This 3-hour 15 minute FREE virtual seminar will explore how experiences in early life set the stage for a child’s ability to regulate emotions and behavior. When we help a child regulate, rather than expecting them to regulate on their own, it is called co-regulation. Coregulation is the first step before a child can learn to self-regulate, and it involves a caregiver providing a calm, supportive presence and using various techniques to help a child feel safe and understood.

For a child to develop the skills required for self-regulation, they must know what it feels like through the experience of co-regulation. Co-regulation then is not a cognitive process but occurs through the felt sense of relational safety and connection. This process is vital for healthy social-emotional development and builds a foundation for lifelong coping skills.

Adults often underestimate how much young children require adult support and guidance to manage their feelings when they are worried, angry, hurt or scared. Yet many children, and especially those surrounded by dysregulated adults, don’t consistently receive this essential prerequisite for self-regulation — a safe, calm, and attuned nervous system to help them regulate, calm down, or de-stress. Before a parent or trusted adult can help a child through co-regulation, they need to understand their own emotional skills and limitations.

Co-regulation strategies focus on creating a safe, supportive environment through actions like being present, offering comfort, and modeling calm behavior. Strategies from movement to music can promote relational safety and trust as well as smooth transitions and provide opportunities for practicing self-regulation. Essentially, an adult's calm presence (co-regulation) creates safety, allowing the child to learn to manage feelings (social-emotional skills) within a strong bond (connection).

Diverse cultures impart to children how to manage and regulate emotions, socialize, and engage with others, but the effects of trauma and adversity can derail that transmission. In today’s culture, with a decline in our collective social health, we are lacking in opportunities for co-regulation.

This training is for community behavioral health providers, CYFD staff, and other community stakeholders who work with children, youth, and families. 

3 Social Work CEUs

Trainer:
Jane Clarke, Ph.D.

Dr. Jane Clarke has a Ph.D. in Special Education with a focus on Early Childhood Language/Learning Disabilities, alongside master's degrees in Speech/Language Pathology and Learning Disabilities. She has completed post-doctoral work at Fielding University and fellowships in Infant-Parent Mental Health. Recently, she finished a fellowship in Reflective Supervision Consultation at UC-Davis. With extensive experience supporting high-risk infants and families, she is trained in various assessment procedures and interventions, and has developed innovative assessment tools such as DIAPER and DOVE. Currently, Jane serves as a statewide trainer and consultant for the NM-CYFD BHS – Infant Mental Health program and has been endorsed as an Infant Mental Health Mentor since 2007.

• Participants will recognize that co-regulation is a biological imperative (Porges, 2025)
• Participants will understand how co-regulation support’s a child’s ability to self-regulate.
• Participants will be able to identify how trauma and adversity can affect a parent’s ability to provide co-regulation to a young child.
• Participants will be able to discuss how different co-regulation strategies promote relational safety and trust as well as provide opportunities for practicing self-regulation.

This training brought to you through a partnership with the State of New Mexico's Children, Youth, and Families Department.