Hot take: Your mental health matters as much as your child’s.
You cannot co-regulate a child when you’re dysregulated yourself. You cannot model resilience you don’t have. Parent support at CCFC isn’t an afterthought, it’s part of how we get families better.
You can’t give your child something you don’t have.
We see it every day: parents who have read every parenting book, tried every therapy, asked AI for advice at 2 AM, completely depleted, wondering why nothing is working.
Then surprised when their anxious, perfectionistic child stays anxious and perfectionistic.
Here’s what the research and our clinical experience both confirm: regulation flows downward. Your child’s nervous system is looking to yours for cues about whether the world is safe, whether it’s okay to feel big feelings, whether they can trust themselves.
When you’re constantly overwhelmed, second-guessing yourself, running on fumes, your child learns: “I shouldn’t trust myself either.”
No amount of therapy overrides that message if it’s being reinforced at home every day.
The cascade
- 1 Regulated parent → regulated nervous system → present, available, responsive
- 2 Present parent → child feels safe → child is more able to regulate themselves
- 3 Parent with skills → models self-compassion → child learns it’s okay to be imperfect
- 4 Parent who asks for help → child learns asking for help is strength, not weakness
- 5 Parent who trusts themselves → child learns to trust themselves
The oxygen mask principle. For real this time.
If you’re constantly overwhelmed, beating yourself up for every parenting mistake, scrolling for answers instead of trusting yourself, you cannot model resilience for your child. You cannot co-regulate them when they’re dysregulated. You cannot teach self-compassion if you have none for yourself.
This is not about being a perfect parent. It’s about being regulated enough to stay present, supported enough to model asking for help, grounded enough to trust yourself.
That’s the real work. Not another parenting book. Not another late-night search. Doing your own work, building your own support system, and learning to regulate yourself first.
Parents must go first.
Real talk: how are you doing?
Not your kid. You. When was the last time someone asked, and you actually told the truth?
Ask yourself
- When did I last regulate myself before trying to calm my child?
- Do I have my own support system, or am I doing this alone?
- Am I modeling the emotional health I want my child to have?
- Do I feel like a partner in my child’s therapy, or a spectator?
- Have I been taught the same skills my child is learning?
- Do I know what my child is actually working on in therapy?
What parent support looks like at CCFC
We don’t have a single offering and call it parent support. We have a range, because parents have different needs at different moments, and some need their own work while others need skills for the family system.
Monthly Parent Sessions
Every child receiving therapy at CCFC gets monthly parent sessions built into treatment. You’ll know exactly what your child is working on, what goals we’re tracking, and what to do at home.
Parent Coaching
Goal-oriented coaching to build specific skills, emotional regulation, responding to behavior, setting boundaries, managing your own anxiety as a parent. Available standalone or alongside your child’s treatment.
Individual Parent Therapy
When it’s not just about parenting strategies, when your own history, anxiety, burnout, or wellbeing needs attention. This is therapy for you as a person, not just as a parent.
Family Sessions
When the whole system needs to shift, communication patterns, family dynamics, co-parenting alignment, or supporting a child through major transitions together.
Parent & Caregiver DBT Skills Group
An online skills group for parents of emotionally sensitive children. Learn DBT tools you can use immediately, even if your child isn’t in any program. Open to non-CCFC clients.
Learn about DBT groups →Skills Practice & Handouts
For parents whose child is in DBT, SPACE, PMT, or PCIT, you’ll receive the same skills materials, practice guides, and coaching your child is using. Because you can’t reinforce what you don’t know.
SPACE Parent Program
Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions. A structured, research-backed approach where parents learn to reduce their own accommodation of anxiety and become the agent of change. Available as a group class or individual sessions.
Learn about the Anxiety & OCD Program →PMT Parent Program
Parent Management Training. Evidence-based behavioral strategies for parents of children with defiance, non-compliance, aggression, or explosive behavior. Available as a structured group class or individual coaching sessions.
Learn about the Disruptive Behaviors Program →Who comes to us for parent support
You don’t need to have it figured out before you call. You just need to recognize yourself in one of these.
The exhausted parent
You’ve tried everything. Read everything. You love your child deeply and you’re running on empty. You need support, not more advice.
The involved parent whose child is in therapy
Your child is already working with a therapist, at CCFC or elsewhere, and you want to be a more effective partner in their healing, not just a bystander.
The parent who’s also struggling
Your child’s anxiety, ADHD, or behavior challenges are affecting your own mental health. You need space to process that, separate from your role as the parent.
The parent who wants skills
You’re not in crisis, you just want to be better equipped. DBT skills, behavior strategies, regulation tools, communication techniques. You want to learn.
The co-parenting couple
You and your partner are not on the same page. Different approaches, different tolerances, different worries about your child. You need to get aligned, for your child’s sake and yours.
The parent in a DBT family
Your teen is in the DBT program. You’re learning the skills alongside them, or you want to. You need your own space to practice, process, and ask questions.
How we involve parents across every service
Parent involvement at CCFC isn’t a single thing. It looks different depending on the service, the child’s age, and the treatment model, but it’s never an afterthought.
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Beginning of treatment Goals are set together with parents present. You know exactly what we’re working toward.
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Monthly parent check-ins Built into every child’s treatment, not optional, not extra.
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End-of-session check-ins A brief check-in at the close of sessions when clinically appropriate.
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Skills handouts and home practice Parents receive the same materials their child uses so the skills can be reinforced at home.
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Dyadic and parent-directed sessions For younger children, parents attend sessions directly. In PCIT, the parent is the primary agent of change.
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DBT, SPACE, PMT, parent participation is treatment For these models, parent involvement isn’t an add-on. It is the treatment.
If your child is in therapy anywhere, ask these questions.
“Do I know what my child is working on? Have I been taught these skills? Do I understand the goals and how we’re measuring progress? Do I feel like a partner, or a bystander?”
If the answer is no, it’s okay to ask for more. You deserve to be part of your child’s healing.
Because healing happens in systems. And parents must be part of the process.
How child therapy works at CCFC →Skills classes for parents: DBT, SPACE, and PMT.
We offer structured group classes and individual sessions for parents in three evidence-based frameworks. DBT skills for emotion regulation and distress tolerance. SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) for parents of anxious kids. PMT (Parent Management Training) for parents navigating behavior challenges and defiance. All three are available as group classes, and all three are open to non-CCFC clients.
See all parent groups and classes →-
Parent & Caregiver DBT Skills Group
Online · Open enrollment · Non-CCFC clients welcome
Tween & Parent DBT Skills Class
In-person · Parent and child attend together
Friends & Family DBT Class
For family members supporting someone in DBT treatment
SPACE Parent Group
Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions · Individual sessions also available
PMT Parent Group
Parent Management Training · Group classes and individual sessions available
Are you pregnant, postpartum, or navigating the transition to parenthood?
Perinatal mental health, including postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, postpartum OCD, and the identity shift of becoming a parent, requires specialized care. Our sister practice, the Center for Postpartum & Family Health (CPFH), is led by PMH-C certified clinicians who specialize in exactly this. We’ll refer you there directly.
Questions parents ask us
Insurance we accept
EAP
CurativeDon’t see yours?
Private pay and superbills for out-of-network reimbursement available.
Full insurance & fees →
Reduced-fee options
Income-based sliding scale available.
Low-cost sessions with our graduate
trainees for qualifying clients.
Learn more →
