I provide assistance to families in the areas of communication between young adults and parents, parenting, and facilitate the management of the mental and emotional stress of achieving success in high school, college, or the world of work. I specialize in:

• EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PARENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS.

• HEALTHY, FULFILLING WORK AND PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS.

• DEFINING AND ASSERTIVELY MAINTAINING PERSONAL BOUNDARIES.

CASE STUDY

Challenge – Julie, a concerned mother of two teenage daughters, was experiencing a great deal of turmoil in her family life. She came to me worried primarily about her two daughters who were behaving in uncharacteristic ways. Diane the eldest was mostly uncommunicative and on occasion would display bouts of tremendous rage. Gillian the youngest was struggling in her high school academics and was displaying signs of insecurity and hopelessness. As a loving and proactive mother, Julie tried several tactics to improve the situation but to no avail. Ultimately, out of sheer frustration she would lose her temper and express anger towards her daughters. She felt desperate and needed suggestions on how to move forward.

Process – In this type of situation identifying specific goals helps to begin the coaching process. Julie was clearly unhappy with the current state of her relationship with her daughters but was unclear on how her role was affecting the overall family dynamic. She wanted to achieve greater clarity regarding her involvement, defining her responsibilities and her appropriate role as a caring and supportive mother. I also met with Julie’s daughters individually in order to get their point of view on the situation. After several sessions with Julie and her daughters, Julie became aware that her unrealistic expectations for her daughters were limiting her ability to authentically “see them” and interact with them in a positive, constructive manner. She also discovered that a great deal of the daughters’ anger and insecurity was due to their feeling misunderstood by their mother. In order to facilitate communication between Julie and her daughters I coached them in the use of “mirroring”, a tool for improving interpersonal understanding.

Results – In time Julie came to understand that an appropriate role for her as a caring and supportive mother is to listen to and understand her daughters’ genuine thoughts and feelings rather than trying to fix problematic and uncomfortable situations. With this new awareness and the communication techniques she had learned, Julie is not only better equipped to handle her responsibilities as a mother but is also a more effective communicator in all her interpersonal relationships.