The TBRI® Podcast | Season 4, Episodes 4&5

One of the questions we are most often asked is if TBRI® works with teenagers. In this series of episodes, Scott Watters and our host, Sarah Mercado, talk about the teenage brain, the needs of teens vs. those of younger children, and what each set of TBRI Principles looks like when applied to teenagers. In the second part of their conversation, Sarah and Scott break down the TBRI Correcting Principles and Scott’s experience at TBRI Camps for teens. 

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Linked References

Part 1:

• Arms of Hope/Boles Children’s Home
• The Connected Child
• The TBRI Lecture Series
• Connecting Principles Podcast Episode
• Empowering Principles Podcast
• Attachment Podcast Episode

Part 2:

• No Drama Discipline
• Truth Lies & Intimacy: An Attachment Perspective
• Bessel Van Der Kolk
• TBRI® for Teens DVD

About our Guest

Scott Watters, MS, LPC

Scott Watters is a therapist for Arms of Hope at a residential facility for children, teens, and single mother families.  Scott specializes in counseling individuals of all ages who have experienced trauma. He is a Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) Practitioner and Mentor. He has used TBRI® personally and professionally for 15 years.

Scott and his wife Sarah have been adoptive parents for 13 years. Now that their children have reached adulthood, they love to travel, connect with their children, and play with their precious grandchildren.

About the Host

Sarah Mercado is a Training Specialist with the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD). As training specialist, Sarah’s main focus is instructing professionals working with children who have experienced trauma, in Trust-Based Relational Intervention^® (TBRI^®). TBRI^®, a holistic, attachment-based, and trauma-informed intervention designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children, offers practical tools for caregivers to help those in their care reach their highest potential.

Sarah earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Sweet Briar College in Virginia. She began her career as a direct care staff working with adolescent boys living in a Residential Treatment Center (RTC). After serving in the RTC for several years, she shifted her focus to foster care, where she was Regional Director for a foster and adoption agency.

Sarah spent 20 years serving youth and families within residential and foster care settings as a direct-care worker and trainer before beginning her work with the Purvis Institute in May 2016. Sarah lives near Austin, TX with her husband, AJ, and their two children.