Skip to My Lou Parenting workshop - Lou Harvey-Zahra
- What
- Skip to My Lou Parenting workshop - Lou Harvey-Zahra
- When
- 5/12/2017, 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
- Where
- Aftercare Room in ECC
Lou Harvey-Zahra was born in South West London and raised in a small village called Stubbington on the south coast of England. Lou obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Liverpool University, a Postgraduate Degree in Education from West Sussex Institute of Higher Education, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Special Educational Needs from Kingston University. Sixteen years ago Lou completed her Rudolf Steiner teacher training course.
Lou’s passion has always been children. Lou began her teaching career in a multi-cultural school in London in 1992. Five years later, she moved to Australia.
For the past twenty years Lou has taught in Primary, Special Needs and Rudolf Steiner settings. It was whilst teaching at Western Autistic School, Melbourne, where she first discovered the ‘Least Restrictive First’ strategy to deal with challenging behaviors. During this time Lou began running workshops, culminating in presenting at the World Autism Conference at the Melbourne Convention Centre.
After having children, Lou pioneered a Saturday Social Skills Club for children with Autism/Asperger’s and their families, which obtained Government funding. She enjoyed her role for twelve years as a Steiner playgroup leader, assisting parents with their children, five years and under. Lou and her husband co-founded a Steiner Kindergarten, which has become a successful Steiner-inspired primary school.
Lou has now facilitated over a hundred Creative Discipline and Conscious Parenting talks and workshops across Australia and UK and she writes for local parenting magazines, is the teenage writer for Juno magazine, UK. Lou’s popular parenting books include: Turning Tears into Laughter: Creative Discipline for the Toddler and Preschool Years (Five Mile Press, 2010, now out-of-print); Happy Child, Happy Home: Conscious Parenting and Creative Discipline (Floris Books, UK, 2014), which has become a bestseller and Lou’s third book Creative Discipline, Connected Family: Transforming Tears, Tantrums and Troubles While Staying Close to Your Children (Floris Books).
Lou’s passion is raising the next generation. She enjoys family life, travelling, walking in nature with her dog, reading, teaching amazing children (she meets them every day!), and running workshops to inspire parents and professionals. Lou lives with her husband, two teenage children and a lovely cat and dog in Warrandyte, Melbourne.