Therapy for Parents
Personalized support for parents navigating stress, guilt, and generational trauma - in Huntington, NY, or virtually across NY & FL
When Parenting Brings Up More Than You Expected
You may not think of yourself as someone who has experienced “trauma.” Maybe your childhood was mostly good, or you tell yourself that what happened “wasn’t that bad.” Maybe there was no single defining event - just years of small experiences, complicated relationships, feeling like you had to be the responsible one, or learning that your worth depended on being good, successful, easy to love, or meeting everyone else’s expectations. You may have learned to downplay your own needs and keep moving forward without realizing how much those patterns still affect you.
Then you became a parent, and something shifted. Your child’s big emotions may bring up feelings you don’t fully understand. You might become overwhelmed by their crying, feel intensely guilty when you lose your patience, struggle to set boundaries without feeling like a bad parent, or find yourself parenting in ways that feel surprisingly similar to - or completely different from - your own parents. You may love your child deeply while also feeling anxious, triggered, exhausted, or unsure of yourself.
Therapy can help you understand where these reactions come from and create space to respond differently. Whether you’re working through complex trauma, attachment wounds, anxiety, perfectionism, or the everyday patterns you carried with you into parenthood, you don’t have to have a dramatic trauma story to deserve support. Together, we can help you make sense of your past, feel more grounded in the present, and build a relationship with yourself and your child that feels more connected, intentional, and secure.
How Parenting Therapy Helps
Before therapy
- Feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or easily triggered by your child’s emotions
- Questioning yourself and wondering if you’re “doing it wrong”
- Feeling guilty when you lose your patience or need time for yourself
- Struggling to set boundaries without feeling selfish or like a bad parent
- Finding yourself reacting in ways that remind you of your own childhood
- Feeling pressure to be the perfect parent while neglecting your own needs
With therapy
- A deeper understanding of your triggers, emotions, and parenting patterns
- Greater ability to pause, regulate, and respond rather than react
- More confidence setting healthy boundaries without overwhelming guilt
- Greater self-compassion and freedom from unrealistic expectations of yourself
- A stronger understanding of how your own childhood shapes the way you parent
- More connection, intention, and confidence in your relationship with your child
Therapy for Parents
Therapy provides a supportive, nonjudgmental space to explore the emotions, experiences, and patterns that can surface through parenthood. We’ll work together to understand your triggers, strengthen emotional regulation, build self-compassion, and develop more intentional ways of responding to yourself and your child. When appropriate, trauma-informed approaches such as EMDR and parts work (IFS) can help you work through experiences from your past that may still be influencing how you feel and respond today.
Who it's for
Parents who feel anxious, overwhelmed, guilty, or stuck in patterns they want to change; parents navigating perfectionism or high expectations of themselves; and those who recognize that their own childhood experiences or relationships may be affecting how they parent. You don’t need to identify with the word “trauma” or have a single major traumatic event to benefit from this work.
The Format
Individual therapy sessions, offered in person in Huntington, NY and virtually across NY and FL. Sessions are typically 60 minutes, with frequency determined together based on your needs, goals, and the type of work we’re doing.
The Investment
$200 per session
Please visit the Fees & Investment page for more information about out-of-network insurance, potential reimbursement, and why I have chosen to practice outside of insurance networks.
Wondering If This Could Be the Right Support for You?
Is This the Right Fit for You?
Finding the right therapist matters. This work is a good fit for parents who want to understand themselves more deeply, not simply become better at managing their child’s behavior. If you’re curious about how your own experiences, emotions, and patterns may be showing up in your parenting - and you’re ready to approach that work with honesty and compassion - we may be a good fit.
Probably, if you:
Find yourself reacting more strongly to your child than you expected and want to understand why
Want to break patterns from your own childhood and parent in a more intentional way
Struggle with parental anxiety, guilt, perfectionism, or feeling like you’re never doing enough
Are willing to look at your own emotions and experiences rather than focusing solely on changing your child
Want to develop greater self-trust, emotional regulation, and connection in your relationship with your child
Probably not, if you:
Are primarily looking for parenting advice, behavioral strategies, or someone to tell you what to do
Want a quick fix without exploring the patterns or experiences underneath your current struggles
Expect therapy to focus exclusively on changing your child or your partner
Aren’t ready to explore how your own history may be influencing your reactions and relationships
Aren’t currently able to commit to regular sessions and the therapeutic process
What Working Together Looks Like
Understanding What’s Happening
We start by slowing down and getting curious about what’s bringing you to therapy. Together, we’ll explore your current challenges, your experiences growing up, and the patterns or triggers that may be showing up in your parenting. You’ll begin to better understand yourself without judgment or shame.
Healing the Patterns
Once we have a clearer understanding of what’s underneath your reactions, we can begin working with the parts of you that feel anxious, overwhelmed, guilty, or responsible for getting everything right. When appropriate, trauma-informed approaches such as EMDR and parts work can help you process experiences from the past so they have less power over how you respond in the present.
Parenting With More Intention
As you develop greater awareness, regulation, and self-compassion, you can begin responding to your child from a more grounded place rather than automatically reacting from old patterns. The goal isn’t to become a perfect parent - it’s to feel more confident, connected, and able to repair when things don’t go as planned.
Find answers to some frequently asked questions about therapy for parents below. If you have a question that isn’t answered here, feel free to contact me.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to have experienced trauma to benefit from this type of therapy?
No. You don’t need to identify with the word “trauma” or have experienced a single major traumatic event. Sometimes the patterns that affect us most come from smaller, repeated experiences, complicated relationships, or childhood environments that taught us to put our own needs aside.
How do I know if therapy might be helpful for me as a parent?
Therapy may be helpful if you feel anxious, overwhelmed, guilty, or easily triggered by your child, or if you find yourself reacting in ways you don’t fully understand. It can also be helpful if you want to break patterns from your own childhood or simply feel more confident and connected in your role as a parent.
What does my own childhood have to do with how I parent?
Our early experiences can shape how we understand relationships, emotions, boundaries, conflict, and our own needs. Therapy can help you recognize these patterns with curiosity rather than judgment and decide what you want to carry forward—and what you want to change.
What if I had a good childhood? Can I still have unresolved experiences?
Absolutely. You can love your family and recognize that certain experiences or relationships still affected you. Therapy isn’t about blaming your parents or deciding that your childhood was “bad”; it’s about understanding yourself and the experiences that shaped you.
What if I keep reacting in ways I don't want to?
Many parents find that knowing how they want to respond isn’t enough to change what happens in the moment. Therapy can help you understand the triggers and protective patterns underneath those reactions, build greater emotional regulation, and create more space to respond intentionally.
Do you work with parents who struggle with anxiety or perfectionism?
Yes. Many parents I work with are used to being capable, responsible, and high-achieving, yet find themselves overwhelmed by the pressure to be a “good enough” parent. Therapy can help you work through anxiety, perfectionism, guilt, and the feeling that you’re never doing enough.
What is trauma therapy for parents?
Trauma therapy focuses on understanding and healing experiences that continue to affect how you feel, think, relate, or respond in the present. Depending on your needs and goals, treatment may incorporate approaches such as EMDR and parts work to help you process the past and feel more grounded in the present.
Do you use EMDR with parents?
EMDR can be helpful for processing both specific traumatic experiences and the effects of more complex or relational experiences. Whether EMDR is appropriate—and when to introduce it—is something we determine collaboratively based on your goals, readiness, and overall treatment needs.
What is parts work or IFS, and how can it help with parenting?
Parts work helps us become curious about the different parts of ourselves that may show up in challenging moments—a part that becomes anxious, a part that demands perfection, or a part that feels overwhelmed or unseen. Rather than judging these reactions, we work to understand what they need and help you respond from a more grounded place.
Will therapy help me become a better parent?
The goal isn’t to become a perfect parent. Therapy can help you understand yourself more deeply, respond rather than react, repair when things go wrong, and build a more connected and intentional relationship with your child.
Will you tell me how I should parent my child?
Therapy isn’t about giving you a perfect parenting formula or telling you exactly what to do. Instead, we’ll explore what is happening for you, identify the patterns that may be getting in the way, and help you develop greater confidence in making choices that align with your values.
How often will we meet?
Many clients begin with weekly sessions, although frequency can vary depending on your needs, goals, and the type of work we’re doing. We can revisit the schedule together as therapy progresses.
How long does therapy take?
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all timeline. The length of therapy depends on what you’re hoping to work through, your goals, the complexity of the issues being addressed, and how the work progresses over time.
What if I’m not sure what I need help with?
You don’t need to have everything figured out before starting therapy. If you know that something isn’t feeling right - or that you want to understand yourself and your parenting differently—we can begin there and figure out the rest together.
Do you work with both mothers and fathers?
Yes. Therapy for parents is open to mothers, fathers, and other parents who want support understanding themselves, navigating the challenges of parenthood, and creating healthier patterns within their families.
