Peer Orientation: Why Children are Stressed, Why Parents and Teachers are Disempowered and How to Restore a Healthy Balance in Adult-Child Relationships

Day One: The General and Special Education Summit

Presented by Gabor Maté, M.D.

Monday, December 2, 2019  |  Richmond, bc

Date & Location

Why Children are Stressed, Why Parents and Teachers are Disempowered and How To Restore a Healthy Balance in Adult-Child Relationships.

Parenting and teaching are much harder these days than they used to be, and than they should be. In Hold On To Your Kids, Dr. Gabor Maté (with developmental psychologist Gordon Neufeld) forward a provocative and important view of why this is, and what we can do to counteract it.

The root of the problem is that children no longer look to adults for emotional support, the teaching of values, or the modeling of behaviour. Peer orientation refers to the tendency of children and youth to look to their peers for direction: for their sense of right and wrong, codes of conduct, and their very identity. Peer orientation undermines family cohesion, sabotages healthy development and fosters an aggressive and prematurely sexualized youth culture. For parents already challenged by the demands of our multitasking world and stretched by stark economic realities, peer orientation further complicates the task of child rearing. Children were never meant by nature to be in a position where they are so dominant in influencing one another. This state of affairs may be the norm today, but it’s neither natural nor healthy. Historically it is a very new development, due to economic and social influences prevalent since World War II, resulting in a deep undermining of adult-child connections.

This workshop aims at restoring parenting to its natural intuitive basis and the adult-child relationship to its rightful preeminence. The concepts, principles and practical advice articulated will empower parents, teachers and other adults who play a nurturing role to be for children what nature intended: the true source of contact, security and warmth. Parents must regain their natural authority, without coercion, punishment and artificial consequences. Children need to be protected from becoming lost in the emotionally barren and culturally backward world of peer orientation.
orientation.

Recommended Reading

Who Should Attend

Education and Clinical Professionals: K–12 Classroom Teachers, School Counsellors/Psychologists, Learning Assistance/ Resource Teachers, School Administrators, School Paraprofessionals including Special Education Assistants, Classroom Assistants and Childcare Workers. All other professionals who support students including but not limited to: Nurses, Social Workers, Psychologists, Clinical Counsellors, Family Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Addiction Counsellors, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Probation Officers, Police Officers, and Early Childhood Educators.

Parents, Caregiver, Foster Parents, Grandparents, and Extended Family raising a child.

Your Presenter

Gabor Maté, M.D.

Gabor Maté (pronunciation: GAH-bor MAH-tay) is a retired physician who, after 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of four books published in twenty-five languages, Gabor is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness. His book on addiction received the Hubert Evans Prize for literary non-fiction. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. His books include In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction; When the Body Says No; The Cost of Hidden Stress; Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder; and (with Gordon Neufeld) Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers. To learn more, join his enews list at www.drgabormate.com.

 

Testimonials

“During my 40 years as a psychologist working with trauma, I have met excellent teachers, but none have resonated as deeply with my commitment to a attachment theory and the source of DSM diagnosis as Dr. Maté’s approach to trauma. Traumatic reactions, and attachment issues unrecognized, remain the predominant source of most if not all, psychological distress. Dr. Maté explains, illustrates a living empathy to all these experience we encounter in therapy. I continue to learn and relearn and learn again from his workshops.”
– Richmond, BC | December 2, 2019

“Inspirational knowledge. Thank you for the opportunity to spend the day learning form you. This workshop left me with knowledge, hope for clients and learning I will take back to my personal/ professional life.”
– Richmond, BC | November 27, 2018

“Dr. Mate provides a thorough understanding into trauma and addictions on both a professional and for practice. The workshop is in depth beyond its description”
– Richmond, BC | November 27, 2018

“Dr. Mate was everything I’d hoped. Excellent presentation!”
– Richmond, BC | November 27, 2018

“Dr. Gabor mate is an excellent speaker, engages the audience with self-work and demonstrations. Encapsulates the whole self, mind, body, neurological, social and often spiritual, in addressing the mental/emotional/physical/spiritual health issues we address as psychologists. He teaches us both pure compassion and pure judgement in out approach to psychotherapy.”
– Richmond, BC | November 27, 2018

Registration & Fees