Our friend and colleague, Dr. Brian Alman, recently posted this article on AcesConnection.com announcing the development of a theatrical experience that will combine psychology, trauma-informed learning, cinema, and improvisation to create an immersive, interactive learning experiencing in efforts to help parents (and those planning to become parents) address conflict in a more healthy way.
The article can also be read at: https://www.acesconnection.com/blog/ace-parenting-theater-course
(Note: This program is currently in development and we are actively seeking sponsors, support, and participants. If you are interested, please contact us through my website: http://www.stevenfischer.net
As they say, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” After all, how could one be expected to adopt a better way of parenting if they’ve never seen or experienced it themselves?
This is all about to change.
ACEs Parenting Theater Course
Dr. Vincent Felitti, the Co-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study, and Dr. Brian Alman, one of the leading mind-body stress experts in the world, have partnered with Steven Fischer, a two-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker, to develop a course to actually show—not simply tell—the differences between ACE-causing and ACE-preventing parenting styles. That way, parents can learn, engage, and practice in a highly-effective ACE parenting course that is taught in a group setting with theater, role-playing, and improvisational interactions.
For example, parents will learn what healthy and unhealthy interactions look like within the family dynamic:
Unhealthy
- When a child tells of a traumatic experience and a parent responds with, “Don’t worry about it,” the child hears a denial of reality and sometimes feels the event must be their fault.
- When a child describes a traumatic experience and a parent responds with, “It’ll be fine,” the child feels a lack of understanding and support.
- Judgment
- Criticism
- Passive listening
- Ignoring
- Interactions that are tense, stressed, and reactive
- ACEs
Healthy
- When a child tells of a traumatic experience and a parent responds with, “Can you tell me more?”
- When a child describes a traumatic experience and a parent responds with, “How do you feel?” or “What do you think about __?”
- Comforting and helpful perspectives
- Acceptance
- Active listening
- Interactions that are open, positive, stress-free, and relaxed
- Positive childhood experiences
This course is essentially designed to break the cycle of generational trauma and give parents the most in-depth and actionable parenting content available today.
About the Course
The course will include six original movies that will be 60 minutes each.The movies that dramatize healthy and unhealthy parenting and change the way parents view parenting. The movies are to be used as prompts for group discussion on how parents might deal with conflict in ways that will ultimately be healthy for their children’s emotional, mental, and physical development.
Old School, New School 