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HELPING CHILDREN FEEL HAPPY, HEALTHY, SAFE AND LOVED

 

The Bród Method® is Deirdre McCarthy’s registered child-and-family framework for supporting children through parental separation, grief, loss and other significant change.

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WHAT IS THE BRÓD METHOD®?

The Bród Method® helps adults slow down, notice the child’s experience and create safe, developmentally appropriate opportunities for children to communicate.

It brings together children’s rights, child participation, emotional literacy, relational safety, co-regulation and practical family support.

The framework was developed from Deirdre’s experience as a social worker, family practitioner, educator and children’s author.

Its purpose is deliberately focused: The Bród Method® belongs in work with children and families. It is not intended to be stretched across every form of adult coaching, professional supervision or workplace wellbeing.

 

WHY BRÓD?

Bród means pride in the Irish language.

Bród is also the central character in Deirdre’s children’s books. Through Bród’s experiences, children are helped to recognise feelings, understand change, identify supportive adults and discover that they are not alone.

The method grew from the same central question as the books:

What do children need from the adults around them when life changes in ways they did not choose?

 

THE FOUR FOUNDATIONS

The Bród Method® asks adults to consider whether the child is being supported to feel:

HAPPY

Children need opportunities for connection, play, hope, enjoyment and positive experiences.

Being happy does not mean that difficult feelings are ignored or quickly removed. It means that sadness, anger, worry and grief are held alongside continuing opportunities for connection and ordinary childhood experiences.

 

HEALTHY

Children’s physical and emotional wellbeing are closely connected.

Healthy support may include dependable routines, rest, food, movement, emotional literacy, co-regulation and access to additional professional help when required.

 

SAFE

Children need physical, emotional and relational safety.

They benefit from clear boundaries, reliable information and adults whose words and actions are dependable. Children should not be placed in the middle of adult conflict or expected to carry responsibility for adult decisions.

 

LOVED

Children need to experience warmth, belonging, compassion and reliable care.

During family change, children may need repeated reassurance that adult relationships can change without changing their right to be loved and cared for.

 

CHILD PARTICIPATION

The Bród Method® incorporates Laura Lundy’s model of child participation.

The Lundy Model identifies four connected elements:

 

SPACE

Children must be given a safe and inclusive opportunity to form and express a view.

 

VOICE

Children must be supported to communicate their views in a way that is appropriate to their age, development and communication needs.

 

AUDIENCE

The child’s views must be listened to by a person who has responsibility for considering them.

 

INFLUENCE

The child’s views must be given appropriate weight and acted upon where possible.

 

Listening to a child does not mean asking the child to make adult decisions. It does not mean promising that every wish will determine the outcome.

Meaningful participation means that children understand what is happening, have appropriate opportunities to communicate and receive an honest explanation about how their views were considered.

 

The Bród Method® incorporates and references the Lundy Model of child participation:

Lundy, L. (2007). “Voice” is not enough: conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British Educational Research Journal, 33(6), 927–942.

 

PRACTICAL BRÓD TOOLS

The Bród Method® is supported by child-friendly tools including:

• stories and children’s books;

• workbooks and direct-work sheets;

• the Feelings Gauge;

• Safety Friends;

• conversation prompts;

• breathing and grounding activities;

• comfort and memory activities;

• resources for parents and carers;

• professional reflection and participation tools.

These tools help children recognise feelings, express what matters to them and participate in ways suited to their age, communication style and circumstances.

 

THE FEELINGS GAUGE

The Feelings Gauge uses familiar blue, green, yellow and red colour cues to support conversations about feelings and levels of alertness.

The familiar colours were retained because some children may already recognise them from school, therapy or other regulation resources. Changing the colours simply to make the tool appear different could create unnecessary confusion.

 

The Bród Feelings Gauge is acknowledged as an adaptation informed by The Zones of Regulation® developed by Leah Kuypers. Colour-coded approaches to emotions, arousal and behaviour have a longer history and are not unique to one programme.

 

The Bród Method® does not reproduce or claim ownership of The Zones of Regulation® programme. Its wording, characters, illustrations, activities and application within the Bród framework are distinct.No endorsement by the creators or owners of The Zones of Regulation® is implied.

 

THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS

The Bród Method® is informed by established areas of theory and practice, including:

• Children’s rights and Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child;

• the Lundy Model of child participation;

• attachment and relational approaches;

• emotional literacy and co-regulation;

• trauma-aware practice;

• child development;

• compassion-focused and strengths-based approaches;

• family systems and ecological understandings of children’s lives.

The Bród Method® brings these ideas together in an accessible child-and-family framework. It does not claim to have originated the theories on which it draws.

 

EVIDENCE POSITION

The Bród Method® is evidence-informed and grounded in established theory, children’s rights and professional practice.

At present, it should not be described as a clinically validated or independently evaluated therapeutic intervention unless suitable evaluation and outcome research have been completed.

The method is intended to support communication, participation and relational practice. It does not replace individual assessment, safeguarding responsibilities, legal advice, diagnosis or specialist mental-health treatment.

 

WHO IS THE BRÓD METHOD® FOR?

The framework and its resources may support:

• children and young people;

• parents and carers;

• social workers and family support practitioners;

• teachers and school staff;

• healthcare and social care professionals;

• family resource centres;

• community and voluntary organisations;

• services seeking child-centred education or resources.

 

THE BRÓD METHOD® IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK

The Bród Method® is a registered trademark of Deirdre McCarthy.

The registered trademark protects the name and helps families, professionals and organisations identify work that has been developed or authorised as part of the Bród framework.

Permission to use third-party theories or properly referenced concepts does not transfer ownership of those theories to The Bród Method®. Equally, acknowledgement of an existing theory does not remove Deirdre’s ownership of her original books, wording, activities, illustrations, framework and branded materials.

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