Meet Dr. Tina Payne Bryson, PhD of The Center for Connection in Pasadena

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Tina Payne Bryson, PhD.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Dr. Bryson. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My plan was to be a high school English teacher, since I loved teaching and kids. I decided to get a masters in social work to support kids and families who might struggle to do well in school. I worked as a victim advocate and did therapy with kids and families in community mental health. After I worked as a social worker for a while, I had my first son and wanted to be a stay at home mom. But we moved to California at that time and we couldn’t afford for me to stay home so I got a PhD in social work so I could be a professor and teach but still be available to be home with my kids. I had two more boys during my PhD years and as I was parenting and learning about childrearing theory and attachment science. I went to a conference and heard Dr. Dan Siegel, the Father of Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) speak, and his approach and lens and theory made so many things click together for me and I became spellbound by the science, wanting to learn more about the brain. I studied IPNB with Dan for almost a decade and during those years, I vigorously studied the science and found how helpful it was as I could apply it in practical ways as I was parenting. I began to think about my boys’ brains and how to apply the science in my own parenting and in their development and then I began sharing it with other parents. There was a huge need for someone to take the science and translate and apply it in everyday relationships. As I began to do that, there was such a positive response that Dan and I decided to write a book called The Whole-Brain Child for parents and educators doing just that—taking the science of interpersonal neurobiology and giving caregivers specific strategies to help them be more effective and to help them understand their own brain and the brains of kids. The book and the requests to teach parents, educators, mental health professionals, camp professionals, and others who care about children’s’ development has led to more books, more lectures, and more opportunities to meaningfully impact how adults work with children and how we nurture their minds and brains. As the writing and lectures have continued, I have found other ways to make an impact in my community by opening and running an interdisciplinary clinical practice that also allow me to be very present in my boys’ lives and show up for most of their ball games!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It’s been amazing. I’m still so honored and overwhelmed at how our books and our approach have been embraced. I’m grateful to say that the biggest struggle is deciding what opportunities to say yes to. I love my work and I find it so meaningful that it’s hard to turn down opportunities, but the tension is that I don’t want to miss out on being present in the daily-ness of my boys’ lives as well. One struggle is that I have chronic pain/health issues that require me to embrace my limits and be intentional about self-care, which is really hard to do when I have so many opportunities and I work a lot! When the first book came out and became popular so fast, the speaking requests required that I travel and it was a big adjustment for my family. Fortunately, I have a very invested, present husband who has a job that allows him to be home with our boys when I’m not. But I still hate missing out on the boys’ stuff when I’m out of town.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
In addition to writing, speaking, working at a school part-time, I felt compelled to start a business in my community that provided a different approach to intervention. I started TheCenterforConnection.org. What makes us unique is that using an IPNB lens, where we focus on harnessing the power of the brain to change how it’s wired through using the mind, the brain, and relationships to help kids, families, couples, etc to move from chaos and rigidity to living in ways that are more flexible, adaptive, coherent, energized and stable. We don’t focus on diagnoses, but instead we approach with curiosity to peel back the layers to find out what the behavior and the reactivity are stemming from—we are truly an interdisciplinary team, with various professionals who are trained in occupational therapy, educational therapy, neuropsychological testing, mental health, and more. We sit together for two hours each week to support each other, to wrestle with cases, and to truly collaborate to understand and provide services that promote connections in the brain and in relationships. Our approach emphasizes regulating the nervous system through learning how to use our minds, regulate our brains, and all of it is based in relationships. Connected relationships=connected brains, and connected professionals=better care. We often are able to help families who have been to many others without success and we emphasize the power of connection in the relationship to rewire the brain.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Having both of my books (The Whole-Brain Child and NO-Drama Discipline) on the New York Times bestseller list, and having both books translated into over 20 languages makes me very proud because it means that many people are being reached. We have two more books coming out, The Yes Brain (due out in January), and Showing Up due out in 2019. More parents, educators, and people who care about children are being more intentional and being empowered to help children thrive.

Contact Info:

• Address: Location 1: 275 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91106
  Location 2: 1021 E. Walnut St. #200, Pasadena, CA 91106
• Website: http://www.thecenterforconnection.org
• Phone: 626.365.1211
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tina-Payne-Bryson-PhD-120881571277656/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tinabryson
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-center-for-connection-pasadena
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/centerforconnection/?fref=mentions

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.