PARENT COACHING

ADHD affects not just the person who receives the diagnosis, but everyone who cares about them. It’s a condition with complex implications for the “lived experience” of parents, siblings, caregivers, teachers, and relatives.

Ideally, there’s a treatment team in place, and the time, expense and logistics of treatment need to be understood and coordinated by adults, and those adults need information and advice.

Parent coaching is a favorite part of my practice because it produces dramatic results. My professional training and personal experience in life as a parent and partner, student and teacher, have developed my insight into the problems people need to solve along this journey of supporting someone who struggles with executive functions. There’s a delicate balance between helping enough and encouraging independence, compassion and limits. Preserving the relationship is paramount, and oftentimes, having initially misunderstood the problem there’s a tangled history of unpleasant interactions.

In educational therapy I’m interested in changing the present circumstances and moving forward, learning new ways to interpret and frame experience and new skills. I taught the CHADD “Family Training in ADHD” for several years, and that background exposed me to the wide range of issues that may show up. Every family is different, of course, and my first job is to figure out what you need.