Therapy for Parents

Online in montana & In-person in Missoula

You swore to react to your child differently – unlike how you were raised.

You have read the books and know what you’re supposed to do, but you feel unprepared for the rush of adrenaline, fear, and anger that overcome you when pushed to your edge.

Sometimes, you yell and scare your child.

At other times, you can feel your heart palpitating, and you have so many worries that you give in and have no boundaries.

So much for not being like your own family!

Maybe you’re noticing:

  • You yell far more than you want to

  • You get listless, and find it hard to care about things

  • You are irritated at the smallest triggers

  • Tension between you and your spouse is at a breaking point

  • Anxiety and panic that you are ruining their life because you keep f*cking up

Things were supposed to be different – but aren’t.

Man with glasses holding a smiling baby on shoulders against a blue garage door.


Your child provides the map to your inner wounds.

It’s not too late – things can change.

Kids – our kids – have a way of illuminating our unhealed and unprocessed wounds from childhood.
Have you considered that you might not have been able to address these issues until you had a child?
The exact behavior that pushes your buttons points an arrow to the places you need to examine.

Addressing your “stuff” can help you have more capacity to be patient with your child.

As you learn more about your early experiences, you can evolve and become the parent you dream of being, let go of shame, and give yourself grace for the parent you are.

What a gift to give yourself and your family!

Take a brave step to explore your childhood that affects your family and child.

I will help you with parenting strategies too!

There are ways to shift your mindset, as you heal, to understand your child. As your own capacity to be with their big emotions expands, so will your a-ha moments into what they are showing you and telling you, and your ability to offer new and more effective ways of addressing their behavior, and their emotions.

Tantrums won’t end – yours or theirs – because we are human. And they are children, and you have a history that can’t be fixed in a few short months.

But you will feel the graceful, gentle shifts in how you perceive yourself, and your sweet child, when they have those big, dramatic moments – and when you do too. And that will make so much difference.

Woman in a plaid shirt holding hands with a child in a field of tall grass under a clear sky.

HOW THERAPY FOR PARENTS WORKS

Individual therapy for parents allows you to explore how past experiences can influence your response to your child. Delving into those experiences provides the first step to finding a different approach from how you were raised.

By learning about your childhood experiences, you can effectively relate to your child without all the struggles.

Our work together will take time and effort on your part, but the payoffs strengthen your connection to yourself and your child – and your family can experience a more robust sense of joyful togetherness.

It won’t be easy and it will take commitment.

What we’ll work on

Therapy for parents:

  • Cultivating your own agency

  • Identifying what you truly want for yourself

  • Developing healthy boundaries - and learning what they are

  • Developing emotional regulation

  • Finding clarity in the midst of chaos

I’m here to support you as you grow into yourself as a parent

and as your own person.

FAQS

Common questions about therapy for parents

  • It really depends on what your goals are. Usually engaging in therapy with me means you want to really dig deep, and unpack some ingrained patterns that are getting in the way of holding you back from what you want from yourself, and keeping you from being the parent you want to be. My suggestion is give it three to six months, and then see where you are, how you feel, and go from there. Some people continue to work long term, and some feel ready to move on after a shorter time. It really is up to you, and you have agency in this process.

  • I use a blend of NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) and Synergetic Play Therapy. Both of these modalities are person-centered, and draw from Gestalt, Somatic-based, insight-oriented, depth psychology.

    What that means is that I will be helping clients identify the patterns they developed as children to survive in adaptive ways to dysfunctional families, in order to explore their authentic identity.

    When we have children, it often happens that the child's behavior triggers those deeply ingrained adaptive strategies/patterns, and we find they no longer serve us, but we feel unable to change. I help with that in a very safe way.

  • I would love that, IF your child is comfortable with that. Most kids are, especially if they are very young. Older children may want you to see a different therapist, and if that's the case I'll help you find one that's a good fit for you.

  • Nope.

    If you have questions, contact me.

  • No, that would get really complicated as far as keeping confidentiality.