Therapy for Parents In Pasadena, California
Parenting in the Middle
Therapy for Parenting Stress, Anxiety, and Midlife Reckoning
The Overlooked Season of Overwhelm, Identity Shifts, and Inner Pressure.
Parenting in the middle is the in-between stage of raising children. Your kids are growing and changing, your role is shifting, and you may find yourself wondering where you fit in all of it.
You’re no longer at the beginning - when everything felt new and structured - but you’re not at the end either. You’re in the thick of it. The constant needs, shifting family dynamics, growing kids, and changing identities can start to blur together, while an internal voice quietly asks: Am I doing enough? Am I getting this right?
For many high-achieving moms, this stage of parenting doesn’t just bring external demands - it often comes with an identity shift happening underneath it all. You might be moving through perimenopause while your kids are stepping into their own emotional and physical shifts, too. It can feel like everyone in the house is changing at once.
So much of the focus tends to stay on the kids - their emotions, their needs, their transitions, but often there’s very little space held for the parent in the middle of it all. If this feels familiar, you’re not alone. This is a stage where support matters too.
A Deeper Understanding of Children, Teens, and Families
My work with parents comes from both sides—My background in working with children and teens as a school counselor, and being a parent of teenagers myself. I know how much is going on beneath the surface in families, even when it doesn’t always look obvious from the outside. Often, it’s the parent who’s carrying the most stress. And when they start to feel more supported and grounded, things at home can begin to shift too - including the challenges they’re seeing in their child or teen.
So in our work, we slow things down and look at the bigger emotional system, what’s happening with your child, what’s happening around you, and what’s getting activated inside of you, too.
How therapy can support you
Emotional intensity- Feel less overwhelmed day to day
Connection - Improve communication in your family and feel closer to one another
Empathy - Understand your child or teen with more compassion
Navigate midlife changes - by developing more clarity and self-trust
Quiet the Inner Critic - Ease constant pressure and guilt
Process Grief - Watching your kids grow up can bring real grief for what’s passed, and it’s important to hold space for that
My Approach to Working
with Mothers and Parents
In our work together, we make space for you
I approach parenting from a relational lens, which means we look at how patterns are showing up not just within you, but between you and your child, and within your partnership if that’s part of your life. We also use psychoeducation to help you understand what’s happening emotionally and in your nervous system, so your reactions and your child’s responses start to make more sense.
We explore the different parts of you that show up in parenting—the part trying to hold everything together, the part carrying guilt or self-doubt, the part that feels overwhelmed or shuts down, and the inner critic that often runs in the background.
Over time, this work helps you step out of reactive cycles and into a more grounded way of relating, both with your child and your partner. Not from getting it perfect, but from understanding what’s happening in the system and responding with more clarity and presence.
I
I often integrate:
Parts work / inner child work to help you understand your emotional landscape
EMDR therapy for past experiences that still feel stuck in your body or mind
Attachment-focused therapy to support healing from relational wounds that may be showing up as a parent
Somatic awareness to help you feel more grounded and less overstimulated.
BOOK A FREE CONSULTATION
BOOK A FREE CONSULTATION
Get Support For Parenting In The Middle in Pasadena, CA
You Don’t Have To Do This Alone.