Parents

Parents hold a powerful key to shaping their children's future. Through nurturing interactions, healthy boundaries, and empathetic support, parents can leave a lasting impact on their children's growth, behavior, and overall well-being.

Yet, no one hands parents a manual for raising kids. Many parents envision the kind of family atmosphere they want to create and the type of parent they aspire to be, but they’re unsure how to bring that vision to life. They may feel frustrated when their strategies don't yield results, overwhelmed by their child's emotional turmoil, and disheartened by the lack of connection within their family. Without a plan, it’s all too easy to fall into familiar habits and repeat the patterns of our past. 

The good news is that change is possible - and transformative. Armed with knowledge, skills, and support, you can become the parent you've always wanted to be. You can feel confident and prepared to tackle the challenges of parenthood head-on.

Whether you're looking to explore your emotions around parenting, hone specific skills, or make significant shifts in your family's dynamics, we can craft a plan tailored to your goals. Let's fill your parenting toolkit with a range of relationship-centered, evidence-based tools that cater to your family's unique needs.

Together, we can work on on:

  • Gaining a deeper understanding of your child's unique needs, development, and personality
  • Cultivating attunement, trust, and security within the parent-child relationship
  • Enhancing communication and connection
  • Learning effective strategies for managing emotional and behavioral hurdles
  • Establishing and maintaining age-appropriate boundaries and limits
  • Creating structure, routines, and rituals that promote responsibility
  • Recognizing unproductive patterns and breaking negative cycles
  • Addressing the distinct challenges and requirements of raising a child with specific mental health, behavioral, or emotional concerns

Every parent has the potential to create a loving, nurturing environment for their children. Our services are designed to help parents unlock that potential through a combination of practical skills, personalized support, and emotional healing.

Parent Support Services: Coaching / Counseling / Child-Parent Relationship Therapy

Parent Coaching

Parent coaching is a hands-on, action-oriented approach that equips parents with the knowledge and skills needed to tackle specific challenges and bring about positive change in their families.

Each parent coaching session is designed around your goals and incorporates a mix of:

  • Education: Learn about important concepts like attachment, co-regulation, emotional development, and your child's unique traits.
  • Experiential learning: Practice new skills in-session and get real-time feedback and encouragement.
  • Strategies: Equip your parenting toolbox with relationship-centered, evidence-backed techniques that deliver results.
  • Personalized support: Discover how to apply newfound knowledge and skills to your family's unique dynamics.
  • Planning: Create an action plan to help you stay on track.

By equipping parents with the knowledge, tools, and resources they need, parent coaching can empower them to create lasting change in their family.

Parent Counseling

Parent counseling is an introspective approach that delves into the emotional and psychological aspects of parenting. It emphasizes helping parents gain insight, heal attachment wounds, and break free from unhelpful patterns. Engaging in counseling not only promotes parents' personal healing but also enhances the emotional health and well-being of their children and future generations.

Parents seek counseling for a variety of reasons. For some, that might be working through adjusting to their role as a parent, unlearning unhelpful strategies from their childhood, or figuring out why they can’t stop yelling no matter how hard they try.

Counseling can help parents:

  • Gain self-awareness: Explore your emotions and experiences, identify unresolved issues, and examine how your past influences your present.
  • Grow & Heal: Break free from unhelpful patterns and make space for new ways of being.
  • Break Cycles of Trauma & Shame: Address the root causes of intergenerational trauma and create a new legacy of emotional health and well-being for your family.
  • Transform your family environment.

Some parents may benefit from a blend of parent coaching and counseling, depending on their needs and circumstances. Integrating coaching and therapy enables parents to receive comprehensive support that addresses both their practical parenting needs and their emotional well-being. This approach allows parents to develop a deep understanding of their child's needs while simultaneously building their emotional resilience and parenting skills.

Child-Parent Relationship Therapy

Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) is an evidence-based, family-centered approach designed to strengthen the connection between parents and their children by fostering empathy, understanding, and effective communication. CPRT combines the fundamental principles of child-centered play therapy with a structured training program to enable parents to become the driving force behind positive change in their children's lives.

Over the course of around ten sessions, parents will learn and practice important skills, including reflective responding, emotional attunement, limit-setting, enforcing boundaries, returning responsibility, esteem-boosting encouragement, and therapeutic play. Parents will learn to understand and address their children's emotional needs, leading to enriched relationships, improved behavior, enhanced emotional well-being, and healthier family dynamics.

At the heart of CPRT is Special Playtime, a weekly one-on-one time in which the child takes the lead in play, and the parent applies the skills they've learned. As part of the CPRT process, parents can record some Special Playtime sessions to receive constructive feedback and guidance from the therapist. While this may feel vulnerable initially, it's one of the most effective ways to rapidly refine and gain confidence in your new skills.

Child-Parent Relationship Therapy can help parents:

  • Learn basic play therapy skills and conduct special play sessions with their child
  • Successfully set limits and address behavior challenges
  • Support your child in developing self-control, confidence, and responsibility
  • Increase confidence in your parenting skills and reduce parental stress and guilt
  • Enhance secure attachment and strengthen the parent-child bond