Parent Coaching

I enjoy working with caregivers as they navigate the joys and challenges of parenting, balancing parents’ responsibilities and their own well-being. With my work with parents, I utilize a variety of approaches, including Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE).  I teach parents skills and strategies to respond to their children's challenging behaviors and big emotions. Goals include helping parents set and hold expectations, skills for emotion regulation, more effective communication, while prioritizing and enhancing their relationship with their children. An important part of parent coaching is helping parents recognize ways their own emotions are involved in their response and act in ways that align with their parenting values.

 

Caregiver coaching is recommended either in conjunction with individual therapy for the child, or often, as a stand alone treatment. Caregiver coaching is a powerful tool that can create positive change in a family system even when the child is not directly involved in the sessions. This can be especially helpful for children who are young or resistant to therapy. It is an empowering experience for parents to be their child's coach, and it can have a substantial and lasting impact on their child's mental health and the family's functioning. Parents often gain concrete skills and knowledge, feel more confident in how they respond to their child, experience greater awareness around their emotions and the patterns they get stuck in, and how their reactions are aligned or not with their values and goals as parents.