Hi, I’m Amanda.
(She/Her)
I help parents, caregivers, and professionals understand and feel more connected with the children in their lives.
My Experience Informs my Approach
Mental Health Background
I have a background in mental health counseling and a passion for helping children and parents improve their mental health, regulate their nervous systems, expand their window of tolerance, increase felt safety, and increase connection. I am trained in child-centered play therapy and have worked with several families to help guide them on their journey to understanding their child and how their brain and nervous systems work. As a child therapist, I would always pair 1:1 therapy with parent coaching and over time started to see much more impact coming from the parent coaching. I also realized that I could teach the therapy part to the parents to do at home. Unfortunately, the world of child therapy is tricky to navigate, as many providers are not parents and may not offer parent coaching alongside therapy. Also, getting those afterschool slots is competitive and feels like luck of the draw. For this reason, I started my own coaching business so I could reach more families and be able to share my learnings and experience in a more accessible way. My approach to parent coaching is influenced by my background in mental health counseling. I am compassionate, empathetic, and will validate your feelings and your experience. I will also provide ample psychoeducation and free resources based on your parenting goals.
Parenting Journey
I am a parent to two young neuro-divergent children: one I have identified as AuDHD & PDA, the other is TBD. I have also identified myself late in life as AuDHD. I struggled so much in my first years of parenting. I asked all my mom friends for advice and got blank stares. The usual parenting advice didn't work and seemed to escalate my child, and I tended to blame myself. I made myself crazy wondering if everyone else was struggling with the same issues and just not talking about it. Friends would tell me “Parenting is just hard," but I questioned whether it was supposed to be this hard. I dove into parenting podcasts and books, and it became my special interest and my career to figure this out for my family and for my client's families. Parenting has become more isolating over the years, and I want to be your support to help you feel seen and supported through your journey. I want to be part of your village. It is so easy to become burned out or even traumatized with parenting kids with vulnerable nervous systems, especially when many of us have vulnerable nervous systems ourselves. You do not need to take on this burden yourself. I encourage you to reach out and get the help you need to help yourself enjoy and delight in your child and take back the joy of parenting. I do not claim to have it all together or have all the answers, but I commit to walking alongside you and figuring it out together.