Meet Karen, the face behind The RADish Ranch
Hello! I’m Karen, the founder of The RADish Ranch.
My introduction to RAD/DTD was not through a textbook or clinical setting, but rather through sitting with and listening to parents and working with their children, and through working in families’ homes right in the middle of everyday life that is affected by trauma.
This beginning led to my practical, hands-on approach to trauma-responsive therapeutic care, which provides guidance, answers, resources, and support to answer parents’ most-asked questions of “How do I help my child? What do I do?”
Since beginning this journey in trauma-responsive therapeutic care in 2012, I have worked under and side-by-side with experienced therapeutic parenting coaches, therapists specializing in RAD, trauma-informed coaches, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and many, many amazing parents who have shared their experiences. My resume of professional development courses and learning in the trauma and attachment fields is extensive, but the deepest learning has come from the children and families themselves.
I spent the first 8 years of my work in this field working directly with children to provide families with respite care. Since then, I have moved into working with and supporting parents in bringing safety and healing to their children through coaching, consultations, in-person services, and training courses. Part of this switch came from the realization that parents are the most important factor in the healing of trauma and attachment disorders, and that when parents are supported and empowered, healing for their children becomes possible.
Most recently, I have focused on providing trainings for parents, respite providers, family members, communities and villages, and teachers and schools to provide practical hands-on strategies for safety and healing and to help increased awareness of the need for effective trauma-responsive supports for children and families. Hundreds of people have attended the courses and trainings provided through The Radish Ranch, and the feedback is always a resounding – This WORKS!
My main goals in my work? To support parents and caregivers as they bring safety, hope, healing, and joy to their families through practical, real-to-life, trauma-responsive strategies, and to create attachment villages in which children and families can thrive.
I hold a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in counselling psychology to becoming a family-based trauma and attachment therapist. In between providing services and resources through The RADish Ranch and studying, you will find me in my favourite place – at home! In my garden in the summer and somewhere inside with a blanket and a book in the winter.
“I have made it my life’s mission to help children and families to heal from the effects of childhood trauma, to educate families and professionals about RAD, and to help stop the cycle of early childhood trauma and its life-long effects.”
“Karen is a wealth of information – she really understands supporting families and working with RAD. I attended one of her 3 day seminars (in-person Therapeutic Parenting Course) and it was so helpful.” – Parenting course participant
“Karen is a true light in the darkness!” – Parent of a child with RAD
“Karen helped us with [our child] years ago when we were new to the diagnosis of RAD. She is one of the few who has never dismissed anything I’ve had to say or share as a RAD parent. She understands!” – Therapeutic parent
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world” Anne Frank