The Center for Connection

07/04/2025

📣📣We’re thrilled to announce a new group starting up this August, Crit Happens! 🧙

Facilitated by trained Therapeutic Game Master Katie Mukai, PhD, sessions will offer opportunities to try new strategies, identities, and approaches to common challenges while honoring diverse ways of seeing the world.

🤩 Help us get the word out about this amazing in-person therapeutic group for adults ages 18-25.

🗓️We’ll meet on Tuesdays (beginning August 12) and participants will have a chance to build social connections and problem solving competencies in a safe, supportive environment, all while embarking on a fun Dungeons & Dragon (D&D) campaign! No D&D experience needed! 😉✨

Swipe right for more details or visit our website:

thecenterforconnection.org/events/crit-happens

04/30/2025

There's a wonderful event happening tonight! It's FREE and all are welcome. Click the link to learn more!

Using Little Moments of Big Connection to Raise Calm and Confident Kids with Dr. Tina Payne-Bryson PhD and Georgie Wisen-Vincent LMFT

04/23/2025

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are and continue to be important, interdependent components of everyday life at the Center for Connection (CFC). Our goal is to promote connection among individuals and groups, and to also celebrate differences—all while honoring curiosity, equity, flexibility, playfulness, stability, and transparency.

We are and will continue to be committed to fostering a culture where everyone who visits the CFC feels safe, valued, supported, and inspired to achieve individual and shared goals.

This includes providing opportunity and access for all people across differences of race, age, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, national origin, migratory status, disability/ability, political affiliation, veteran status and socioeconomic background.

It is our firm belief that the more inclusive we are, the better we can serve our community, encouraging both meaningful linkage and healthy differentiation.

04/01/2025

Such a great interview from CFC Founder Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D.!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/play-that-builds-skills-and-bonds-us-with-dr-tina/id1030050704?i=1000700833967

I'm thrilled to share that the wonderful Janet Lansbury hosted me for another podcast interview! We talked about concepts from my latest book, “The Way of Play” (co-authored with play therapist Georgie Wisen-Vincent) and specifically, how playing with our kids in a receptive manner for even just a few minutes each day helps us to better understand them, while also encouraging their development of social skills, emotional regulation, resilience, and self-confidence!

Click below to listen. My hope is that you'll learn how to make connecting through play easy, natural, and fun as well as richly effective for learning and bonding.

Let me know what you think in the comments and stay tuned for more play-related posts coming soon!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/play-that-builds-skills-and-bonds-us-with-dr-tina/id1030050704?i=1000700833967

"The temptation can be to take over the play or be too instructive or didactic, to think we need to teach all kinds of lessons. But what's really powerful, as we follow our child's lead, is to be able to dive into their world."

01/28/2025

So many wise recommendations from Dr. William Lacey-Bisetty, Clinical Director for our Santa Barbara offices.

Thank you Sunshine Parenting for hosting this conversation! 🙏 ❤️

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dv-MKn5Cd8

Many in our Gold Arrow Camp community lost their homes, schools, businesses, and place of worship in the recent fires in Los Angeles. Sunshine interviewed Dr...

01/28/2025

So much has happened in the last couple of weeks and there’s a lot to process. This coming Sunday, February 2, 2025, we are teaming up with the team at Gooshi (by Piper + Enza) to host a Journaling Workshop where families impacted by the recent LA fire can come together, share stories and heal.

Led by members of our interdisciplinary team, children will participate in art-therapy-inspired activities including journaling, drawing, and collage. Each child will leave with their own Big Book for Kids Journal from Piper + Enza (now Gooshi), as well as a stuffed animal and picture book. ❤️

This is a FREE community event and space is limited, so RSVP via the link below. (FYI we will do more events like this if the demand is there!)

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/journaling-workshop-for-families-affected-by-the-recent-la-fire-tickets-1222515138689?aff=oddtdtcreator&fbclid=IwY2xjawIGBiBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHZ9Mjz-mJIsfscUSEmOQV9sUZ5vUXCrLKSntosCr1EhGqW4h0vKxL4AXmw_aem_6H8_LESJCOtr0URMn2eOHQ

Come join us for a Journaling Workshop where families impacted by the recent LA fire can come together, share stories and heal.

01/16/2025

Interested in donating toys to children affected by the fires? Stop on by our Duarte office between 8 am and 5 pm. 🧸❤️

01/14/2025

As a business based in Pasadena, The Center for Connection has been significantly affected by the Eaton Fire. A number of our team members and their immediate families have actually lost their homes. We’ve been asked how people can offer assistance, so here are some places you can give support if you’d like. Please click the link below or swipe right to find the direct URLs for the respective Go Fund Me pages.

With that in mind, The Center for Connection is also ready to be of service. Our doors will be open this week as usual. We have power, and we’ve taken all necessary steps to ensure the safety and well-being of our clients and our staff. So unless you hear otherwise from your CFC clinician or one of our staff members, you can plan to attend your regularly scheduled appointment.

We know how important it is, especially during the most challenging of moments, to be with someone who cares, and who will listen. We are here for you, just as we’ve always been.

https://www.thecenterforconnection.org/blogarchive/2025/1/13/support-for-our-team

01/14/2025

This communication board was created to be used with any communication partners and may be especially beneficial for non-speaking or minimally speaking individuals when sharing about the recent wildfires.

How to use it?

Use this communication board to model language and/or mirror either or both partners’ verbal language while communicating with your non-speaking or minimally speaking communication partner. When modeling, remember to do so without expectation of imitation or a response.

You can use this communication board to model vocabulary while using the strategy “Name it to Tame it”, and talking about all the ways things “worked” during the fires to keep people, pets, and communities as safe and secure as possible. Have this communication board available for you and your communication partner to use throughout the coming weeks, and continue to model while talking about the fires.

Thank you Desiree Misrachi (our amazing SLP clinician and division director) who put this together. Simply click the link below to download a printable PDF.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/553927d0e4b0b0c45454d21f/t/6785b66bdd2287443583f3a4/1736816236998/Wildfire+Communication+Board.pdf

01/11/2025

01/10/2025

In case it helps, our team put together these tips and scripts for caregivers. Swipe through or click the link below to read the full post (which includes additional links and scripting for young kids and different scenarios).

We know this disaster is unimaginable and it is hard to even fathom the magnitude of rebuilding that needs to take place personally and physically. When things seem insurmountable, we can ask ourselves, “what is the next indicated step?” While we can keep a quiet eye on the horizon, our nervous system just needs to know what to do next. One foot in front of the other.

Check in with yourself and take time to grieve, cry, and fall apart. This is hard and you don’t have to be ok all of the time. Connect with and share your feelings with others that can hold space for you and take time to regulate your nervous system. And, it’s OK to take some time to take breaks from feeling as well. You or your kids might benefit from listening to an audio book or watching a show that you know well and that is familiar.

We’re walking this moment with you and sending you so much love and support. 💓

https://www.thecenterforconnection.org/blogarchive/2025/1/9/talking-to-children-about-the-fires

01/10/2025

Starting Friday, January 10, 2025, our Pasadena and Duarte offices will be open for in-person services. But, because our team has been affected by the fires, to varying degrees, they (or a representative from our team) will be in touch to communicate in-person or virtual availability. Please check your inbox as we’ll be reaching out to connect and will work with you to find a mutually agreeably option.

To our community, thank you so much for your support. ❤️🙏 We know relationships are protective and so we are grateful to our team and community for showing up during this difficult time, as well as to our firefighters who have been working so hard to keep us safe.

If you need support, please click the link below or reach out. We’re here for you and to quote our wonderful Co-Director for the CFCN & OT division, Olivia Martinez-Hauge, OT, LMFT, “there will be healing when the smoke clears”. 🕊️

https://www.thecenterforconnection.org/blogarchive/2025/1/9/resources-in-response-to-the-recent-fires