I’m a therapist and a parent coach so I call the work I do therapeutic parent coaching.

My husband and I raised four children in Vermont and Cambridge, Mass. and experienced all the fears and self-doubt every parent goes through. I have a master’s in adolescent psychology where I studied the link between adolescent identity formation and creativity, and a master’s in mental health counseling and expressive therapy. I am trained in Internal Family Systems (IFS) work, which influences the work I do with parents, which I call Parenting You First.

About Parenting You First

Being a parent helps us grow and heal. Parenting asks parents to look inward, to connect the past to the present. Looking inward to find out what is triggering you makes parenting this unique opportunity to grow, heal, and repair.

The parent-child relationship is unlike any other relationship in our lives. Parenting You First see challenges, not as obstacles but as a way inward to know and love yourself, to make your health and wellbeing the most important parenting work you do. Every day.

All parents feels the urgency to get it right but wherever you are, is exactly where you are supposed to be. If you feel stuck, it means you have to look inward to get unstuck. The process of looking inward to find yourself and the answers you seek is freeing. No one can tell you how to parent your child. If you follow someone' else’s script, you are looking outward for answers, and you will always falter, and your child will know you don’t trust yourself.

A friend once said, “I had terrible parents. They didn’t know how to parent me so when I became a parent, I didn’t have clue what to do. I didn’t trust myself at all.”

“But you did know,” I said, as we soaked in the early Spring sun. “You knew exactly what felt right and what felt wrong, because you have lived it. Everything you need to know is inside of you. You didn’t go through all that for nothing.”

I smiled and she looked doubtful. It’s true, everything you need to know is inside of you. You just need to make the U-Turn and get to know the child you once were.

Parenting Your First is about connection and re-connecting. Connecting to yourself so you can connect to your child. How do to find connection when you didn’t get enough of it when you were a child? How do you figure out why you are reacting? How do you know what’s really going on? No matter your age or situation, when you take responsibility for your inner life, you find the power of true connection, and when you are connected to yourself and your child, you can handle anything.