Parenting can be the most difficult job that you ever take on and it’s pretty likely that you didn't get any training for it! I often hear from parents that they don’t feel like they are the parent they thought they’d be, they are struggling with conflicting parenting styles, that their relationship with their child or adolescent seems to be heading down a path they didn’t plan, or that they are unsure of the direction to take in certain situations with their child or adolescent. While parent support and coaching is often incorporated into adolescent or family therapy, I also work with parents without having involvement with their children.
Parents and caregivers include biological, adoptive, foster, and step-parents who are single, together, separated or divorced, as well as grandparents, extended family members, or other caregivers who play an important role in the child or adolescent’s life.
My work with parents and caregivers draws on attachment theory and is informed by a number of modalities including Emotionally Focused Family Therapy, EFFT Parent Skills Training, and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) for Adolescents. Parent Support and Coaching often involves one or more of the following topics but is not limited to this list:
understanding behavioural and mental health concerns in children and adolescents
adjusting to having a child with a mental health diagnosis, developmental disability, or learning disability
understanding attachment difficulties resulting from early childhood trauma, loss or absence of a parent, physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, or neglect
welcoming adoptive, foster, or step-siblings or a step-parent into the family
identifying your desired parenting style and how to work toward parenting in this way
helping parents and caregivers learn to co-parent and make parenting decisions that best support their child’s physical, emotional, and social development (especially helpful for soon-to-be-separated, separated, or divorced parents)