You are two parents doing the work of raising a child together, and you want a third pair of eyes on something specific.
A sleep situation that has become a fight. A behaviour pattern you do not agree on how to handle. Conflicting parenting styles that have started to make every dinner harder than it should be. A communication pattern between the two of you that you both want to change. And many parents arrive at this work without a village. The grandparents who are far away or no longer here, the friend group that drifted when the kids came, the community that never quite filled in. When the two of you are the whole support system, even small mismatches between you become the place where everything lands. These are parent-support sessions, not couples therapy, and they are also not "just" couples therapy, because the relationship between you is part of how the parenting goes. We will work the parenting issue and the relationship around it together.
Some of this might sound familiar.
Not a checklist to pass or fail. Just the shapes this tends to take, in case it helps to see them named.
You and your co-parent are not on the same page about a specific parenting situation, and the disagreement is taking up more space than the situation itself.
One of you is the primary planner.
The other is the one who is told what to do. Both of you are tired of that arrangement.
There is a behaviour issue with your child that has started to test what each of you believes about parenting, and you want a neutral space to work it through.
You came from different families with different rules about how parents act.
Those rules are showing up now in louder ways.
You are not in a relationship crisis.
You are in a parenting season that has been hard on the partnership, and you want to do something about it before it gets worse.
You both want practical tools, and you both want to feel less alone in the work of raising this person.
You are co-parenting across two households and want help with the communication, the consistency, or the shared decisions.
If you see yourself in even one of these, you are in the right place.
What this might feel like
In their own words. Some of what parents say, before they have a name for it.
We are good people who love this kid. We cannot agree on bedtime, and it is starting to feel personal.
One of us is the one who plans. One of us asks what is for dinner at 5pm every day. We are both exhausted and resentful, and we do not know how to fix it.
We want to do this differently than the way we were each raised. We just do not yet agree on what "differently" looks like in practice.
How I work with parent support sessions (two-parent)
We start with the parenting issue you brought in. Not because the issue is the only thing worth talking about, but because it is the thing that got you in the room, and starting with it gives us something concrete to work from. Sleep, behaviour, conflicting approaches, a transition in the family, a recurring fight about how to handle something. We slow down and look at what each of you is actually carrying about it, what each of you was taught about how to handle this kind of thing, and what the two of you have tried so far.
The methods are the same trauma-informed, evidence-based modalities I use in individual work, applied to the two of you in the room together. Internal Family Systems for the parts of each of you that come up loudest in conflict. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for the stories you each tell yourselves about what is happening between you. Polyvagal-informed work for nervous systems that have started defaulting to fight or shutdown in the harder moments. Attachment-aware perspective for the partnership and for the patterns each of you brought in from your own families. We also work on practical communication tools, because some of what is going wrong is not deep, it is procedural, and procedural is fixable faster than deep.
This is not couples therapy in the broader sense. This is two-parent support around the work of raising your child. If at some point you decide what you want is general couples therapy, I will help you find the right person.
Practical details
Sessions and format
50-minute two-parent sessions, virtual across Ontario or in person Tuesdays in St. Agatha.
Virtual sessions across Ontario or in person in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. We can talk through which format fits your life on the consult call.
Fees and insurance
A receipt is provided for insurance reimbursement under Social Work Services, and many extended plans cover sessions. You confirm your coverage with your insurer.
For full details on session fees and payment, visit the Fees & Insurance page.
Every new client starts with a free 15-minute phone consultation. Once we have spoken, we will book a time that works for both of us. There is no obligation to continue.
Starting does not have to be complicated.
Book a free consult
A free 15-minute phone call. We talk about what is going on and whether we are the right fit. No obligation to continue.
Find your footing
Once we have spoken, we will book a time that works for both of us. The first sessions are slower and reflective; we get clear on what you are carrying.
Do the work, together
We work at the pace your nervous system can hold, and check in often about what is shifting and what you need next.
Frequently asked questions
Ideally yes, because the work depends on both of you being in the room. That said, the rhythm flexes. If one of you cannot make a session at the last minute, we can do a one-person session that day and pick up together at the next. If one of you wants an individual session at a different rate for your own work alongside the two-parent work, that is also something we can talk about.
That is often when the most useful work happens. You did not come to me because everything is calm between you; you came because something is hard. When the harder dynamic shows up in the room, we slow it down together, and we look at what each of you is actually doing in that moment and where it might be coming from. The point is not for me to referee. The point is for both of you to get clearer on what is happening, so the next time it shows up at home, you have more options.
The honest answer is that it sits at the edge of couples therapy. The work is focused on you as parents and on the parenting issues you brought in, and it often involves the relationship between you because the relationship between you is part of the parenting climate. I am working toward additional couples-therapy training, and when I have it, I will offer general couples therapy too. For now, the focus stays on parent-team work, and if at some point you decide what you want is something broader, I will point you toward the right person.
Related areas
Many couples and co-parents working on a parenting issue together also benefit from individual work on what each of them is carrying. The pages below cover the most common adjacent experiences.
Ready to talk?
Every new client starts with a free 15-minute phone call. We talk about what is going on, what you are hoping for, and whether we are the right fit. No paperwork. No pressure.