience as a clinician, educator, advocate, and leader focused on helping children and families heal and thrive. Allison is the is the co-author of the Seven Core Issues in Adoption and Permanency: A Comprehensive Guide to Promoting Understanding and Healing in Adoption, Foster Care, Kinship Families and Third Party Reproduction.

On April 29th and May 6th, Allison partnered with Aspiranet REACH to provide a free two-part web series on parenting during abnormal circumstances. With the current crisis, we have foster, kinship, guardianship, and adoptive parents who are now adjusting to an external environment filled with toxic stress. Parents can use this time of home confinement to practice the important skills of bouncing back from a stressful event, increasing self-awareness, strengthening self-regulation, and emotional competence. Some of these skills can actually be fun to learn and practice!

Recorded link for Part 1:

Recorded link for Part 2:


Resources Mentioned in Training:

  • https://allisondavismaxon.com/

  • “Seven Core Issues in Adoption and Permanency” by Sharon Kaplan Roszia & Allison Davis Maxon

  • Jessica Kingsley Publishing: https://www.jkp.com

  • “Attachment: 60 Trauma-Informed Assessment and Treatment Interventions Across the Lifespan” by Christina Reese

  • “I Love You, Stinky Face” by Lisa McCourt and Cyd Moore

  • “Board Book I Love You Just the Way You Are” by Make Believe Ideas Ltd.

  • “The Invisible String” by Patrice Karst

  • “The Invisible String Workbook: Creative Activities to Comfort, Calm, and Connect” by Patrice Karst, Dana Wyss, et al.

  • “Mindful Monkey, Happy Panda” By Lauren Alderfer and Kerry Lee MacLean

  • “Cheaper than Therapy: A Guided Journal”

  • Fostering Families Today Magazine: https://fosteringfamiliestoday.com/

  • https://childswork.com/ – So many great things on here! Allison specifically mentioned the Feelings Cards

  • https://strategiesca.org/ – Thank you Strategies 2.0 for giving us a platform for this webinar! Browse their website for resources & trainings.

Training Handouts:

  • anger-fostering-families-today-may2019

  • attachment-and-toxic-stress

  • attachment-purpose-maxon

  • child-grief-and-core-issues-maxon

  • eq-and-children

  • family-stress-thermometer-maxon

  • good-stress-bad-stress

  • learnwhatthey-live-maxon-2018

  • three-rs-and-brain-development

  • tools-for-parents-covid-19

  • poem-and-the-people-stayed-home

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