The TBRI® Podcast | Season 1, Episode 4

Dr. David Cross is the co-founder and Rees-Jones Director of our Institute and also the co-creator of TBRI, so it was extra special to have him on the podcast. This episode is a great overview of the TBRI Empowering Principles. Dr. Cross gives a little history of the Empowering Principles and their place in TBRI, and touches on everything from self-regulation to meeting sensory needs, to transitions, and some of the newer developments of the TBRI Empowering Principles.

LISTEN HERE

Show Notes:

Linked References from this episode:

• Hope Connection Camp
• Dr. Karyn Purvis 
• TBRI 
• Wisdom of the Body
• Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language 
• Becky’s story
• Engine Plates – The ALERT Program
• T Berry Brazelton 
• Still-faced paradigm video 
• The Creation of Settings and the Future Societies 
• Methodist Childrens Home
• Zeigarnik effect

About our guest:

Dr. David Cross is the Rees-Jones Director of the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development and a Professor in the TCU Department of Psychology. Dr. Cross leads the Institute in its triple mission of research, education and outreach to improve the lives of children who have experienced abuse, neglect, and/or trauma. He has authored many peer-reviewed publications about issues regarding at-risk children.

Dr. Cross earned his B.S. from California State University Fresno with a major in Psychology, and then attended The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for graduate study, beginning in 1980.  He earned an M.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Statistics. He later earned a Ph.D. in Education and Psychology.  In 1985, he accepted a position as Assistant Professor in TCU’s Department of Psychology.

Dr. Cross, with his former colleague Dr. Karyn Purvis, co-authored “The Connected Child: Bringing Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family” to help adoptive parents understand the needs of children who have experienced trauma. “The Connected Child” continues to be a best-seller among adoption books. Together, Drs. Purvis and Cross created Trust-Based Relational Intervention^® (TBRI^®), a holistic, attachment based, trauma-informed, and evidence-based intervention for children who have experienced relational trauma.

Dr. Cross and his staff at the Institute regularly train professionals from around the world in TBRI^®. The Institute is actively engaged in research that not only demonstrates the efficacy of TBRI^® as an evidence-based intervention, but also in research about how to grow trauma-informed organizations and communities.

In addition to his responsibilities at the Institute, Dr. Cross has taught many TCU courses including Case Studies in Child Development, Generalized Linear Models, and Graduate Developmental Psychology.

Dr. Cross’s wife, Trudy, is a retired Kindergarten teacher and a practicing Grandmother.  He has two adult children, Jennifer and Nate.

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.