Parenting
Why Parent Consultation?
If you are reading this, you are probably feeling exhausted and defeated by the challenges you are having in parenting. Alternatively, you might be one of the many families who are hitting roadblocks in finding a therapist for your child or teen. Now that school is in-person again, there is a bottleneck of need for after-school appointment slots. There just aren’t enough after-school appointments to meet the demand. Fortunately, parent consultation is a great alternative to direct therapy with kids and even teens.
Parents are their child’s number one resource. We can often effectively intervene with child problems by providing guidance to parents, even without seeing the child. Parenting services also work to unify parents on how to address child concerns. Some child issues that are especially suitable for parent consultation include: anger/ aggression, meltdowns, anxiety, sleep problems, and mealtime challenges.
Your therapist will guide you in developing road maps and protocols for the various challenges you may be having with your child or teen. Strategies vary depending on the needs of your child, developmental stage, and your parenting philosophy. Your therapist will ask you questions about the various influences on your parenting – this might include discussion of how you were parented, what you value most as a parent, parenting books that have inspired you (or not), and what is realistic for you to put into place at home.
We draw from a variety of strategies, with the emphasis on prioritizing a positive parent-child/ teen connection. Parenting strategies may involve play-based techniques, stories/ narratives, rewards, emotion coaching, and reasonable discipline. We can help you to identify and modify common parenting traps.
Parent consultation is a collaborative process between you and your therapist. Our therapists are creative, flexible, and committed to finding strategies that will work for your family. We are dedicated to providing you with a compassionate and safe setting to explore parenting strategies.