Beyond Behavior:
An Embodied Dialogue on Felt Safety, Neurodiversity, and Caregiving

Children are constantly communicating with us.

Sometimes through words.

Sometimes through behavior.

Sometimes through withdrawal, overwhelm, resistance, big emotions, silence, movement, or a need to be close.

As caregivers, we often find ourselves trying to understand what a child needs while also navigating our own nervous system responses. In the midst of daily life, school transitions, family stressors, and competing demands, it can be difficult to stay connected to ourselves and to the children we care for.

This special 90-minute no-cost Embodied Dialogues Wisdom Panel from Jan Winhall with guest experts Casey Ehrlich, Amanda Diekman, Robyn Gobbel, and Jacqui Jebian Garcia invites us to slow down and listen more deeply. When children are struggling, overwhelmed, resistant, anxious, shut down, or simply moving through the world in ways that differ from our expectations, how might a nervous system lens help us understand what is needed? How might our understanding of felt safety, co-regulation, and neurodiversity open new possibilities for connection? Together, we'll explore these questions through conversation, lived experience, and clinical wisdom.

Together, we will explore caregiving through a nervous system lens. Rather than asking, "How do we change this behavior?" we will consider what becomes possible when we listen for the underlying need, honor individual differences, and support conditions that help both children and caregivers experience greater felt safety.

Each child brings a unique nervous system into relationship with the world around them. Neurodiversity, trauma history, sensory experiences, learning differences, family dynamics, and environmental factors all shape how a child experiences safety, connection, and challenge. Together, we'll explore how honoring these differences can help us meet children with greater curiosity, compassion, and understanding.

Questions we'll Explore Together

• Exploring PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance or Pervasive Drive for Autonomy), and how honoring autonomy, reducing nervous system overwhelm, and supporting felt safety can create new possibilities for connection.

• Felt safety and its role in learning, connection, and development

• Co-regulation as a foundation for caregiving

• The impact of sensory differences, neurodiversity, trauma, and individual nervous system patterns

• Supporting children through transitions, overwhelm, and everyday challenges

• Caring for ourselves while caring for others

• Ways to bring greater curiosity, flexibility, and compassion into our relationships with children

This conversation is for parents, educators, therapists, helping professionals, and anyone who wants to better understand children through the lens of the nervous system.

We hope you'll join us for a thoughtful and engaging dialogue and bring your questions for our live Q&A.

Our panel brings together four voices who have each dedicated their work to understanding children and supporting the adults who walk alongside them. Together, we'll explore what becomes possible when caregiving begins with curiosity, connection, and felt safety.

Meet the Panelists:

Casey: https://www.atpeaceparents.com/

Jacqui: https://www.createyourselfco.com/

Amanda: https://www.amandadiekman.com/

Robyn Gobbel: https://robyngobbel.com/