Parent Coaching
When You Need More Than General Parenting Advice
Some family situations are too complicated for another parenting book, podcast, or list of strategies.
Your child or adolescent may be struggling emotionally or behaviorally. Conflict at home may be escalating. You may find yourself walking on eggshells, repeatedly having the same arguments, or unsure whether your responses are helping or unintentionally making things worse. Parents may also disagree with one another about how to respond, adding another layer of stress to an already difficult situation.
The Family Interaction Intensive is a private parent consultation service designed to help families step out of the immediate crisis and understand the patterns that are keeping them stuck.
Understanding What's Actually Happening
Children and adolescents don't exist separately from the family around them. Their behavior is influenced by temperament, development, relationships, expectations, emotional needs, and the ways family members respond to one another.
Rather than beginning with a predetermined parenting philosophy or a generic set of techniques, we look closely at your particular family: what is happening, when it happens, how each person responds, what has already been tried, and why the current pattern may be continuing.
The goal is to help parents see the interaction more clearly so they can respond more intentionally rather than continually reacting to the latest crisis.
A Focused, Practical Approach
The Family Interaction Intensive is designed as a concentrated consultation process rather than traditional weekly therapy. Several levels of support are available depending on the complexity of the family's needs and the amount of assessment, consultation, and implementation support that would be most useful.
The process focuses on understanding the family system, identifying the interactions most in need of change, and developing an individualized plan that parents can begin applying at home.
Depending on the family's needs, this may include examining patterns of conflict, parent-child interactions, boundaries and expectations, emotional regulation, communication, differences between parents, and responses to difficult or escalating behavior.
This is active consultation. Parents should expect thoughtful questions, direct feedback, and specific recommendations rather than simply having a place to talk about how difficult things have become.
Who This May Be Helpful For
Parent coaching may be useful when a child or adolescent is struggling with emotional dysregulation, school refusal or avoidance, intense family conflict, difficulty with limits or expectations, withdrawal, or other behaviors that are affecting the functioning of the household.
It can also be helpful when parents feel that they have tried many different approaches without lasting improvement, when parents disagree about how to respond, or when a child's existing treatment does not provide enough support for what is happening within the family.
Parent coaching can complement a child's or adolescent's individual therapy and does not require replacing an existing therapist.
Family Interaction Intensive
Kristin Katz, LCSW, provides the Family Interaction Intensive for parents seeking a deeper understanding of difficult family dynamics and a clear, individualized plan for creating change.
Different levels of assessment and support are available, ranging from an introductory observation and feedback session to comprehensive in-home assessment and extended implementation support.
Because every family is different, the appropriate level of involvement depends on the complexity of the situation and the kind of support the family needs.