Connected Club Membership - February
Making relationships work.
Your Membership Content for February
At Connections in Mind we know that living with executive function challenges can put extra strain on relationships.
We understand how lonely it can feel.
We have put together this month’s resources and events to help you build strong trusting relationships where your executive function challenges are acknowledged, understood and supported.
Masterclass
Self-Advocacy: how to communicate about your challenges and build trust
When we struggle with our executive function challenges it can be difficult for people to trust us and for us to trust ourselves. We need to work hard to communicate what is going on for us to others so that they don’t jump to their own conclusions, that we are: lazy, uninterested, rude etc. Self-advocacy is the ability to understand and effectively communicate our needs to other people, and it’s all about educating the people around you.
Learning Outcomes
After the Masterclass with Dr Soracha Cashman, Cognitive Neuropsychologist and executive function coach you will know:
Why people can find it difficult to trust people with executive function challenges.
- Why we often find it so difficult to trust ourselves.
- How to better understand and build trust – the 4 dimensions of Trust.
- The importance of Metacognition – our own critical awareness of how we think, learn and interact
- Looking at the 3 key self-advocacy skills – self-knowledge, needs awareness, and identifying how to get what you need
- How to communicate with others about your challenges in a way that helps them to be empathetic and supportive
- How helping your partner/family to develop the skill of empathy can help you maximise your EF potential.
- Emotional first aid and how to soothe your brain when you are dysregulated.
Brain Upskill Module
Empathy in Relationships
Empathy is arguably the most powerful skill we can harness to build relationships. True empathy is the antidote to emotional dysregulation and helps build connection with the ones we care for most. This connection in turn helps build stronger executive functions because feeling safe, loveable and valuable is essential to their development.
Learning Outcomes
After this pre-recorded, self help module with Victoria Bagnall, Co Founder of Connections in Mind and executive function expert you will know:
- What empathy is and how it differs from sympathy
- How empathy soothes our emotional responses and allows our executive functions to come back online
- How to be present with your partner when they are dysregulated
- The importance of active listening
- How to compose an empathetic response
- What to avoid when trying this new skill
Neuroinsight Module
Trauma and Executive Functioning
More and more research is becoming available to show the link between trauma and the development of the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which houses the executive functions. Knowing how trauma can affect brain development of children and brain function in adults is essential to understanding how to develop stronger executive functioning.
Toolkit
Trust and Relationships
Build trust in your relationships using this helpful toolkit with printable worksheets to help you get more connected with your partner!
Interactive Strategy Sessions
Run by Rachel Breskal, one of our executive function coaches and using the February theme of “Making relationships work”, these live strategy sessions will consolidate all the information from the Connected Club, specifically looking at:
Session 1, Tuesday 8th of Feb – Come with a goal that you would like to achieve and we can work together to put this into practice. We be discussing strategies including GEASERS to help create behaviour change.
Session 2, Tuesday 22nd Feb – Considering your goal from the previous session we will discuss strategies to help you get the wagon wheels back on when they start to wobble or fall off!
Weekly Support Sessions
Had a bad EF week? Then join one of our weekly support sessions, facilitated by Dr Soracha Cashman, one of our dedicated and experienced executive function coaches. In these sessions, find yourself amongst like minded people who equally struggle with their EFs. Gain and share support and advice, accountability and meet our wonderful EF community.
Dr Cashman is a cognitive neuropsychologist and experienced group facilitator regularly working with FTSE 100 companies.
Livecast
Trust and Executive Functions
Join Co-Founders of Connections in Mind: Imogen Moore-Shelley and Victoria Bagnall as they discuss the trials and tribulations of living with executive function challenges. Both Imogen and Victoria have their own EF challenges and live with husbands who have ADHD, so they know first hand how hard it can be, but also how brilliant.
In this 50 minute “livecast” (live video podcast), they will have a live, informal discussion about building trust in relationships and how executive function challenges can get in the way. Join them as they chat about:
- Living with partners with ADHD
- How hard it is to trust someone who promises to do things and doesn’t follow through.
- The good, the bad and the ugly of executive function challenges in relationships.
- The importance of empathy.
- How to build trust where it matters, move away from shame and blame and scaffold the development of executive function skills in each other.
