PARENT & FAMILY WORK
When the family you wanted feels out of reach
Most parents who find their way here have already tried everything they can think of: a different approach, a new strategy, another book. They're not looking for more information, but rather someone who can help them understand what's actually happening in their specific family, with their specific history, and their specific child. That's what this work is about.
Who finds their way here
The parents I work with are trying hard. They love their children deeply and have usually spent considerable time and energy looking for answers. Many didn't grow up with a clear model of what secure, connected family life looks like, and so they're building something they never quite had, without a blueprint.
Sometimes the work is about a child or teenager whose anxiety, withdrawal, or behavior has become a source of concern. Sometimes it's about a relationship between parent and child that was once close and now feels distant or stuck. Often it's both.
What these families have in common is a willingness to look inward. Not to assign blame, but to get curious. To ask not just what is happening with my child, but what am I bringing to this, and what might I want to do differently.
How I work
We often begin by spending time exploring each parent’s experiences of being parented and the attachment patterns those experiences created. This helps to develop a shared language for understanding what each parent carries into their family. When both parents can see each other's history with compassion and clarity, something shifts. The conflicts that felt personal start to make more sense. The patterns that felt impossible to break become easier to approach.
From there, the work can take different forms. Sometimes it's the two parents learning to understand and support each other or their child differently. Sometimes it's the whole family together, working on the dynamics that have become entrenched. Sometimes it involves looking carefully at the ways the family has organized itself around a child's distress, with warmth and without judgment, and finding a gentler way through.
This work requires patience and a genuine willingness to reflect. It isn't about learning the right techniques. It's about understanding your own story well enough to write a new one with your family.
I see families in person at my office in Seal Harbor on Mount Desert Island, with telehealth available for established patients as needed.
If something here is resonating, even if you're not sure where to start, I'd welcome hearing from you
Visit the Getting Started page for fees, office information, and the interest form.