Show Hope launched its Empowered to Connect Conference in 2010 with the aim of equipping parents, caregivers, ministry leaders, and care professionals to better serve children impacted by adoption and foster care. Over the past 11 years, the conference has grown to include research-based tools to promote attachment and connection in families such as Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) methods developed by Dr. Karyn Purvis and Dr. David Cross from the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at TCU. At its core, TBRI works to promote trust, attachment, and connection between caregivers and children by addressing physical and emotional needs while also disarming fear-based behaviors.

Over the years, Show Hope has had the opportunity to hear from parents, ministry leaders, and professionals on the ever-changing, complex needs they face in serving children who have been impacted by early loss and trauma. Show Hope staff members also hold rich knowledge and experience with TBRI, and we continue to learn about new research, resources, and tools that align in scope with the concepts of connection, belonging, and security. And so, with this assessment of our Empowered to Connect Conference, we have also continued to return to our mission and see with fresh eyes that Show Hope does, in fact, stand in a unique place of resourcing the Church to serve families.

With these markers in place, guided by the vision set forth by Show Hope Founders, Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman, the Hope for the Journey Conference will continue to build upon attachment-based knowledge and experience and introduce robust resources and share practical experiences of successes and failures of day-to-day parenting and caregiving. It is Show Hope’s aim that parents and caregivers will leave encouraged as they continue to journey well with their children.

The 2022 Hope for the Journey Conference—a one-day event—will be available for broadcast on Friday, April 8, as well as rebroadcast through May 31, 2022. Parents, caregivers, ministry leaders, and professionals will have access to these practical tools that help bring hope and healing to children who have experienced early childhood trauma.

Priced low, this simulcast event is an opportunity to provide support to families and communities that may lack the experience, expertise, or answers needed for those in desperate need of help and guidance. Contact your church staff today and tell them you’d like to host a simulcast at your church.

We are offering Early Bird pricing through October 31, 2021 and Last Chance pricing through January 31, 2022 for both the Individual/Household viewing option and the Church/Organization viewing option. View this document for details.

The 2022 Hope for the Journey Conference will premiere Friday, April 8, 2022, with a rebroadcast period through May 31, 2022, and includes, again, the Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) model for caring well for children impacted by adoption and foster care. The conference remains low-cost, high-impact as Show Hope works to resource churches, agencies, and other organizations as they support and equip the families, caregivers, and the communities they serve.

While the Empowered to Connect Conference was historically a two-day event, the Hope for the Journey Conference can be consumed in one day, targeting parents and caregivers meeting the everyday needs of children impacted by adoption and/or foster care. In an effort to make the conference more accessible to this audience, the information will be succinct and consumable in its delivery. To that end, Show Hope will, once again, be leveraging video content as a major component in the 2022 conference. Additionally, to provide greater flexibility for hosts to tailor the conference to meet needs in their community, the Hope for the Journey Conference will be modular in nature. This will allow the event to be consumed in one day or shared over multiple training sessions or weeks.

Structurally (outlined below), the Hope for the Journey Conference will include five high-level learning modules based on the foundational principles of TBRI along with a fifth teaching component, The Gospel + TBRI. Embedded within each learning module will be a “Going Deeper” teaching video on a select topic, and also included will be one encouraging “Practical Perspectives” video featuring the voices of adult adoptees and/or foster youth alum as well as adoptive and/or foster families.

Learning Module 1: An Introduction to Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®)*
*More details to come. 

Learning Module 2: Connecting Principles*
*More details to come.

Learning Module 3: Empowering Principles*
*More details to come. 

Learning Module 4: Correcting Principles*
*More details to come. 

Learning Module 5: The Gospel + TBRI*
*More details to come.

The Hope for the Journey Conference will premiere Friday, April 8, beginning at 8 a.m. CST.

Show Hope’s Hope for the Journey Conference includes the Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) model for caring well for children impacted by adoption and foster care. The conference also remains low-cost plus high-impact as Show Hope works to resource churches, agencies, and other organizations as they support and equip the families, caregivers, and the communities they serve.

While the Empowered to Connect Conference was historically a two-day event, the Hope for the Journey Conference will move to one day, making the event more accessible to families and everyday caregivers. With a renewed focus on parents and caregivers, the conference will intentionally highlight everyday, practical help where hosts can choose how to best utilize modular sessions. The event could also be consumed in one day or shared over multiple training sessions or weeks.

Along with the structural changes, the Hope for the Journey Conference will include a fifth learning module—The Gospel + TBRI—and will also highlight adult adoptee/foster care alum as well as family voices and experiences, offering parents and caregivers greater insight to the often complex needs of children impacted by adoption or foster care.

Post conference, Show Hope plans to provide practical application guides with thoughts, questions, and reflections as well as action steps and activities. These guides will reinforce concepts and teachings shared during the conference along with practical ideas for incorporating conference insights into the day-to-day. The aim is to further educate and encourage families impacted by adoption and foster care as they seek to provide hope and healing to the children entrusted to them.

Show Hope is a faith-based organization and evidence of that faith will naturally be part of the Hope for the Journey Conference (as it was with the Empowered to Connect Conference). In an effort to further engage the Church in elevating trauma-competency, The Hope for the Journey Conference will introduce a fifth supplemental module and additional resources to explore the gospel as foundational to TBRI, as outlined by Show Hope.

It is Show Hope’s desire that the conference serves as a resource for the churches and organizations that host, allowing them to further open their doors and build relationships with families impacted by adoption and foster care in their communities.

Moving to a modular format gives hosts the flexibility to make decisions about which portions of the conference are most helpful in their context.

Hosts will have access to certificates of completion for adoptive and foster families to submit to their respective agencies.

Unlike previous years, professional continuing education will not be offered through Show Hope, but hosts will be able to submit information for approval with local or state accreditation organizations.