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Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI®) is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. TBRI uses Empowering Principles to address physical needs, Connecting Principles to meet attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors. While the intervention is based on years of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research, the heartbeat of TBRI is connection.
TBRI is designed to meet the complex needs of children who have experienced adversity, early harm, toxic stress, and/or trauma. Because of their histories, it is often difficult for these children to trust the loving adults in their lives, which often results in perplexing behaviors. TBRI offers practical tools for parents, caregivers, teachers, or anyone who works with children, to see the “whole child” in their care and help that child reach his highest potential.
Because of their histories, children who have experienced trauma have changes in their bodies, brains, behaviors, and belief systems. While a variety of parenting strategies may be successful in typical circumstances, children with histories of harm need caregiving that meets their unique needs and addresses the whole child. That said, we’ve found that any child benefits from a nurturing, trusting relationship with a safe adult.
TBRI is used worldwide in homes, residential facilities, group homes, schools, camps, juvenile justice facilities, courts, with survivors of sex trafficking, in faith communities, courts, with law enforcement, in clinical practices, and beyond.
If you’d like to get started right away, we encourage you to visit and explore the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD) site for more information and resources. Reading the KPICD’s book, The Connected Child, or viewing any of its DVDs are both great places to start. TBRI 101: A Self-Guided Course in Trust-Based Relationships also provides nearly eight hours of instruction on TBRI. Through its parent resource page, the KPICD offers a few ideas for parents to start learning how to implement trust-based parenting in a variety of ways. Professionals can apply to attend the Institute’s TBRI Practitioner Training.