Parent Educational, Skill Training, and Support Services.

Colorado Parent Coaching Services in collaboration with Aspenhill Psychotherapy provides counseling, education, and support to parents of children, teens and young adults who are struggling with social, emotional, and psychological challenges. Through years of providing direct services to our clients it has become clear, and proven out in evidence-based research, that outcomes for both clients, parents and immediate family members are greatly improved when all parties are actively involved in the therapeutic process. Our programming encompasses education, skill training, and supportive psychotherapy to facilitate communication among family members and to foster a better understanding of how parents and primary caregivers can support and promote their children’s journey towards health and personal growth.

A child’s struggle with mental health affects all those in their lives, especially their primary care givers. Research has shown that the most important factor in evoking and maintaining a child’s behavior is the parent-child relationship. Before parents can become effective agents of change, facilitating their children’s growth and movement towards health, they must first understand their own processes. That is, understanding how their thoughts, feelings, memories, urges, etc. influence their perceptions and behavior, and how these behaviors, while well-meaning, are often at odds with promoting, individuation, self-esteem, resiliency, and overall social-emotional well-being of their child and themselves. By participating in the therapeutic process, parents can more effectively contribute to successful outcomes for all family members.

Rationale for Parental Involvement in Therapy:

• Outcomes are greatly improved when parents are involved in the process.
• Skills taught will improve communication and relationships.
• Skills taught to children are integrated more quickly when parents reinforce them at home.
• The supportive nature of supportive therapy reduces stress and sense of isolation.
• Instruction/practice of mindfulness and other related skills, as well as home assignments, reinforce and accelerate skill development.

Therapeutic Objectives:

• Increase understanding of parent role in fostering mental health of child.
• Develop skills to facilitate communication and understanding; moderate emotional arousal; and reinforce positive behaviors.
• Effectively setting boundaries with empathy and compassion.
• Develop balance between over-involvement and disengagement.
• Foster autonomy vs dependence.
• Find balance between enabling unworkable behaviors and punitive action.
• Discern and navigate differences in parenting styles.
• Develop skills for moderating behaviors during “emotional storms.”
• Foster mindfulness and self-compassion.
• Identify values, create action plans and goals for child, parents, and family members

Example of Some Skills Covered: