Hands to Hearts International ending Attachment Disorder, Saving Lives, around the World

Hands to Hearts International (HHI) was founded 10 years ago by Laura Peterson of Portland, Oregon, with the goal of preventing Attachment Disorder in vulnerable infants and children. As hard as it may be to imagine, for families battling hunger, poverty, violence and disease, it can be a struggle to provide a baby’s most basic need: love. And children who are not nurtured during the critical first five years of life face emotional, physical, social and cognitive problems that can severely hinder their ability to thrive, if they even survive. Peterson's vision was to create a program that would “reach the most little people, at the highest risk, at the earliest time, with the most simple and replicable form of prevention possible.” With her extensive background in children's mental health, and through HHI, she developed a training for caregivers focussed on childhood development, and on loving, nurturing, parenting skills. HHI has now reached 200,000 moms/dads and babies in India, Uganda, Russia Swaziland, and the United States. The program is saving lives, breaking cycles of domestic violence, and helping children and their communities to thrive. Laura Peterson will be joined on KBOO by Geri Kemper, who who will be talking about how she used her HHI training in rural Namibia, as part of her Peace Corps volunteer work. Hosted by Stephanie Potter