About Us
Nancy Thomas, the Mother of three birth children,
two adopted children, one child being raised as legal guardians,
and grandmother of seven, has been a Therapeutic Parenting Specialist
since 1985. Nancy was a Professional Therapeutic Parent for The
Attachment Center at Evergreen from 1985 to 1995. Nancy has worked
as co-therapist with children in intensive attachment therapy
with eight of the leading Attachment Therapist, Psychiatrists
and Psychologists in the country. Nancy worked for over 2000 hours
as a secondary lay-therapist. These children, among other things,
have had symptoms of being borderline psychotic, ritualistically
abused, abusive to animals, mood disordered, Reactive Attachment
Disorder, Asperger’s, ADD, ADHD, Tourette Syndrome, Bipolar
disorder and some with histories of homicide and arson.
Honored
to train with and work along side, Nancy learned from many renowned
experts in the attachment field including, Lloyd Boggs, MSW, Neil
Feinberg, MSW, Bill Gobel, Ph.D., Deborah Hage, MSW, Daniel Hughes,
Ph.D, and Mike Orlans, MSW. She trained and worked for ten years
with Foster Cline, M.D., psychiatrist, author and founder of the
Love & Logic program, who has praised Nancy’s work highly.
Dr. Cline said of Nancy, “She has been acclaimed by national
as well as local audiences. She has taught both professionals
and front line workers. I am sure that almost any organization
would benefit greatly by having Nancy Thomas in almost any position
that requires her wit, intelligence, sense of humor, charm and
people skills.”
Nancy and her family live in the high mountains of Western Colorado
in a home centered around healing the hearts of children. Nancy
and her husband, Jerry, have shared their life and home for over
twenty-five years with severely emotionally disturbed children
with attachment problems. Ninety percent of the children placed
in her care are kids who had killed. She has an eighty-five percent
success rate with these high risk children which is one of the
highest in the country. She specializes in bonding and conscience
development.
Based
on her years of hands on experience and high success rate Nancy
has authored a parenting guide, entitled When Love is Not Enough:
A Guide to Parenting Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder
, which has been well received by parents and professionals. Recognized
internationally as one of the leading authorities on parenting
emotionally disturbed children, Nancy was asked to join several
esteemed attachment professionals in co-authoring The Handbook
of Attachment Interventions, published internationally in 1999
by Academic Press. She has written and produced five training
videos that have helped thousands of parents that have children
that have broken hearts and wounded minds. They are: Rebuilding
the Broke Bond, Building Brilliant Brains through Bonding, Captive
in the Classroom, Give me a Break and The Circle of Support.
The Glenwood Post honored Nancy on April 12, 1997 in a front page
article entitled: Using Love, Woman Opens Heart To Children Of
All Types. The article said: “Imagine the most badly behaved
children in existence --children completely beyond control. What
to most of us would be an abject nightmare is no more than just
a challenging way of life for Nancy Thomas. She loves it.”
The publication of the American Psychological Association, the
APA Monitor in the June 1997 edition, quoted Nancy along with
top specialists of Attachment Disorder in an article entitled:
When Children Don’t Bond With Parents. The journal entitled
“The New Therapist,” from Sussex, England, published
Nancy’s article, When Love is Not Enough, in the Autumn
2000 issue. She has also had articles published in the High Risk
Newsletter; and, The Cline/Fay Institute (the Love and Logic folks)
recently published her audio tapes Healing Trust: Rebuilding The
Broken Bond.
Nancy
began speaking professionally and doing consultation work in 1986.
Since her work was highlighted in an HBO special in 1990 entitled
CHILD OF RAGE she has become a much sought after and respected
speaker. She has shared the effective keys to her high success
rate in working with these high risk children in hundreds of state,
county, and private agencies in 46 states, Australia, Canada,
England, China, Japan and Romania. Nancy has captivated audiences
with love and laughter as she taught the skills to teach children
how to be respectful, responsible, and fun to be around to over
28,500 parents and professionals.
As
an interim professor at Colorado Mountain College in 1996, Nancy
used behavior modification concepts, traditionally focused on
people, toward behavior management of animals. In 1997, 98, and
99 she taught classes for Providence General Medical Center for
Continuing Medical Education to satisfy the relicensure requirements
of the Washington State Board of Medical Examiners and for the
Physicians Recognition Award of the AMA.
A
dream that Nancy has had for years became a reality when she established
and began directing a summer camp program for emotionally disturbed
children in 1999. At camp the children are able to laugh and learn
with their parents in a healing environment.
Nancy
developed the Family Connection trouble shooter program and has
now trained trouble shooters providing effective interventions
for families internationally.
Nancy is the founder and chairperson of SAVY incorporated, a foundation
to help Stop America’s Violent Youth. She is proud to be
a part of this group that is working toward shaping our country’s
future by helping the children.
Honored
as an invited speaker on several radio shows, Nancy has been able
to help many. In November 2000 Hawaii Family Forum aired an interview
with her. Focus on the Family aired a radio show featuring Nancy
on November 24, 2003, internationally, to over three million listeners.
