Give them a childhood they won’t have to heal from.
CHILDREN | PARENTS | FAMILIES
I want to help your whole family thrive.
You have done your therapy. You have your own Missoula therapist on speed dial. And it was your ultimate goal to avoid passing on your own childhood trauma to your kids.
That was the plan. To heal, and be the parent yours never were, and have a happy kid without issues.
But here you are.
Shopping for groceries can turn into a tantrum-filled ordeal without warning. And simple trips to the mall become power struggles that end in tears (yours and theirs).
You can feel the judgmental glances and hear the whispers of others. Thinking of what they must be saying about you brings hot tears to your eyes.
Every day is a struggle with your child.
Bedtime brings no relief; in fact, it’s often the hardest part of the day. It’s nearly impossible to calm an anxious and demanding child that won’t be reassured; you feel helpless and clueless.
Or maybe it’s the notes home from the teachers - they come nearly every day now - that fill you with deep seated shame. Where did you go wrong?
If “Gentle Parenting” was an Olympic sport, you’d win Gold, for sure. Isn’t this the best parenting style? You’re doing everything right. You bend over backwards to make sure you are the perfect parent.
Your kid is enrolled in gymnastics, ninja classes, nature citizen science camp, piano lessons and seasonal ice hockey and you all go swimming or mountain biking together on the weekends…
So why the aggression at school? Why the defiance?
Maybe you need to spend more time together, and do more with your child. Maybe your kiddo just feels overwhelmed and needs more family time. But it’s so hard to know…
You knew parenting would be challenging, but you weren’t prepared for this.
People warned you about the endemic clutter, the utter exhaustion, and moments of sheer frustration.
But you didn’t realize you’d be constantly pushed to your edge.
Now, you find yourself wondering if you should have even had kids.
“It’s my fault,” you repeat again and again. “I must be doing something wrong.”
You try to push these thoughts away and have resigned yourself to the fact that you just have a “high-maintenance child.”
But thinking about their future inspires dread, and you wish there were some way to help them before things get any worse.
You’ve scrolled the experts on the socials, and tried their suggestions but it hasn’t worked for your child.
Some of the suggestions seem so harmful, you can’t even bring yourself to try them. So are you just doomed to be a failure as a parent because your instincts are way off?
There are so many voices that offer advice: Friends, your mother-in-law, books from PhDs, MDs, and parenting gurus, and all that information is swimming around in your head, and it’s all so contradictory!
Perhaps you have taken your child to a therapist before, and you weren’t impressed. Maybe they focused on only your kiddo’s unwanted behavior and encouraged you to use incentives like rewards for desired behavior, and ignoring behavior you don’t like.
It felt “off” and after just a few sessions, you stopped taking your child there.
And now you’re terrified of looking for help anywhere.
You and your spouse are exhausted, and now you’re not just losing your temper with your child, you’re short with each other.
It feels like everything is falling apart.
You’re living in toxic sludge.
Something has to change.
Your entire life has been turned upside down, and you alternate between anxiety-riddled freakout mode and being deadened and dulled to the joy all around you.
The stress is affecting not only you and your spouse, but your child. And it’s hindering their ability to manage their thoughts and emotions.
You know you can’t do this alone any longer and need support to help your child get through it. But who can you trust with these feelings, this reality?
What if you had help to transform your family?
I can help you respond more effectively,
and teach your child new skills.
I can help you shift your perspective to seeing behavior as communication. Discover the relief that comes from achieving a level of resolution, connection, and understanding you didn’t know was possible.
Imagine having someone to help you understand exactly what is going on with your child when they are defiant, when they act out, meltdown, or go from sweet to sour in seconds – someone who can teach you the tools to resolve it. At the same time, in a parallel process, I will be helping your child to learn and understand what’s happening for them internally, and to process and integrate past events and learn new options for coping with big feelings for the future.
Finally, you can feel confident as a parent and trust that your child is on a path toward self-assurance, emotional literacy, great friends, and successful life.
Now is the time.
You know that something needs to shift.
Allow yourself this gift.
Hi, I’M Dylan.
I understand there’s nothing more important to you than the wellbeing of your family.
I’ve spent my entire adult life focused on improving the life and well-being of families like yours.
Instead of the band-aid temporary efforts of working to address just your child’s behavior, I help them, and you, understand the roots of their feelings, what’s driving the behavior, and how it affects all of you.
Through authentic interactions and without judgment, we’ll use science-based, cutting-edge methods that are gentle, playful, and effective at giving your child the space and tools to process their feelings.
Child Therapy
I provide play therapy for toddlers and young children, and even infants with their parents, on issues ranging from aggression and acting out, nightmares, and helping kids process transition, grief and loss, birth complications, adoption, stress & trauma from past events, and family transition.
Individual Therapy
As you care for children, you may feel your own complicated or traumatic childhood get triggered, and is impacting your ability to be the parent you want to be. I can help you explore and unpack that, and empower you to free yourself from the past that still affects you, so you can be the parent you want to be.
Family Therapy
Your whole family is affected when things are off-kilter, when stress and lack of communication is a weight that bears down on everyone. It can be so helpful to have someone to help you all learn to communicate, express yourselves, listen to each other, and learn how to find your balance, so you can enjoy each other again.
Get in touch.
I understand you may have questions about this process and whether I’m a good fit for your family. Schedule a free 20-minute consultation with me to get your questions answered and learn more about how we can work together.
