TBRI®

Building Trust and Connection to Strengthen Families

It can be hard for some children with a difficult past to trust the loving adults in their lives, and they may struggle to appropriately express their fears or emotions. This can result in some perplexing behaviors which can be frustrating to parents, as traditional parenting methods may not be effective.

To support both children and their families, The Salvation Army utilizes Trust-Based Relational Intervention ® (TBRI®) across all our programs and services. TBRI® was developed at Texas Christian University and is evidence-based, offering practical tools for parents, caregivers, teachers, or anyone who works with children, to see the “whole child” in their care and help that child reach their highest potential.

TBRI ® is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. It uses Empowering Principles to address physical needs, Connecting Principles for attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors. While the intervention is based on years of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research, the heartbeat of TBRI® is connection.

At The Salvation Army, we use TBRI ® to help families bond and connect, forming a relationship in which children feel safe and empowered to make better choices and where parents learn how to best understand and meet their children’s specific needs, assuring greater success for the family.

All our staff are trained in TBRI.® Our staff members who provide direct services to families are TBRI® Practitioners certified through the Karen Purvis Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University. We also partner with clinicians who are certified TBRI® Practitioners.