Moving Beyond Behaviour Management in Complex Kids

Supporting Resilience and Growth Through a Developmental and Relational Lens
About this Event

*THIS EVENT HAS BOTH IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE OPTIONS*

Welcome to The Western Canadian Mental Health & Education Summit: Trauma, High-Risk, Self-Harming Behaviours, Neurodiversity, FASD, Attachment & Indigenous Perspectives

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Education and Clinical Professionals: All education and mental health or healthcare professionals who work with children or youth including, but not limited to K–12 Classroom Teachers, School Counsellors, Learning Assistance/Resource Teachers, School Administrators, School Paraprofessionals including Special Education Assistants, Classroom Assistants and Childcare Workers • All other professionals who support behavioural challenges and complex learning needs including but not limited to: Nurses, Social Workers, Psychologists, Clinical Counsellors, Family Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Addiction Counsellors, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Probation Officers and Community Police Officers.

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Day One – December 7, 2026
1. Moving Beyond Behaviour Management in Complex Kids: Supporting Resilience and Growth Through a Developmental and Relational Lens
Presented by Ph.D.

8:30am - 4:00pm December 7, 2026

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

Children’s behaviour is often approached through the lenses of compliance, symptom management, behavioural intervention, or diagnosis. Yet many of the children we struggle most to help are not simply behaving badly — they are alarmed, developmentally stuck, emotionally defended, disconnected, overwhelmed, or adapting to conditions that have interfered with healthy growth.

Without understanding the roots beneath the behaviour, interventions can become reactive, fragmented, or focused only on managing symptoms rather than supporting long-term development and well-being.

This practical and clinically focused full-day presentation offers educators, counsellors, mental health professionals, youth workers, and helping professionals a deeper framework for understanding complex children and youth through a developmental and relational lens. Grounded in attachment theory, developmental science, emotional health, and relational practice, participants will learn how to move beyond surface behaviours to better understand the child underneath.

The workshop will explore three foundational developmental domains that shape children’s functioning and behaviour:

• attachment and relationship
• emotional health and emotional defenses
• maturation and developmental readiness

Together, these domains provide a developmental snapshot that helps reveal whether a child is growing well, adapting under stress, developmentally delayed, emotionally defended, alarmed, or struggling to mature.

Participants will learn how to use this developmental-relational framework to better understand common challenges including aggression, anxiety, attention difficulties, emotional dysregulation, shutdown, opposition, peer problems, school struggles, and relational resistance. Rather than asking, “How do we stop the behaviour?”, this approach asks deeper questions:

• What is the behaviour communicating?
• What developmental needs are driving the problem?
• What emotions are shaping the child’s functioning?
• Is development unfolding naturally, or has it become disrupted or stuck?
• What conditions are needed to support growth and change?

This highly applied workshop bridges theory and practice through real-life examples, guided reflection, practical application, and a live case consultation demonstrating how developmental-relational understanding can be translated into meaningful intervention and support planning across educational, counselling, caregiving, and mental health settings.

Participants will leave with greater confidence in understanding complex children from the inside out and in applying developmental and relational principles to everyday practice with the children and youth in their care.

Day One

🕑: 08:30 AM - 04:00 PM
1. Moving Beyond Behaviour Management in Complex Kids
Host: Deborah MacNamara, Ph.D.

Info: Children’s behaviour is often approached through the lenses of compliance, symptom management, behavioural intervention, or diagnosis. Yet many of the children we struggle most to help are not simply behaving badly — they are alarmed, developmentally stuck, emotionally defended, disconnected, overwhelmed, or adapting to conditions that have interfered with healthy growth.

Without understanding the roots beneath the behaviour, interventions can become reactive, fragmented, or focused only on managing symptoms rather than supporting long-term development and well-being.

This practical and clinically focused full-day presentation offers educators, counsellors, mental health professionals, youth workers, and helping professionals a deeper framework for understanding complex children and youth through a developmental and relational lens.

Learning Objectives

Info: Understand the foundations of a developmental and relational approach to working with children and youth
Recognize how attachment, emotion, alarm, and maturation shape behaviour and functioning
Move beyond symptom-focused and behavioural interpretations toward deeper developmental understanding
Identify signs of developmental stuckness, emotional defenses, alarm, and relational distress
Understand how behaviour often reflects adaptation, unmet developmental needs, or developmental immaturity
Learn how to assess children through three foundational domains: attachment, emotional functioning, and maturation
Develop greater skill in developmental-relational case conceptualization
Explore practical implications for intervention, caregiving, counselling, education, and support planning
Apply developmental-relational principles to real-life practice situations and case examples
Observe how insight-based approaches can be translated into meaningful action through a live case consultation