Are You Feeling Alone in Your Parenting Journey?
Are you feeling like you are in uncharted territory as a parent?
Are you parenting a child who has experienced early stress, is highly sensitive or has a vulnerable nervous system?
Are you tired of ending your days exhausted and worried?
Hi! I am Jeri Lea and I am a therapist who has been working with parents and families for more than 25 years. My favorite thing to do is to support parents who are working to grow strong intentional relationships with their children. And I am never quite done learning and growing myself. In fact, I spent all of 2022 diving into the latest information from relational neuroscience, attachment theory and parenting in a program for professionals led by Robyn Gobbel, Being With. And now I am able to share her course for parents directly with you, along with my own experiences as a parent and professional who has worked with many other children and families.
I am not an expert on your child or your family. That is your domain. What I can bring into this partnership is the science, curiosity, strategies, hope and heaps of compassion for you and your child.
Rarely do parents have space and the support to untangle their own experiences, values and expectations, the underlying meaning of their child’s behavior and to find the confidence to advocate for their child’s needs.
Parenting a child with a sensitive nervous system or big behaviors can be lonely and exhausting.
I speak from both professional and personal experience on this.
Despite my many years of experience as a therapist specializing in early relationships, attachment and trauma, I found myself overwhelmed and lonely as a new parent. I needed support and compassion from people who could understood my concerns and the clues from my child. Unfortunately, healthcare professionals, friends and family mostly mislabeled or minimized my early concerns. After a number of years of personal work, more professional education and heaps of trial and error, I am integrating what I have been learning and offering it to parents. Essentially it is my goal to offer what I wish you, me and every concerned parent would have access to.
Parent coaching is a positive, proactive approach to solving challenges and making meaningful changes within your family.
It offers an opportunity to create:
space to step back from the all-consuming tending to others where you feel safe, supported, seen and gotten;
new lens to see and meet your child’s underlying needs
new practices and strategies to care for your own nervous system
and confidence to be the best advocate for your child’s needs with others.
Sessions are offered in-person or via a secure video conferencing platform, so there is no need to even leave the comfort of your home!
Together we will create a protected time and space for you to see yourself, your needs and your children more clearly. We begin by defining what is most important to you and your family, the strengths you already embody and the questions and obstacles that remain.
Some Common Reasons for Partnering with Me:
shifting your parenting practices to match your child’s needs and your values
preparing for a new child through birth, foster care, kinship care or adoption
addressing a behavioral or health challenge holisitically (full picture)
helping a child prepare for or adjust to changes in routine or family
creating routines (sleep, play, food, time for connection) that nourish your whole family
Areas of Specialty Include:
early parenthood, early childhood, attachment and new relationships
uncovering the root causes of a child’s behaviors using the latest brain science (polyvagal theory, relational neurosciences, trauma and attachment research)
supporting your capacity to care for a child with a vulnerable nervous system and their unique needs
as both an adoptee and adoptive parent I bring a unique lens to my work with parents considering or navigating adoption, foster care and kinship care
navigating parenthood after loss
family and child change and transitions
I find I work best with clients over time as we deepen our trust and understanding of ourselves and one another. To best support this kind of work I offer a package of services for beginning or continuing clients, as well as individual sessions.
Coaching Package Includes:
6 50-minute sessions which occur via video conference using a secure, HIPAA compliant platform or in-person, if you are local. We can meet every other week initially, or as often as you prefer.
Full email or message support between sessions through a secure platform.
Resources tailored to your unique family needs.
A written summary of your goals and the action plan we craft together.
Access to the Safe and Sound Protocol (if relevant and needed) for yourself and/or your child during the course of our work together.
I also offer:
Family Therapy and
Individual therapy for parents.
Parent Coaching can be a precursor or follow-up to counseling and is always included in my approach to child and family therapy.
Click the button below to visit my Contact page where you can request a FREE 30 minute discovery session.
"Parenthood has nothing to do with perfection. So don't ask yourself at the end of the day if you did everything right. Ask yourself what you learned and how well you loved, then grow from your answer."
L.R. Knost
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