My Story
I have known I wanted to be a child psychotherapist since I was a child myself.
When I was 8, I remember thinking I would either be a pediatrician or a child psychologist.
But it wasn’t until I turned 10 that an “incident” set me on the path to becoming a child psychologist.
My youngest brother was a clumsy 1-year old and had fallen and scraped his knee. Imagine this little girl, cleaning her brother’s wound, putting antibiotic cream on it and bandaging it for him, all the while she had a pit in her stomach. Not nausea at the sight of blood but a feeling I could not name at the time. I now have come to know that feeling was empathy.
It was at that moment that I’d decided I couldn’t possibly be a pediatrician and thus my journey to psychotherapy began.
I would've never imagined that I would be speaking on big stages, writing a book and coaching parents to help children.
All I ever wanted was to be a private practice therapist but when I began seeing children who were severely mentally ill with no root in any psychosocial explanation, I asked myself what is going on with today’s generation of children.
Absent any trauma, I started to realize that these issues were actually rooted in:
- The widespread toxic culture of “gentle” parenting
- Children’s lack of independence and overuse of digital technology
- Parents’ inability to deal with their children’s discomfort
I want to show parents that they can give their child what they need without overindulging their wants. And I’ve created a free resource to help you do exactly that.
