World-renowned expert in early childhood development, Dr. Gordon Neufeld, visited Balkan region this October at the initiative of the Novak Djokovic Foundation. He engaged with an enthusiastic audience through a series of talks on the theme: “How to Maintain Closeness with Children Despite the Challenges of Growing Up.”
Parents, guardians, and other caring individuals in a child’s life, as well as educators, teachers, psychologists, pedagogues, and social workers—everyone striving to provide better psychological support to children in their development—had the opportunity to be empowered in their efforts through this series of discussions with one of the leading child psychologists.
More than 4,000 people in Belgrade, Banja Luka, Zagreb, and Ljubljana followed Dr. Gordon Neufeld’s lectures with great interest. During these events, he addressed some of the key topics from his decades-long work with children, youth, and their families.
Attachment as the foundation of the parent-child relationship, the importance of the parent’s role compared to that of peers, and the value of emotional expression, rest, and play in children’s growth and development formed the core of the lectures. Dr. Neufeld frequently drew on valuable experiences from his rich career to illustrate these points.
Participants also had the opportunity to take part in a full-day interactive lecture with Dr. Neufeld, designed for parents and guardians, as well as professionals providing psychological support to children and parents, and those whose professions involve working with children.
In addition to the official lectures, the Novak Djokovic Foundation organized a free lecture by Dr. Neufeld for students of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade.
Dr. Gordon Neufeld is also widely known as a mentor to Gabor Maté, with whom he co-authored the bestseller “Hold on to Your Kids,” published in 35 countries and translated into Serbian. Over the past two decades, he has dedicated himself to creating courses for parents and educators through the Neufeld Institute – an online educational institute and global charitable organization dedicated to applying developmental science in child-rearing.
