So what is the Nurtured Heart Approach?
The Nurtured Heart Approach (NHA) is a relationship-focused methodology based on a 3 Stands™ strategy to help children (and adults) build their Inner Wealth and use their intensity in successful ways.
The Nurtured Heart Approach consists of a set of strategies that assist children in further developing their self-regulation and has been found to be effective with children of all ages.
It focuses on transforming the way children perceive themselves, their caregivers and the world around them. Children learn to understand that they will receive praise, energy, recognition and reward through the positive behaviours they display. This supports children to build a positive portfolio of themselves, which is called their Inner Wealth.
Intensity is the key to the Nurtured Heart Approach thinking. Unfortunately, the word intensity has negative connotations within our society, interpreted by many as ‘attention seeking’. Teachers, parents and care workers often view it as the enemy.
The Nurtured Heart Approach embraces intensity, as we believe it is a powerful quality that if developed correctly, can propel children onto amazing achievements. When a child learns to feel great about their intensity, the incidents of challenging behaviour dissolve.
Children often get much more attention when they display negative behaviour. Unfortunately this attention can be fundamental to perpetuating the problem. The methodology remaps the conventional ways of parenting and school discipline.
The approach has been successfully implemented in thousands of classrooms around the world, proving to be a powerful way of awakening the inherent greatness in all children whilst facilitating classroom success.
The essence of the approach is a set of core principles originally developed for working with the most difficult children. It has a proven impact on every child, including those who are challenged behaviourally, socially and academically.
The 3 Stand core strategies will be explored during the training, with clear and explicit guidance and interactive exercises, supported by research that will demonstrate and allow attendees to draw parallels with their own experiences of intense children.
The Nurtured Heart Approach embraces The 3 Stands that when committed to, become a powerful means of transforming children
The Nurtured Heart Approach was founded in the 1990s by Howard Glasser following the extensive therapeutic work he had conducted with children and family in the U.S.
The approach was based upon his gradual and powerful realisation that many of the conventional and traditional methods used to treat, parent, and teach intense/challenging children were ineffective and not sustainable. At worst, these approaches were heightening the problems and eliciting more of these children's undesired behaviours.
Through observing the energy in relationships Howard noticed that more energy and attention was given to negative behaviours rather than to positive behaviours.
Over the past 20+ years Howard has broadened this approach beyond his therapeutic practice, he has co-authored several books including ‘The Nurtured Heart Approach’ one of the top-selling books on the topic of ADHD and on school interventions.
He has featured as a guest on CNN and a consultant on ‘48 hours’ an American documentary/news magazine television show that broadcasts on CBS.
He has lectured in the US and internationally, teaching therapists, educators and parents about the Nurtured Heart Approach® which is now being using in hundreds of thousands of homes and classrooms around the world. He has also embedded this approach throughout his consultancy and collaborative work, working in areas of Psychiatry, the Justice System and Educational Programmes.
Although he has done extensive doctoral work in the field of clinical psychology and educational leadership, he feels his own years as a difficult child contributed the most to his understanding of the needs of challenging children and to the success of this approach.
Through the proactive delivery of training programmes and the growth of certified NHA trainers and practitioners across the world, the Nurtured Heart Approach is igniting and magnifying the inherent greatness of children, young people and educational communities worldwide.
Children and young people learn to understand that they will receive praise, energy, recognition and reward through the positive behaviour they display, children will start to build a positive portfolio of themselves, with a belief of true Inner Wealth
The Nurtured Heart Approach teaches and empowers parents and professionals to use these simple tools and techniques to create these environments, which has a positive impact on relationships for parents, teachers and peers.
The Nurtured Heart Approach makes a huge difference to those children and young people who show behavioural, emotional and anxiety related symptoms – almost always without the need for long-term mental health treatment.
The following (non-exhaustive, ever-growing) list represents some of the relationship types and issues that have benefitted from the NHA: