How It Works
When children feel safe, connected, and loved by their parents, then they learn that the world is a good place. A parents’ relationship with their children is a mirror image of how children view the world.
Consulting sessions
Sessions can happen via phone, skype/facetime, or in person. We’ll work together to make your home a more enjoyable place where parents are empowered with effective skills and kids can bloom in an environment that provides structure and nurture. When parents provide consistent boundaries coupled with love and warmth families thrive. We can target discipline strategies, tantrums, disrespectful teenagers, bedtime routines, and much more!
Home sessions
Kristen will meet with the parents to get an overview of their concerns and gather information about the family. During this time, we will establish goals and discuss a path forward. In the second session, Kristen will meet the children. There are a variety of directions we may head depending on your family situation. However, parent coaching often involves a combination of education, skill building, brainstorming, and modeling. Parents will be trying out different ways of interacting with their children that may target establishing boundaries, improving their relationship with their children, and implementing effective discipline strategies.
Sometimes the best outcomes happen when the parents and coach work collaboratively in the home environment. Learning skills and making changes with the children present and doing it in real time can be powerful. Though it can feel uncomfortable having a new person come to your house, Kristen has found that families feel at ease quickly and change can happen quicker when we are working where the arguing, disrespect, and emotional upset mainly occurs. There is no need to clean your house, prep the children on how to behave, or put on a certain outfit. We are on the same team and together we will make changes!
Observation and modeling
Kristen learns a lot about a family from observing their interactions. After the first meeting, she will have a basic understanding of your family. However, often the best information she learn comes when she observes family interactions. When she sees the problem in action, then she can find provide the most effective strategy and immediate coaching on what to do.
Parent coaching can be a hands-on approach. We have all read books and then felt confused on how to do it, or we get caught up in the busyness of being a parent and forget to implement it. This approach solves both of those problems. This may mean modeling how to talk so children will listen, what to do to prevent a tantrum, and how to handle disrespectful behavior. Kristen will demonstrate and then you can practice!