Austin IN Connection was created by happenstance in April 2007 while meeting informally to study cutting-edge concepts drawn from attachment theory and the rapidly advancing field of interpersonal neurobiology.  Some of us were particularly inspired by the idea that this new scientific research on the brain and the mind was highly teachable and that, if we worked together, we just might be able to share this information much more widely.  We wanted to get it into the hands of those who could use it most - our clients and our colleagues as well as parents, couples and families, educators, physicians, researchers, and policy makers.

With the hope of developing and refining our mission, we began to meet regularly in each others' living rooms and backyards.  While our different backgrounds, training, life paths and professional expertise came to light, we found common ground in our passion for creating and making resources available to help build stronger and healthier relationships in our community.  We gave ourselves a name - Austin IN Connection - with the "IN" to stand for "interpersonal neurobiology" AND to designate our goal to connect community members with each other and with relevant resources.  We started a Yahoo Discussion Group, which grew to 100 members in our first year, and sent emails to folks interested in keeping up with the various events and groups we either developed, sponsored or both.  We began the Year of Conversations, sponsored a workshop entitled Buddhas & Brains: An Exploration of Contemplative Practice and Neural Integration, and designed our first website, all of which surpassed where we imagined we might be in a year! 

By our second year, we had a 13-member Board of Directors with an executive committee, four standing committees and bylaws!  We created a new website that helped us deliver information about our ever-expanding programs for members of Austin IN Connection and continued to offer our free monthly experiential program, Year of Conversations, which also provides CEUs and an opportunity to quiet the mind and tune into non-verbal ways of knowing.  We also sponsored a Study Group with Allan Schore, PhD, which meets twice each summer.  In August of 2008, we organized a community-wide lecture by Dr. Schore, The Paradigm Shift: The Right Brain and the Relational Unconscious, by bringing together six other Austin-based mental health organizations.  We also continued to explore funding to provide attachment-based interventions and services to high-risk mothers in Austin. 

In our third year, we hosted Stan Tatkin, PsyD for an extremely well-attended three-day series of community and professional lectures and workshops (A Three-Day Series on Successful Relationships) in which he promoted his Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT).  We also held a workshop on Mentalization-Based Treatment (Mentalizing Training Group) with Efrain Bleiberg, MD from the Menninger Clinic in Houston.  And we began to develop our Family Outreach Program in Austin.  We also acquired our first two Advisory Board members and made plans for our first organizational Board Retreat under the expert guidance of TANO, Texas Association of Non-Profit Organizations.

We are proud to have created a network of exciting collaborations within this strong professional community over the past three years.  In the years ahead, we hope to continue to share resources with one another and extend our reach to the public.