💛 Healing Begins with Connection: Adoption, TBRI & the Heart Behind Show Hope

Adoption is an act of love, but it’s also a journey of healing. Behind every adoption story is a complex tapestry of loss, love, identity, and hope. And for many families, that journey needs more than good intentions—it needs support, trauma-informed tools, and community.

That’s where holistic care makes all the difference.

🧠💖 Understanding the Layers of Adoption

Every child who has experienced adoption has also experienced separation- from birth family, culture, or familiar caregivers. Even in the most nurturing homes, children often carry invisible wounds rooted in early attachment disruptions or trauma. This is where traditional parenting approaches can fall short—and where relational, brain-based strategies can shine.

That’s where TBRI® (Trust-Based Relational Intervention) comes in.

🌱 What is TBRI®? A Compassionate Roadmap for Connection

TBRI is a trauma-informed approach developed by Dr. Karyn Purvis and Dr. David Cross at Texas Christian University. It’s designed especially for children from hard places—those who have faced abuse, neglect, or early attachment injuries. But it’s not just for parenting. TBRI transforms caregiving relationships in schools, foster care, counseling, and beyond.

At its core, TBRI is about connecting, empowering, and correcting—in that order. It blends neuroscience, attachment theory, and real-world caregiving wisdom into practical tools that help adults meet children where they are:

✨ Connecting through trust-building interactions
✨ Empowering with routines, felt safety, and sensory regulation
✨ Correcting behavior with empathy and skill-building rather than shame

Rather than asking, “What’s wrong with this child?”—TBRI asks, “What has this child been through, and how can I help them feel safe again?”

🌍 Show Hope: Rooted in Compassion, Driven by Action

One organization deeply committed to this healing-centered approach is Show Hope. Founded by Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth, Show Hope began as a response to their own family’s adoption journey and has since become a national leader in adoption advocacy and support.

Their mission? To break down barriers standing between waiting children and loving families—especially the financial, medical, and emotional needs that often go unspoken.

Through adoption aid grants, medical care support, and pre- and post-adoption resources—including widespread training in TBRI—Show Hope equips families to not only bring children home, but to help them thrive once they’re there.

🧘‍♀️ A Holistic View of Family Healing

In holistic counseling, healing isn’t just about behavior—it’s about wholeness. That means integrating mind, body, spirit, and relationship. For adopted children, this can include:

• ✋ Sensory integration and regulation tools

• 🫶 Safe touch, co-regulation, and rhythm-based activities

• 🧘 Trauma-informed movement like yoga or bilateral stimulation

• 💬 Narrative work to help process identity and loss

• 🤝 Parent coaching rooted in attunement and attachment

TBRI fits naturally within this framework—because it honors each child’s nervous system, history, and need for connection.

📣 How to Be Part of the Healing

Whether you’re a caregiver, teacher, counselor, or friend—there’s a role for you in supporting adoptive families:

🔹 Learn more about TBRI at child.tcu.edu
🔹 Explore Show Hope’s inspiring work and resources at showhope.org
🔹 Offer patience, compassion, and flexibility when supporting children from hard places
🔹 Consider attending or hosting a TBRI training in your community

🌈 Healing doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in safe, consistent, nurturing relationships—over time. With the right tools and support, every child has the capacity to grow, trust, and flourish.

Ready to dive deeper into trauma-informed parenting or holistic counseling approaches?

🌿Call today and explore the tools that help children—and caregivers—build resilience from the inside out.