Services

Parent Coaching & Parent Education

In order to best meet clients’ needs, I offer Parent Coaching and Parent Education. What’s the difference?

Parent coaching is a process over time to reach transformational change. It is a series of sessions focused on the desired outcome of what parents hope to achieve. It is a collaborative process recognizing that you as the parent are the expert of your family. It is a time to experiment with new approaches or perhaps a different way of understanding behavior. The optimal development of a child is at the heart of our work together while helping parents gain tools to best support their child.

Parent education focuses on parents learning specific information in one or two sessions. Parents may not need coaching but may be curious about a developmental stage, best practice around a routine or screen time, or even how to best prepare their child for a transition to middle school or college. Questions are asked and answered.

Since no two parents are alike, no two coaching sessions are exactly the same either. Your coaching will be tailored to your needs. That said, there is a general flow of our work that we will follow to ensure progress. The below are examples of the guiding questions we will explore together:

The Coaching Process

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Intake

What’s happening in your family? (Typically 1 session)

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Discovery

What are the strengths of your family? What’s working well? (Typically 1 session)

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Dream

What would your ideal family life look like? (Typically 1 session)

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Design

What steps are you taking to make the dream a reality? (Typically 5-7 sessions)

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Destiny

What are your takeaways from the coaching process? How will you sustain any changes? (Last session)

Areas of Speciality

Custody & Divorce

There are so many things to think about during separation and divorce, especially when you’ve got children and need to figure out custody agreements and how to parent moving forward. Getting support and guidance for this new way of being a family is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your children. 

I am a single parent and I want to tell you something. You can do this.

As a member of Austin Divorce Resources, and a single parent myself, I am here to help you focus and parent through the confusing and complicated waters of separation, divorce, custody and life after divorce. While my role is to guide you to ask yourself important questions that keep your child’s best interests at the forefront, I am not here to decide anything for you. Decisions are yours to make with the support of family law professionals.

Topics of focus:

  • Divorce & Custody

  • Separation

  • Being a single parent (& co-parenting with an ex) 

  • Dating & what comes next

ADHD & Neurodiversity

Parenting neurodiverse children is often challenging. We want to celebrate their gifts while understanding their needs.

As Dr. Ross Greene states, “children do well when they can,” which means we often misunderstand their behavior and respond with punishment. We quickly learn this isn’t effective. Instead, how can we reframe and approach our children with compassion and care while building upon their strengths to grow their skills? There aren’t any easy answers and it takes time and patience. I believe parents need to do all they can to take care of themselves, so they can show up in a way that best serves their child. 

Topics of focus:

  • Self worth

  • Time blindness

  • Executive functioning skills

  • Healthy habits

  • Screen Use

  • Learning Differences

Group Workshops & Event Topics

Should your school, organization or company like to offer parent support, I’d love to work with you to find what best suits your needs. You can choose an intimate and more informal discussion group to an interactive workshop. I’m ready to collaborate with you. Below are examples of three workshops I offer. If you prefer to go more in-depth, these are some additional suggestions: Screen Use, ADHD, Routines, and What to expect in Middle School.

Intentional Parenting

Values, Practicing Intention and Choosing Your Battles 

In this workshop we’ll take a brief, but deep, dive into your values and priorities and how to utilize them as part of your foundation for intentionally living and parenting. We’ll launch from there into a discussion about mixed messages and what messages we’re really sending; how to reset when we move away from living in our values; and the beauty of imperfection. 

Cultivating Open Communication

Being Connected, Setting Expectations, Teaching Your Kids and Honoring Their Voice

This workshop is all about how to communicate better, but what does that really mean? We’ll take a look at what we say versus what’s being received, and the more subtle forms of communication. From that foundation, we’ll move into how to set clear expectations and teach your kids while honoring their process and keeping yourself balanced.

The Art of Showing Up

Cultivating Self Nourishment, Setting Boundaries and Navigating the Rough Spots with Honesty and Humor 

We have to learn the art of self care, compassion and nourishment before we can truly offer the same thing to our kids, much less teach them how to do it. This workshop focuses on how to cultivate self nourishment so that we have the resources as parents to set boundaries and navigate the hard parts - because life can be hard sometimes - with grace and even humor. 

To register and get more information on workshop offerings, please email cheryl@hershparentcoaching.com

DISCLAIMER: I am not a therapist, mediator, facilitator, attorney, custody evaluator or counselor. Nothing I say should be construed as legal advice. Anything you choose to do with regard to custody decisions should be fully discussed with your lawyer.