Families & Parents

When someone in your family is struggling, it rarely stays contained to just that person.

The stress spreads. Communication breaks down. Roles shift in ways nobody planned. And often, the people working hardest to hold everything together are the ones least likely to ask for help themselves.

If you're a parent watching your adult child struggle, a family trying to navigate a crisis that keeps escalating, or someone who's been quietly absorbing the weight of someone else's situation — this work is for you.

Who comes here

Parents of adult children in crisis

Your adult child is struggling — and you've moved through every response you can think of. You've offered support, set limits, stepped back, stepped in. Nothing seems to change the trajectory, and in the meantime you're exhausted, frightened, and increasingly unsure where the line is between helping and making things worse.

This is one of the most painful situations a parent can be in. The work focuses on what you can actually control, how to stay connected without losing yourself, and how to respond in a way that doesn't inadvertently sustain the problem.

Families navigating a member in crisis

When one person in a family system is struggling — whether with mental health, substance use, or significant behavioral issues — the rest of the family reorganizes around it. Roles shift. Communication breaks down or becomes reactive. People stop talking about what's really happening. The people who aren't identified as the problem stop being seen as people who need support too.

Therapy helps the family step back from those patterns, understand what's driving them, and build a more sustainable way of responding.

Individuals caught in high-stress family dynamics

Sometimes people come to therapy not because of their own struggles but because of the system they're living inside. They're not in crisis — but they're being worn down by someone else's, and they need a structured place to understand what's happening, clarify their own role, and figure out what they actually have influence over.

What the work focuses on

Most people in these situations don't need to be told to take care of themselves. They've heard that. What they need is a clear-eyed understanding of what's actually happening in the system they're in — and practical strategies for responding differently.

We focus on:

• Understanding the patterns that are keeping the situation stuck

• Clarifying what you can and cannot control — and what letting go of the rest actually looks like

• Reducing the reactive cycles that escalate conflict or inadvertently reinforce unhealthy dynamics

• Establishing sustainable limits without severing relationships

• Building stability for yourself regardless of what the other person does or doesn't do

The goal is not to fix the person who is struggling. It's to help you stop being destabilized by their situation — and to respond in a way that's genuinely more useful to everyone involved, including yourself.

What I bring to this work

I've spent my career at the intersection of family systems and crisis.

As Clinical Director of a residential behavioral health program, I work daily with families navigating some of the most complex and high-stakes situations there are. I've seen what actually moves the needle — and what keeps families stuck despite everyone's best efforts.

That experience shapes how I work in private practice. I understand the guilt that makes it hard to hold limits. I understand the exhaustion of loving someone who is struggling and won't accept help. And I understand the particular confusion of a family system where everyone is trying and nothing seems to work.

This isn't general support. It's structured, experienced work with people in genuinely difficult situations.

This work may be right for you if…

• You're a parent who doesn't know what to do next with your adult child's situation

• Your family has been managing a crisis for long enough that it's started to feel normal

• You've lost your own stability trying to maintain someone else's

• You've tried everything you can think of and need a different perspective

• You want practical guidance, not just a place to process

Practice details

Telehealth across Vermont and Massachusetts Private pay · $150 per 50-minute session Individual and family sessions available Currently accepting new clients

If you're considering reaching out, I offer a free 15-minute consultation to talk through your situation and see whether this is the right fit. If it isn't, I'll help point you in the right direction.