My Approach

Here are answers to questions you might have:

How is your advice different?

When parents come to me it’s common for them to be feeling:

utterly confused by all the conflicting parenting advice out there
like they’ve tried everything and they don’t know what else to do

Typically they’re:

desperately trying to “teach” their child to behave better
using bribes, bargaining & consequences
trying hard to respectfully rationalise with their kid
or empathising in the hope that their child will do something different - then getting utterly frustrated when they don’t

You might get short-term wins but the same challenging behaviour pops up time and again leaving you feeling like you’re playing whack-a-mole.

Of course we all want our kids to behave well. But ‘teaching’, ‘rationalising’ and ‘consequences’ are seldom the answer.

These methods fall short because they focus on:

the problem behaviour - ignoring what’s driving it
the thinking brain - neglecting emotions & nervous system
the child exclusively - missing the bigger picture of the child’s family & village
the here and now - overlooking of what’s happened & what’s going to happen

For the most part kids already know full well that they shouldn’t snatch the toy from their friend, kick their brother in the head, or call you ‘stupid’.

Lack of knowledge is rarely the issue.

What's your Approach?

With 16+ years of supporting parents, & postgraduate training in family systems, I’ve taken my professional education and the 1000s of hours guiding parents and created “Your Parenting Map” - a framework you can customise for your family with a proven track success record. You can start using this approach right away to turn chaos into cooperation and feel more confident in your parenting.

Your Parenting Map™

Your Path

Meeting you where you are with foundational work to map out the nuances of your family’s dynamics, understand the challenges and uncover new directions

Your Strategies

Fresh tools and perspective to reinforce your parenting instincts, along with knowledge to know how and why they work.

Your Support

Deeper coaching to get to the real root of ongoing issues and have you moving forward with confidence. Plus mapping out the support you need in your life to keep on track.

My approach brings a birds eye view so we can pinpoint what’s going on and get you on the right path for lasting change in your family.

Is your approach backed by research?

**Yes, but…**
Yes, I can point you to piles of research that supports my thinking and the strategies I advocate.
But, here’s the thing. So can many parenting approaches I don’t agree with. Many “evidence based” approaches have flimsy research support or might show short-term behaviour change but not the long-term benefits of a strong healthy family system.
What matters most is what works in your family. That’s the research that counts. Observing what happens with your child, trying things out and making changes based on what you learn.

What theory and therapy do you draw on?

My approach is informed by:

Systemic practice and family therapy
Play therapy
Developmental theory
Attachment theory
Neurobiology
A deep understanding of how children’s emotions work

How do you work with clients?

Together we sketch out the current challenge by looking through different lenses so we can capture what’s going on from various angles. This gives us lots of good information to work from so I can tailor solutions to meet your family - this is not a one size fits all model.

You end up with strategies & insights that work for you, bring lasting change and build a strong healthy parent-child relationship - this is a big deal because we know that the most important indicator of how well a child does when they grow up is the quality of the relationship with you (no pressure!).

My Approach

Here are answers to questions you might have:

How is your advice different?