Our children today are exposed to many stressors. Many face sky-high expectations at school, feel unhealthy pressure from peers or hold themselves to social media standards. This can result in overwhelming feelings of hopelessness. You may notice your child has become more withdrawn, sensitive, tearful, irritable, and moody. We will explore your child’s thoughts and feelings. We will help them grow their feelings vocabulary so that they can confidently share their thoughts. We will teach them how to identify negative self-talk and develop strategies to cope with the painful feelings. We will teach them to quiet their minds, focus on the present moment, acknowledge and accept their feelings, re-frame their thoughts, and change the way they care and connect with themselves and others. As parents, you will learn new ways to listen to your children as they more effectively share their thoughts and feelings as well as ways to respond to your child so that they feel validated. By teaching your child social and emotional skills to manage unhappiness you will be giving them lifelong tools to stay confident and open to enjoying life.

You have a child who acts aggressively towards others, seems to tantrum over small disappointments, or argues over the simplest chores or assignments. You’ve tried lecturing, time outs, removing privileges, and threatening consequences but nothing seems to work. We will explore your child’s thoughts to determine what is driving the negative behavior. We will teach them how to recognize how their body feels when it is mad and teach them effective coping strategies and calming techniques to bring their bodies and brains back to a state of control. We will teach your child how to be more flexible and how to handle frustration more adaptively. As a parent, you will learn how not to fall into the trap of feeding the negative pattern of interaction. You will learn new ways to listen to your children as they more effectively share their thoughts and feelings. You will learn how to handle your child’s difficult behavior competently and compassionately. By teaching your child to control their big feelings and you learning to respond without matched intensity, you will be able to guide your strong-willed child to become an adolescent and adult of strong character.

It’s so frustrating to watch your bright child struggle with everyday responsibilities like writing down their language arts assignment, remembering to take their science book home, or finish their homework before bedtime. It’s discouraging to receive feedback from your child’s teacher that he has trouble sitting at his desk, following classroom directions without constant reminders, and resisting the impulse to engage with his peers during instruction times. You know your child has the heart to succeed, but he may be lacking the fundamental brain-based skills to get organized, initiate a task, stay on the task, inhibit impulses, and regulate his emotions. We will identify your child’s areas of both strengths and weaknesses. We will encourage your child to draw on his strengths and then teach skills to enhance or bypass his weakness to improve overall functioning. As parents, you will learn how to modify your child’s environment and how to interact with your child to encourage the development of these skills while staying calm and maintaining control. By boosting your child’s executive functioning skills, you will be giving them lifelong tools to problem-solve and be resourceful.

All brains and bodies need stimulation to concentrate and perform well, but you may have a child who seems to throws his whole body and soul into getting the stimulation he needs. Your child may touch, grab, run, and climb a lot. Your child may have trouble listening to instructions or waiting his turn. He may need to involve himself in all conversations and you may notice his mouth often moves as fast as his body. These are all signs of a disorganized, or “out-of-sync,” brain. Our brain uses our senses to take in information about our world, but some children have trouble processing this information and this makes it difficult for them to listen and learn. We will teach them how to recognize how their body feels when it is “out-of-sync.” We will teach them sensorimotor strategies to bring their brains and bodies back to a state of balance. As a parent, you will learn how to recognize what sensations your child may need less of or more of. You will learn how to rechannel your child’s energies to use in a purposeful and productive way. By addressing your child’s activity level, you will providing them with lifelong skills to ensure they are working “in-sync” to achieve optimal learning levels.

You had a vision of the parent you always wanted to be before you ever had children. Now you feel confused about what to say and do to help your child. You are overwhelmed and exhausted causing you to say and do things you promised you never would. You feel as though you should be able to control your child better but you haven’t found strategies that work for your family. Most days are full of countless challenging moments that leave you feeling like you are merely surviving. Many adults struggle with anxiety and depression as they progress through parenthood. Left untreated, mental health disorders can have devastating effects on not only the parent, but the children, the marriage, and the entire family system. We will teach you how to build social-emotional skills with your child to help you become a parent who is loving and kind. You want to be able to provide your child with experiences that help them become better human beings, to leave meaningfully, and to be resilient during difficult times. You will learn how to recognize how those survival moments are also opportunities to create thrive goals with valuable life lessons.