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Our DDP therapist was amazing and made an enormous difference, but it took a long time. We started when my AD was around 7 years old - highly traumatised, very violent meltdowns, very rejecting and terrified. I was close to not coping (well, a bit worse than that if I'm honest). We would have a fortnightly session with the therapist and then I'd have a separate session by telephone in between. While my AD was highly avoidant, these sessions slowly unpicked her interpretation of what had happened and why (she thought she was to blame for so much...). Much of each session involving my AD took the form of a child-appropriate discussion between therapist and I about an event - sometimes recent, sometimes about a foster care placement etc - which AD would follow carefully while hiding or playing, with occasional interjections which could be incredibly illuminating and sad. We were able to emphasise with her feelings and explain some events which made a big difference to my relationship with AD. The support that I received from the therapist in parenting my AD was invaluable.

Our DDP therapist was amazing and made an enormous difference, but it took a long time. We started when my AD was around 7 years old - highly traumatised, very violent meltdowns, very rejecting and terrified. I was close to not coping (well, a bit worse than that if I'm honest). We would have a fortnightly session with the therapist and then I'd have a separate session by telephone in between. While my AD was highly avoidant, these sessions slowly unpicked her interpretation of what had happened and why (she thought she was to blame for so much...). Much of each session involving my AD took the form of a child-appropriate discussion between therapist and I about an event - sometimes recent, sometimes about a foster care placement etc - which AD would follow carefully while hiding or playing, with occasional interjections which could be incredibly illuminating and sad. We were able to emphasise with her feelings and explain some events which made a big difference to my relationship with AD. The support that I received from the therapist in parenting my AD was invaluable.

Our DDP therapist was amazing and made an enormous difference, but it took a long time. We started when my AD was around 7 years old - highly traumatised, very violent meltdowns, very rejecting and terrified. I was close to not coping (well, a bit worse than that if I'm honest). We would have a fortnightly session with the therapist and then I'd have a separate session by telephone in between. While my AD was highly avoidant, these sessions slowly unpicked her interpretation of what had happened and why (she thought she was to blame for so much...). Much of each session involving my AD took the form of a child-appropriate discussion between therapist and I about an event - sometimes recent, sometimes about a foster care placement etc - which AD would follow carefully while hiding or playing, with occasional interjections which could be incredibly illuminating and sad. We were able to emphasise with her feelings and explain some events which made a big difference to my relationship with AD. The support that I received from the therapist in parenting my AD was invaluable.

We have also found DDP to be very helpful in our parenting, and in helping our teenage daughter understand herself better. It sounds like you'll be focusing on parent support rather than direct work with the child, so this will include a lot of honest conversations about what you do and how you do it, your frustrations and the things that puzzle you, seeing past behaviour to the anxiety underneath, talking through incidents that went wrong and learning how you could have approached it differently, For us it involved recognising more of our own triggers, revising our expectations, understanding more of what the girls needed from us (rather than what we thought they needed), learning to parent therapeutically instead of traditionally. We have never felt judged or threatened, it has always been a very supportive experience. I'd recommend it!

Thank you to both of you. That’s really encouraging that it was helpful. I think you are right, it will likely focus on supporting us to Help the children given they are so young (1 and 2). We are currently thinking hard about the things that trigger us and Situations we find challenging to be able to talk through them in order to make the most of these sessions. It gives me hope there may be real benefits to our children in later years. Fingers crossed.