PARENTING & FAMILY SERVICES IN FAIR OAKS, CALIFORNIA

Parenting & Family Services

Here to help you develop healthy, cooperative relationships even in high-conflict situations.

I offer support for all of life’s relationships

We will all experience many different types of relationships in our lives. Parent-child relationships, romantic relationships, coparenting relationships, sibling relationships—all of which can come with their fair share of conflicts and challenges.

As part of my drive to help people live better lives and escape cycles of pain, I have sought extensive training and developed a solid body of experience in helping families, couples, and coparents to work together through life’s challenges.

I will support you and your loved ones in honest reflection, introspection, and communication, so you can all develop a greater understanding of each other and find a more harmonious way to relate.

You don’t have to work through parenting & family challenges alone

I am proud to support families and parents in many ways. I offer therapy and coaching support for families and couples, helping people relate to each other no matter what challenges have shown up in their lives.

I offer:

Coparenting counseling

Parent coaching

Family therapy

Couples counseling

Conjoint/reunification therapy

Divorce Recovery

I can help with:

Family conflicts

Infidelity

Divorce and separation

Parenting style disagreements

Therapy that helps families work together

It’s a courageous act to reach out for help, and it can be nerve-wracking to consider sharing personal details about your family. But by considering family therapy, you’re proving that you still care deeply about your family. You still want to repair relationships and a family therapist can help you do just that.

Family is important, and a healthy family can help everyone

Family is not just an important thing, it's everything, and the family unit is one of the greatest resources an individual can have. When a family works together to build healthy internal relationships, whatever the structure, they provide each family member with a foundation for individual growth, collective strength, and the unwavering support that makes life's journey more meaningful and fulfilling.

Family therapy helps families, whether intact or separated, to improve communication, resolve conflicts, and strengthen their relationships.

  • All families go through rough patches, where communication breaks down and you all struggle to see eye to eye. When families are stuck in unhealthy patterns, without clear understanding of how each person fits, family therapy can help bring you all closer together. 

    For intact families, therapy focuses on addressing issues such as parenting challenges, unhealthy dynamics, sibling conflict, and marital conflicts, aiming to create a harmonious and more supportive home environment. 

    I will work with all family members to develop healthy coping strategies, enhance communication, and foster a sense of unity. In therapy, you’ll learn respectful communication skills and actively listen to each other, helping you connect in ways that will make you want to lean into the warm, loving regard that’s possible for your family. 

    Ultimately, family therapy promotes the emotional well-being and resilience of the family members at various stages and challenges of life.

  • Family conflict, divorce, and separation can be a destructive experience for a family, but it can also offer an opportunity for healing and growth. These major changes can be life altering for each member of the family, especially if there are high levels of conflict during divorce or separation. 

    A therapist can be instrumental in making the divorce process gentler on everyone by helping each partner both feel heard. Your family therapist will help you navigate conflicts and hash out custody details, while also supporting each person in the family emotionally. For separated families, therapy assists in navigating the complexities of co-parenting, adjusting to new family structures, supporting blended families and mitigating the impact of separation/divorce on children.

    With guidance on how to communicate with respect and caring even in the ending of a relationship, I can help your entire family make it through this difficult life shift. Your family can work together, even in separation, to make changes and develop a plan for progress so you’re all able to accept realities, consider each other with compassion, and move forward into a future that is a better fit for everyone.

Parenting, Couples, and Family Services

Couples Therapy

Romantic relationships are an ongoing process of cooperation and compromise. While each of you likely wants to be the best partner possible, when disagreements seem too great to overcome, or communication patterns are too ingrained to shift without help, a couples counselor can be just the person to bring you closer together. 

As your therapist, I’ll help you identify your conflict cycles & when you fall back into them, I’ll help you work through it. I can help each of you build insight into the needs of your partner

I want you to walk out of couples therapy with a new way to be together, a healthier, happier way.

Couples therapy can help with:

  • Infidelity

  • Financial disagreements

  • Attachment issues

  • Interpersonal conflict

  • Communication challenges

  • Increasing closeness and affection

  • Parenting disagreements

  • Life changes (grief, illness, job loss)

  • Physical intimacy concerns

  • Addiction

  • Mental health concerns

Coparenting Counseling

Divorce and separation can be traumatic for adults, and children of a divorcing couple can be even more heavily impacted, especially if their parents are struggling to develop a healthy coparenting system. 

Coparenting counseling can help parents work together effectively to support their children through large familial change. Studies on separated couples who engaged in coparenting support have shown positive effects on reducing co-parenting undermining, couple communication, parent-child interactions, and the depressive symptoms of the parents. (Xiao, X., & Loke, A. Y. (2021)).

Coparenting therapy can include developing cooperative parenting plans, resolving conflicts, and improving communication between coparents, in ways that are personalized to your unique family situation. 

Coparenting counseling can help with:

  • Disagreements on parenting styles

  • Behavioral challenges in children

  • Blending families

  • Reducing undermining between parents

  • Improving communication between separated or divorced coparents

  • Mental health difficulties in one or both coparents

  • Improving and maintaining parent-child relationships

Parenting Coaching

Parent coaching empowers parents by providing guidance, strategies, and resources tailored to your unique family dynamics. You and your coparent will work with a parenting coach to address specific parenting challenges, improve communication, and foster positive relationships in your family. 

As a parenting coach, I can offer practical tools and techniques to help you navigate parenting challenges like discipline, education, and emotional support. I want to help you enhance your parenting skills and help you build confidence in your parenting.

Through personalized sessions, parents can gain insights into their children's needs and behaviors, ultimately promoting a harmonious and nurturing home environment.

Parenting coaching can help with:

  • Behavioral concerns

  • Learning parenting techniques

  • Helping parents cope with stress

  • Building confidence in parenting choices

  • Strengthening relationships between parents and children

  • Strengthening the coparent relationship

  • Improving communication

  • Helping your child through developmental challenges

  • Stress management

Family therapy can help with:

  • Communication challenges

  • Financial issues

  • Divorce or separation

  • Moving house

  • Blending families

  • Parenting disagreements

  • Behavioral challenges

  • Addiction issues

  • Large life changes

Family Therapy

Whether your family is hoping to grow even closer through life challenges, or is going through a major change like divorce, family therapy can help.

Families that learn to communicate with respect, listen attentively, and have each family member work to understand everyone else’s point of view are stronger and happier. A family therapist can help teach you all skills to better relate to each other, and help moderate therapy sessions so everyone is heard and understood.

Reunification Therapy

Reunification therapy is a specialized form of family therapy designed to help estranged family members repair their relationships. 

Repairing after a rift takes careful and compassionate support from a trained therapist who can help families rebuild during a fragile and sensitive time.

Through structured sessions and therapeutic techniques, reunification therapy aims to allow a once fractured family to approach each other with empathy, improve communication skills, and ultimately, reunite family members, allowing them to work through their differences and rebuild meaningful connections in a safe and supportive environment.

Reunification therapy can help with:

  • Court-ordered family therapy after a high-conflict divorce

  • Parental alienation

  • Estrangement

  • Return to the family after foster care

  • Inter-child abuse or violence

  • Separation due to mental health concerns

  • Restore, develop, and facilitate adequate parenting and coparenting skills

  • Assist the parents to resolve parent-child conflicts

Divorce recovery therapy can help with:

  • Ongoing stress about or resentment toward your ex-spouse

  • Continued grief, anxiety, or depression about your marriage ending

  • Fears about your future

  • Continued anger or sadness about what happened, or did not happen, in your marriage

  • Ongoing trauma stemming from issues during your marriage, or during its dissolution

Divorce Recovery

Divorce can be traumatic; such a large life shift can come with a number of stressors and complications. 

Therapist support through the divorce process can make a huge difference in your quality of life. I have the experience and expertise needed to walk with you through recovering from divorce. 

If you’re looking for help with co-parenting, mediation, or couples counseling, I offer those services as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about parenting and family services at our Sacramento office. If you don’t see your question answered here, please don’t hesitate to get in touch, I’d be happy to answer any questions you have.

  • Family therapy is meant to help each family member feel heard and understood. I will help your family decide on the topics or challenges to work through in therapy, and will then guide you in honest, open discussions to help your family resolve your issues. 

    Your family will drive the discussion, with each member getting a chance to speak. I’ll help you learn and use communication skills that will help your family feel more comfortable opening up, as well as hearing out other family members without defensiveness or deflection.

  • It’s common for people to be reluctant to start family or couples therapy. They may feel embarrassed, or worried they’ll be verbally attacked or invalidated.

    If you can share with your loved one that your goal is just to try to meet in the middle, encouraging them to give therapy a try, it may help change their mind. 

    That said, sometimes people in our lives won’t seek help or support our goals. If your loved one won’t join you, individual therapy may help you process this, and help you figure out what you’d like to do moving forward.

  • For couples, I’ll provide several intake forms to complete so that we can develop understanding of the relationship’s current needs. Couples will have a first session with me together, followed by individual sessions to better understand individual experiences in the partnership. 

    After these initial sessions, all sessions will happen with both partners. As you begin to work on the challenges you’ve experienced, I’ll provide guidance on skills, and will reflect back to you as a couple when I notice behavior patterns or interactions that could benefit from improved communication or changes in approach. 

    You will ultimately drive the sessions as partners; my role will be to support you both in repairing your relationship, making sure each of you is heard in turn and encouraging openness and honesty.

  • Therapy for families and couples is therapy focused on helping support the relationship, with equal attention and support offered to everyone involved. That means that I cannot also act as a personal therapist for you, or anyone receiving family or couples therapy from me. 

    However, I am happy to help you find an individual therapist that will be a great fit, as I believe therapy support can be a great benefit to everyone and I want to help you as much as I can.

Reach Out to Schedule Your Initial Consult

It makes sense that you would want to speak with me before trusting me with such an important transitional moment in your life. 

If you and/or a loved one are ready to start down a path of self-understanding, individual growth, and family healing, I’m here to help.