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Connection Before Correction: The Power of Co-regulation in Caregiver-Child Relationships

Family Support
Date April 24, 2026
Time 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location Virtual
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Family Support Friday Session 7

Young children learn how to manage their emotions through relationships. Before they can calm themselves, they need an adult who can help them feel safe, seen, and supported. This Family Support Friday workshop explores co-regulation as a foundational skill in early childhood mental health and family support work, emphasizing the role of the adult nervous system in shaping children’s behavior and emotional development across the lifespan.

Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how stress, overwhelm, and unmet needs show up as behavior, and how connection, presence, and attunement can shift these moments.

Through reflection, discussion, and practical examples, participants will learn how to support caregivers, as well as themselves, in more regulated, responsive interactions with their children, even in the midst of big feelings and challenging behavior. This training centers compassion over compliance and offers realistic, relationship-based tools that can be used in everyday moments with families.

Learning Objectives

  1. Describe the role of co-regulation in early childhood development and explain why children need emotionally available adults to support their nervous systems before they can self-regulate.
  2. Identify how caregiver stress and dysregulation impact child behavior and use strengths-based, non-shaming language to support caregivers in moments of overwhelm.
  3. Demonstrate at least 3 practical co-regulation strategies that can be modeled, coached, and reinforced with caregivers in real-life situations.

Presented By

  • Jade Dwelley

    Jade Dwelley

    Clinical Supervisor & Trainer at the Home for Little Wanderers

    Jade Dwelley

    Jade Dwelley is a social worker, clinical trainer, and supervisor who has spent her career partnering with youth and families as they work toward lives that feel more aligned, meaningful, and sustainable. She brings experience from in-home family therapy, school-based social work, and outpatient counseling in a hospital setting, allowing her to meet people with flexibility, humility, and care across a wide range of contexts. Jade’s work is informed by a background in Narrative Therapy, a certification in teaching yoga, and a deep commitment to social justice. She values approaches that honor lived experience, invite reflection, and center people as the experts of their own lives.

    A former clinician with The Home for Little Wanderers’ Safe at Home Boston program, Jade now facilitates clinical trainings for the agency and supports site-specific training needs. She also serves as a supervisor in the Center for Early Childhood, where she is passionate about creating spaces for clinicians to feel supported, empowered, and confident as they develop their skills and step into their own preferred ways of practicing. At the heart of Jade’s work is a belief in collaboration, gentleness, and the power of being deeply seen. She is honored to walk alongside others as they build trust in themselves and their work.

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