Online Parenting Therapy in California
Serving Lafayette and All of California
Struggling with your child’s behavior?
Start with you.
When parents transform, children flourish. Working with a parenting therapist in California can help turn things around for your family.
Every act of parenting involves improvisation, and your influence on your child’s choices is real and lasting. The good news is that you can be intentional about it.
Planning, consultation, and practice with an experienced parenting therapist are the most powerful leverage there is for guiding children toward the values your family cares about. That’s why my Parent-First Method puts you at the center of the work.
Having spent the last 25 years facilitating positive change with the complicated parenting challenges encountered in a community children’s mental health clinic, I am prepared to help you tackle the most difficult behavioral problems and special needs issues.
Throughout my 25 years working in community children's mental health, schools, and private practice, I have honed my skill with teen, child, and family therapy. I taught a variety of parenting classes, worked with divorcing and blended families, and facilitated parenting support groups. If you choose to work with me, you can be confident that you are working with an experienced child, teen, and parenting therapist.
BOOK A FREE CONSULTATION to learn more about the Parent-First method.
Your Strengths First: The Parent-First Method
Your child’s behavior is their way of communicating something important. When you respond with caring and accurate attunement, you offer the reassurance and safety that help regulate your nervous system first, then theirs. Trust deepens, acting-out behavior eases, and mutual respect grows.
Whatever your parenting challenges are, I help you build on your own expertise and develop strategies that work. You’ll get clear coaching in positive parenting techniques and attuned listening, so you feel more confident and satisfied in your ability to parent effectively. As your child feels more understood, their natural interest in pleasing you and their own problem-solving abilities have room to grow.
The Nurtured Heart Approach
Kids are “energy detectives,” so I help you put your energy into the behavior you DO want rather than the behavior you DON’T want. I draw on theory and techniques from the Nurtured Heart Approach.
One powerful technique is “Kodak moments.” I show you the why and the how. I practice what I preach by noticing your strengths and helping you recognize them in yourself. When you can do this for yourself, it is that much easier to do it for your kids.
How the Parent-First Method Works
Parenting Therapy Includes:
☀️ Clarifying Your Values and Goals
We’ll get right to work. I typically begin with at least one parenting session, where we identify what matters most to you and the “qualities of greatness” you’d like to grow in your children. Then we build strategies that fit your family.
☀️ Understanding Your Triggers
We’ll identify what pushes your buttons and why. You’ll learn to track your own emotional responses and impulses so you can respond from calm strength instead of reactivity.
☀️ Learning From Real Moments
Most parents can recall exact interactions with their child and the things their child typically says. Those moments hold clues about your child’s needs and about the blind spots we all have. We use them as the material for guided practice in attuned listening.
☀️ Looking for Evidence of Strengths
We look for evidence that the desired “qualities of greatness” you value already exist in your child, then highlight them, like watering and nurturing seeds, rather than weeding out problems. We grow positive behavior through attention and targeted enthusiasm.
☀️ Giving Yourself Positive Attention First
Each session begins with a positive focus on your growth. I ask you to notice and name your own strengths. This demonstrates the method and shows you how it feels to be on the receiving end of recognition.
☀️ Practicing Until It’s Second Nature
Bring your examples, successes, and struggles. I model the techniques, then coach you through them in a methodical, hands-on way until you feel confident using them on your own.
The theory is simple, but it takes practice and guidance to remember these skills when feelings get in the way. With compassionate, experienced support, you can build the skills and confidence to carry on independently.
♥︎ A safe place to start
My style is positive and encouraging. Without the trust this builds, shame can keep families from getting the help they need. Once trust is present, I can help you create the same safe, nurturing environment that lets your child open up and confide in you, which is often better done directly with a parent than with a therapist.
Think Outside the Box…Learn
As a trained play therapist, I teach you the same child-centered play therapy techniques I use in my practice. This isn’t modified parenting advice. It’s authentic play therapy methodology adapted for the home environment, and you are the one who brings it to life.
Child-centered play follows the child’s lead completely. I guide you to set aside judgment, resist the urge to direct or teach, and reflect your child’s feelings and choices instead. When you learn to say “You decided the dragon feels scared” instead of “Why don’t you make the dragon brave?” you create the same therapeutic conditions that support healing in my office.
Just 30 minutes a week of focused, child-centered play, under my guidance as your parenting therapist, is the heart of this work. You’ll follow specific protocols: reflecting content and feelings, setting only safety limits, and allowing your child full emotional expression through play. Along the way, you’ll practice noticing your own reactions and impulses, so you can stay steady and attuned.
This approach can be even more powerful than traditional play therapy because healing happens within the parent-child relationship itself. Your child experiences unconditional acceptance from their primary attachment figure. With professional guidance, these skills create lasting change that extends far beyond our sessions.
How to Know if You Might Benefit From Parenting Therapy
If your child struggles with emotional regulation, you’re under stress too, and no situation is beyond hope. You may be yelling more than you want to, walking on eggshells, or battling over homework, chores, and bedtime. My clients leave sessions with real insight and tools they can use right away.
Online Parenting Therapist in California
Serving Lafayette, Walnut Creek, Orinda, CA, Contra Costa County, and all of California.
Book your free consultation.
or call 925-289-8411
Promoting
Healthy
Parenting
Parenting Therapy Online in Lafayette, CA
I help you identify your values with intention and develop strategies for discipline, communication, and co-parenting after divorce, so you feel more satisfied in your own ability to parent effectively.
As a dedicated parenting therapist in California, I’m here to help you turn chaos into connection. Together we’ll build the skills and confidence to create a nurturing home and reclaim your peace of mind. Let’s start with you.
Check out my blog: Distressed Children < - > Exhausted Families
As a dedicated parenting therapist in California, I’m here to help you transform chaos into connection, offering tailored strategies that empower you to foster a nurturing environment while reclaiming your peace of mind.
Let’s embark on this journey together and turn your parenting challenges into opportunities for growth and joy.
Online Parenting Therapy for
Parents of Teens
Serving Lafayette and all of California
I believe in building on your strengths and noticing where you shine, because when you change how you respond, your teen’s behavior follows.
Parenting challenges with teens can be overwhelming…especially
when your child has special needs, anxiety, or behavioral issues.
I believe in building
on your strengths and
noticing where you shine!
Online Parenting Groups
In addition to individual parenting sessions, I offer groups at a reduced rate. Parenting groups are a place where parents can receive encouragement and ideas from each other, while practicing and learning together.
