Connie Bonner-Britt has a M.A. degree in Human Development with a Specialization in Early Childhood Education from Pacific Oaks College. She is the first on both sides of her family to have received a Masters Degree. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Children’s Mental Health Specialist. She worked as a mental health counselor for Compass Health in the Children and Family unit for ten years. She has been actively co-teaching (with her beloved husband) two weekly Therapeutic Parenting Groups for the past ten years. While raising her two daughters, she earned her Bachelors Degree in Human Development. During that time she owned and operated Children’s House Child Development Center and helped develop Samish Longhouse Preschool. As of Fall 2009 Connie is a full time faculty member in the Early Childhood Education Department for Skagit Valley College.
My first born daughter, Jennifer, and I are celebrating on Santa Monica Beach in 2002. Jennifer came from Toronto, where she lives, to be with me to receive my Masers Degree from Pacific Oaks College at Pasadena, California. Jennifer has her Bachelors Degree in Business. She is now married and the mother of three beautiful children. Her first born son and our first grandchild was born in 2003.
Here is our back yard, my second born daughter, Emily, and I are picking lavender and tying it into bundles to give as gifts. The bundles of lavender are so beautiful and sweet when tied together. Emily is a naturalist, she is a Gentle Garden Fairy of the Mist. Emily is married and the mother of a beautiful daughter and our second grandchild, born in 2004. My husband took this picture in the summer of 2003.
Connie is very happily married to her beloved Chuck.
THERAPEUTIC PARENTING TOOLS
BUY NOW
PARENTING TOOL BOX
Nine Therapeutic Parenting Tools
For Parents and Professionnals
by
Connie Bonner-Britt, MA
and
Chuck Britt, MA
The content of this book is drawn from the work of many social scientists, theorists, and Wisdom Keepers in the fields of child care, psychology, child and family therapy, and human physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual development. Particularly influential have been, Joan Erikson, Erik Erikson, Margaret Mahler, Maria Montessori, Stanley Greenspan, and the principles of the Baha’i Faith on consensus building. Our inspired colleague, Rob McCauley, participated in the early stages of the collection of these ideas.
Two guiding principles at Skagit Family Study Center are:
1. Human beings do not automatically know how their feelings serve to draw attention to their needs.
2. Humans must learn from other loving humans how to take responsibility for taking care of their own feelings and needs.
When we impulsively make plans based only on what is happening outside of us in the world, and with other people, without reference to what is happening in our own bodies, we will often find ourselves feeling frustration or even hopelessness. We believe the Five Step Self Time Out process helps human beings move through the natural stages of human development by providing a tool to help us pay attention to our own feelings and needs. We have also found that this process helps us stay attuned to our deepest spiritual beliefs. We have found that when parents choose to use the Five Step Self Time Out and the other principles in this book, over a period of months, their children begin to choose to use Five Step Self Time Outs to make plans that are more effective.
We are devoted to supporting families and being part of the community effort to help families of every description feel whole and be whole. We believe that this can be accomplished only when each family member feels whole and is whole. We believe that this can only happen when each family member continues to move through his or her natural stages of social, emotional, and spiritual development.
The Parenting Tool Box and the Therapeutic Parenting Tools are intended to support parents in reducing the need for therapy by showing them how to stay “in role” and by giving them the tools to heal their own families. If your family or your child is currently in therapy or counseling, one of the best ways to make the most of the therapy is to use The Parenting Tool Box and become a partner at home in the process of healing.
02-02-2008 POST
THREE SISTERS: ONE WOMAN’S WALK
February 26, 2010 a revision of 2-2-08 blog
In our family, I am the oldest daughter of three sisters and two brothers. I dedicate this blog to my sisters, who are no longer living with us in this world. My mother and father live close to me. I especially love visiting them to talk about generational family history. My parents are inspirational in all they have provided for our family and in their consistent ability to grow and change for themselves. They live their lives with love and sacrifice in behalf of their five children, seven grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.
I am very happily married to my best friend. We have been married eleven years. My challenge with my husband is he loves me so dearly; it just staggers me at times. Our marriage has been built on respect, trust, safety and enduring attention to how well we care for each other and most importantly how well we care for ourselves individually. This is the key to our relationship, self respect and self care. We are both licensed mental health counselors and creative, individual thinkers. Our professional work together in behalf of families and children has been one of the most honorable experiences of my life. I have two beautiful, gifted daughters, raising families with their beloved husbands. We have four grandchildren. My husband has one outrageous, on fire son, and his wife is adorable.
All the loves of our lives!
I am a college faculty instructor and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. My husband and I have built beautiful gardens for me to have fun in. The gardens are a reflection of our love for each other. I delight in growing flowers in our gardens and taking pictures of them in the summer time. This summer our four Grandchildren were visiting for the first time all together. We danced and played and picked the flowers and vegetables in the garden beds for weeks!
Six years ago I started taking Middle Eastern dance lessons for fun and exercise. The doctor recommended I exercise three to four times a week (you need to sweat when you exercise, she said). So, I had a business card that I had picked up at a Greek restaurant advertising belly dancing and setting by my computer for a year. I decided to call the number. After the first class, I knew I was going to be learning and dancing for a long time. I am still dancing and having fun practicing and making my own costumes for the annual MedFest performances! This year will be the fifth performance for our dance group. Our teacher is a very dear person. For me this is a story of determination and fun hearted will power. I fight off the hidden voices of destruction that tell me I am not good enough, or to old, or too this or that, and still I face the dance and the fabric and the “full catastrophe.”
This blog is dedicated to my beloved sisters, Diana Marie Bonner 1950-1995 and Barbara Lorain Bonner 1953-2000. I am taking joy on, fully, and throwing off every bit of trepidation that clings to my knees, to overcome, recover, uncover, and discover my walk. The path began with my birth. Rebirth is a choice. I heard a statement in a movie this week; we love to watch movies, it referred to facing difficulty and standing powerful, “easy doesn’t count.” I know. This walk is for Three Sisters.