Adolescence is about becoming adult. Depending on the teenager’s experiences in infancy and childhood, the teenage years can be a rollercoaster of emotional highs and lows or a relatively smooth ride into maturity. The level of maturity of the significant adults in teenagers’ lives – parents and teachers – is critical to how well teenagers manage the many challenges – physical, emotional, sexual, intellectual, behavioural, social, creative and spiritual – that come their way.

Attention to what lies hidden behind teenager’s distressing responses is required for teenagers to begin to make progress towards mature adulthood. Parents and teachers need to understand that when young people are troubled and troubling they are not trying to make life difficult for parents, teachers and others; they are trying to communicate how difficult life is for them.

Themes covered during the seminar will be:

• The wisdom of adolescence
• Teenagers’ search for identity
• Parents’/teachers’ defensive behaviours that threaten teenagers’ wellbeing
• Helping teenagers who are troubled and troubling
• Identifying teenagers who are suffering inner turmoil
• Parental ‘letting go’ and teenagers’ ‘leave-taking’

Dr Tony Humphreys - Biography


Dr. Tony Humphreys is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in private practice and specialist lecturer for health care and teaching professions in University College, Cork and Limerick University. He is Ireland's most influential Psychologist and leading speaker on individual, couple and family relationships, relationships in the workplace, self-esteem and motivation.

He is the author of several best selling books: 'Work and Worth: Take Back Your Life"; 'The Power of ‘Negative' Thinking"; ‘A Different Kind of Teacher’; ‘Self-Esteem: The Key to Your Child’s Education’; ‘The Family, Love It and Leave It’; ‘Myself, My Partner’; ‘A Different Kind of Discipline’; ‘Children Feeling Good’, ‘Examining our Times - for the way we live now’, ‘Whose Life Are You Living?’, The Mature Manager, The Compassionate Intentions of Illness. His books are now in twenty languages and he has become internationally known as a seminar and conference speaker in Europe and South Africa. He has recorded three spoken-word audio- cassettes: ‘Self-Esteem for Adults’, ‘Raising Children’s Self-Esteem’ and ‘Embrace Failure’.


Dr. Humphreys has had several appearances on T.V and has had his own radio programmes plus several interviews. He also speaks on many radio programmes and has regular columns in one of Ireland’s leading newspapers, The Irish Examiner.

People find his talks and seminars thought-provoking, inspirational and challenging. He reaches his audience at a deep level, inspiring change and encouraging a fresh perspective.

Dr Humphreys runs the following courses at UCC: Certificate in Interpersonal Communication, Diploma in Parent Mentoring, Higher Diploma in Relationship Studies and outreach programmes in Dublin - Diploma in Parent Mentoring and Higher Diploma in Relationship Studies.

Primitive Reflexes - How They Effect Children's Learning - Module 1  Day 2

 This is the second day of the Introduction to Primitive Reflexes workshop. The information will be of value to teachers, educators, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and anyone linked children.

Primitive and Postural Reflexes are a cluster of programmed automatic movements which develop for our survival. An example is the Moro reflex, which allows a new born to take its first breath. Problems arise if the Moro reflex is retained, as the body is held in “fight / flight” mode. When the process of integration is not complete, the reflex will have an adverse effect on a child’s emotional well-being as well as how the child learns and behaves

ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, difficulty with reading and writing, concentration, focus and emotional problems, behavioural problem are examples of issues related to retained primitive reflexes. 

• Learn more about the reflexes , in particular how they integrate to Postural Reflexes.
• Complete the Child Centre Assessment training .
• Practice testing for the reflexes and completing the assessment.
• Learn how to use the Home SIMPLE programme with individual and groups of children.
• Learn how to completed the Bilateral Integration sequencing exercises.

Pre-requisite - Module 1 Day 1 workshop

Dr Alweena Awan received her Doctorate in “Raising Children's Learning and Performance in Schools”, in 2008. She lectures part-time at Leeds Beckett University and works as an Educational therapist and Kinesiologist. She is the Founder and International Director of The Child Centre Method - Learning and Behaviour Program®. She is also the originator of CHILD, which is the Centre for Holistic Improvement in Learning and Development, which she created in 2004.

Her knowledge and application of learning and behavioural improvement methodologies for children is unique. She is a published author on the subject of using holistic methods to help children learn . Specifically, she holds the greatest expertise in the identification and rehabilitation of retained reflexes. Retained reflexes create neuro-developmental issues and can be identified by careful examinations of physical, emotional, mental, and social behaviours. Retained reflexes create great challenges to students at any age and can upset natural abilities in reading, writing, speech and language, behaviour and emotions.

 Dr Awan has run her own private practice of over 10 years. She has also trained teachers, chiropractors, health care professionals, therapists and parents in her methods, and in the process has helped children to overcome a variety of challenges and to live more fulfilling lives. The Child Centre Method has been used in schools in the UK , Ireland, Brazil and Malaysia.