Parenting Concerns, Support & Consultation
Being a parent is a tough job and many challenges can arise along the way. From the childhood years through adolescence, parents may encounter difficulties such as:
- Developing a connection with your child
- Managing child behavior
- Addressing school refusal
- Establishing consequences
- Regulating your child's feelings
- Managing your own reactions
- Developing a strong parenting alliance
- Working with boundaries
- Resolving unhealthy family dynamics
- Navigating significant changes
As parents, we cannot possibly have all of the answers for the many issues and concerns that can arise. Moreover, we can sometimes be a little 'too close' to the situation, both practically and emotionally, to see it as clearly as we would like. Parents can and do sometimes feel 'stuck.' In such situations, it can be helpful to work with a psychologist who can offer parental support.
During an initial consultation, parents will have ample space to talk about their concerns. Brad will ask questions to ensure he has a full understanding of the problems. This may include a discussion about what if anything has helped in the past, and what may have been tried, but did not work. At this point, Brad may offer some thoughts or insights for parents to consider. Through these conversations, Brad will work with parents to develop a plan that can be implemented at home, and/or addressed in future sessions. If all goes well, parents will have new ways of addressing their concerns, allowing them to regain confidence, hope, and build resilience for the future.
Recommended Reading
The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children (Ross Greene)
Greene offers a relatively new approach to helping parents work with exceptionally challenging children and teens. The 'Collaborative Problem-Solving' method has been tried and tested with some of the most tenacious patterns of inflexibility and behavioral difficulty. A highly recommended read for parents and a good adjunct to child or teen therapy.
Parenting from the Inside Out: How a deeper self-understanding can help you raise children who thrive (D. Siegel & M. Hartzell)
The authors draw from both attachment theory and neuroscience to describe how these early parent-child relationships help shape who we are today. The reader will likely gain a greater insight, understanding, and appreciation for the emotional reflexes they may have learned during their own childhood. Through careful self-reflection and making peace with the past, one can avoid having to repeat maladaptive patterns of family interaction with one's own children. A highly recommended book.