There's so much telling you how to parent.
What to do. How to respond. What your child should be doing by now. How to make sure you're giving them everything they need.
Raising a child already asks an enormous amount of us. And sometimes, in our efforts to do the very best for our children, we take on things that aren't actually necessary.
I'm interested in helping parents understand their children, themselves and their relationship more deeply, so they can find their own way with greater ease and trust in themselves.
Children need a great deal from us.
They need us to keep them safe, to know them, to be interested in their point of view, to accept them and to be someone they can trust.
But they don't need us to continually entertain them, direct their play, move their development along or protect them from every difficult feeling.
Stepping back from some of this doesn't mean doing nothing. It can make more room for what really does ask something of us: being present, setting limits, caring for our children, staying with them through difficult moments, and trying to understand what's happening for them and for ourselves.
Parenting isn't only about what our children need.
Your experience matters too.
I want parents to be able to enjoy their children, to feel more at ease in their parenting, and to trust themselves rather than continually wondering whether they're doing it right.
Sometimes that means understanding your child differently. Sometimes it means looking at what you're carrying from your own history, what happens in your relationships, or what parenthood has brought up in you. Often, it's both.
How we can work together
Psychotherapy
Explore your own experience more deeply, including what parenthood brings up in you, your relationships, your history, and patterns you may want to understand or change.
Parent coaching
Bring the everyday questions and difficulties that arise in parenting. Together, we can explore what's happening for you and your child, drawing on an understanding of development and the parent–child relationship.
Parent–child classes
Small, observation-based groups where you can slow down and really notice your child. There's space to observe, ask questions and develop your own understanding of them.
Interested in working together?
If you're wondering whether psychotherapy, parent coaching or the parent–child classes might be right for you, you're welcome to get in touch.