Parent & Caregiver Support
Parenting is Not for the Faint of Heart
At every stage, parenting brings it’s own unique challenges. For tweens and teens, their search for who they are in the world often brings increased conflict with you as the parent or caregiver. Nothing you say is helpful, their peers are both their main source of inspiration and their main source of stress, and the child you used to know everything about is suddenly giving you one-word responses when you ask how they are. They may be hiding important things from you, pushing boundaries, or taking bigger risks with their health and safety, making you feel worried, anxious and in need of more support.
Getting Pulled into the Vortex
Parenting often brings to the surface our own experiences of how we were raised, what cultural expectations we carry, and stories that can often be traced back generations in families. When part of this history involves unhealthy boundaries, poor communication, high conflict, or traumatic experiences, everything becomes heightened. You may be working to make sure your child doesn’t go through what you had to go through. You may see signs that your child is struggling but not know how to talk to them about what is happening. Each conflict you have with your child leaves you feeling exhausted, helpless and unsure of what to do.
Learning how to Break the Cycle
Together, we can work on shifting the communication between you and your child and breaking these unhealthy cycles.
In our first session we’ll meet 1:1 and I’ll ask you to tell me all about your child. I believe in using a collaborative approach with open communication in order to ensure we create a plan that actually helps you (and your child) communicate more effectively. The plan we come up with will be individually tailored to your specific needs as a family, and may include things like:
Coaching conversations before, during or after conflict
Clear, actionable next steps you can put into practice right away
Care coordination with all of your child’s providers if needed
Trauma assessment, if needed
A list of resources specific to your family’s needs for additional support
If I’m also working individually with your child, we’ll start off with an intake session with you and your child present in the room so that you both have a chance to share from your different perspectives what the challenges are and what you’re hoping to work on in therapy. We’ll talk about what communication will look like and I’ll be able to answer any questions you or your child may have about confidentiality, school visits, or anything else on your mind. Then, I’ll meet with them 1:1 to get a more detailed version of what they are experiencing. At the end, we’ll come back together and make a plan moving forward, including how often we’ll meet and what outside supports are needed.