Often, I am asked why Attach? Not as in why you should come to Attach, rather, what led me to choose the name, Attach. In short, it has been an evolution from a few beginnings.
Not long after arriving in Ballarat in 2006 and whilst working with the Australian Sports Commission I started a business Little Monkeys Creative Movement. I took dance, drama, pretending, and creative movement, creating a program to build confidence and resilience in young children between 9 months and 12 years. Little Monkeys, in short, was my passion. I designed the program after noticing a shift across the years in young children’s resilience and a change in how we parented. To see children build capacity to do more, and to build a sense of self, and in seeing parents and or carers rejoice in, and grow in their knowledge of their child is never tiring. However, Little Monkeys operation ceased whilst I cared for my terminally ill father and completed my psychology studies.
On completing my psychology and developed knowledge about entering a child’s life to understand what and how they might think and feel, I decided to complete a Master of Child Play Therapy. It felt like a natural progression. Afterall, play was a key component to the Little Monkeys program. I took out the business name Little Monkeys Play Therapy soon thereafter and knew where I was heading. My emotional attachment to Little Monkeys Creative Movement, concreted this choice in name.
Life can throw curve balls though, and after the death of my father I felt I needed to step away from children and families, finding myself working at a University in Melbourne in Community Engagement. This did not last long though. Being neurodivergent (although I didn’t know that I was an autistic ADHDer at the time) played a large part in my early departure. In short, the role was dull, and I need challenges. The position lacked routine and there was immense unpredictability. It was time to return to Ballarat.
Working at a local Community Service Organisation, I found my tribe! Passionate, knowledgeable and incredibly skilled people at working with children and families who held the detail and the big picture synchronously in mind. Through this experience, I was tasked to look at models of care, or ways of working with children and families with complex histories and vulnerabilities. This is when, through the help of a colleague, and now friend, I discovered Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI). TBRI® is a model for working with children with complex histories and their families. But what does this have to do with the naming of my now business, Attach?
Connection is one of the three principles of TBRI® and it is through this principle, my studies, my work experiences and some rather deep reflection, that I discovered my successes in working with people came from the connected relationship. I had intuitively implemented connection in all my practice but was now starting to appreciate the theoretical underpinnings, especially in relation to children with difficult histories and neurodivergent children.
On deciding to put this business together, I was sold on Little Monkeys Play Therapy, after all, I was going to be a master qualified play therapist. This is where family, your greatest admirers and critics comes in. Usually, our discussions at home are in the kitchen. Standing and seated at the kitchen bench. Banter flows as food is being cooked and drinks had. Often family challenges other family on their thoughts and perspectives and it was here that I was challenged predominantly by my husband and daughter. Through the conversation that pursued it was agreed that the name, the one I was so passionate about, Little Monkeys Play Therapy, was too limiting and potentially felt ‘babyish’. So now what???
One thing about being an autistic ADHDer is that I need time to process. Parts of my brain couldn’t let go of the thought about a new business name until I had found a new name, whilst other parts of my brain were distressed and mourning the loss of the original name, I was so passionate about. Days passed, and then a few weeks. Often names were thrown at family and turned down, until finally, I came up with one word that brought together my knowledge and experience with working with both child and family. Importantly, for me it captured seeing and meeting a need through the therapeutic relationship and connection we can build which can act as an agency for change. Attach was born!
