PARENT COACHING SESSIONS in west los angeles

DISCOVER new ways of understanding AND SUPPORTING YOUR child

Parenting is hard—especially when your child’s behavior leaves you feeling overwhelmed or unsure what to do next. Parent coaching offers practical tools, emotional support, and expert guidance to help you respond in ways that feel more aligned with the parent you want to be.

Schedule a Consultation
Schedule a Consultation
A young woman with long brown hair sitting on a rock while reading a book, with a man sitting beside her, both smiling and looking at the book.
A woman with long red hair wearing a large wide-brimmed hat is playing with a young child in a field.
Close-up of a feather with a soft glow background.
A woman with long hair wearing a black leather jacket and holding an umbrella, standing on a city street with a large building in the background. The scene is in black and white.

Stuck in parental burnout?

Even deeply loving, knowledgeable parents can find themselves feeling stuck, exhausted, or unsure of how to respond to their child or teen’s behaviors.

Parents we see often struggle with

  • Feeling overwhelmed and constantly on edge

  • Uncertainty about how to set and maintain loving boundaries

  • Responding calmly and consistently to challenging behaviors

  • Getting on the same page as another coparent or caregiver

  • Frequent power struggles, meltdowns, or emotional reactivity

  • Feeling disconnected from their child or worried about the relationship

  • Building confidence in parenting decisions

FOR the caregivers WHO REALIZE THEY need care too

As the saying goes, “It takes a village.” Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed, unsure how to respond to your child’s behavior, or simply want to strengthen your relationship, your parent coach can help you move forward with confidence.

Working together means co-creating a plan for your therapy that is comprehensive, adaptable, and generalizable so that you’ll take your therapeutic gains everywhere you go.

If the way you’re parenting is feeling ineffective or you’re struggling with your child or teen’s behavior, parent coaching can provide clarity, skills, and meaningful support.

Ready to take the next step with us?

Schedule a Consultation
Schedule a Consultation
Three people standing on the beach near the ocean, with an adorable white fluffy dog. They are embracing and looking out at the water during sunset or early evening.

How Parent Coaching Can Help

At Sawtelle Psychotherapy Group, we offer compassionate, collaborative, and tailored parent coaching. We work with you to better understand your child and your needs as a parent, strengthen your relationship, and learn practical tools you can use practice and turn into long-term habits.

In parent coaching, we’ll work together to:

  • Understand your child’s behaviors and your relationship patterns within a developmental and emotional context

  • Build a toolkit of effective, age-appropriate parenting strategies

  • Create flexibility in your thoughts and feelings about yourself and your child

  • Increase confidence, consistency, and emotional balance in parenting

  • Strengthen connection, trust, and communication between you and your child

Schedule a Consultation
Schedule a Consultation
Three people, two adults and a child, are playfully wrestling or engaging in a playful fight outdoors in a field of tall grass. They are smiling and appear to be having fun during late afternoon or early evening.

Evidence-Based Approaches to Parent Coaching

Our work with parents is grounded in research-backed, skill-based approaches, including:

  • DBT is a skill-based modality that has been adapted for a number of populations, parents included. Using a DBT-informed approach, we’ll help you differentiate between developmentally appropriate and concerning behaviors, feel more balanced in your (co)parenting, respond more effectively to your child’s behaviors, set lovingly firm boundaries, and build a more meaningful relationship with your child or teenager.

  • ACT focuses on increasing mindful, values-based parenting while building psychological flexibility that allows parents to adapt to whatever situation they encounter with their child. We’ll focus on separating your thoughts (about your child, the situation, and yourself) from your actions in order to help you respond to your child rather than react.

  • PCIT is a time-limited treatment designed for parents and their children between the ages of 2-7 years old. In using this modality, we’ll help you first establish warmth in your parent-child relationship in order to improve attachment and increase wanted behaviors, and then equip you with resources to manage your child’s more challenging behaviors with confidence, consistency, and calmness.

Together, we’ll create a personalized plan that supports sustainable changes in your parenting and strengthens your family system over time.

Schedule a Consultation
Schedule a Consultation

MEET THE TEAM

  • Brooke Schwartz, LCSW

    Founder & Therapist

    Areas of expertise: perfectionism, anxiety, depression, first time in therapy, personality disorders, relationship and interpersonal challenges, and life transitions.

    MEET BROOKE
  • A woman with long, wavy blonde hair smiling and wearing a blue denim shirt, standing outdoors in front of a background of green leafy plants.

    Sara Arpiarian, LCSW

    Staff Therapist

    Areas of expertise: anxiety, depression, relationship and interpersonal challenges, trauma, grief and loss, ADHD, adoption-related issues, parenting skills, and navigating life transitions.

    MEET SARA
  • A young woman with long blonde hair, smiling, wearing a tan ribbed short-sleeve top, standing indoors against a plain light-colored wall.

    Kaitlin Christy, AMFT, APCC

    Staff Therapist

    Areas of expertise: child, teen, and young adult mental health, emotion dysregulation, anxiety (OCD, panic, phobias), depression, self-esteem, family dynamics, play & art therapy, parent-child work, impulse control, ADHD, and personality disorders.

    MEET KAITLIN
  • A man with brown hair and a mustache sitting on a chair, smiling, and holding a tablet or notepad. There is a potted plant behind him and a light-colored wall.

    Mitchell Hale, LCSW

    Staff Therapist

    Areas of expertise: LGBTQIA+ issues, trauma symptoms and PTSD, OCD, body dysmorphia, anger, anxiety, career changes, critical self-talk, and depression

    MEET MITCH
  • A woman with long blonde hair sitting on a wooden chair, smiling while holding a black coffee mug. She is wearing a light blue button-up shirt, black pinstripe pants, and black shoes with white socks. There is a green plant in the background and the wall behind her is plain and off-white.

    Sophie Elkins, MSW, ASW

    Staff Therapist

    Areas of expertise: teen and young adult mental health, anxiety, perfectionism, body image, life transitions, self-esteem, trauma, couples, relationship dynamics, and effective communication strategies.

    MEET SOPHIE

Reaching out means CHANGE HAS ALREADY STARTED.

Step 01

Schedule a consultation call so we can learn more about your parenting needs and answer any questions you have about starting therapy with a parent coach.

Step 02

Meet with your therapist for a 45-50 minute intake session to share your parenting story and set goals that will guide your work together.

Step 03

Get to work! Meet with your therapist in-person or virtually, and practice a new way of approaching parenting in between sessions.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • Parent coaching can be helpful when you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure how to respond to your child in a way that feels effective and aligned with your values. It’s also useful during transitions, behavioral challenges, or when you want more confidence and clarity in your parenting.

  • While we see many parents and their children within the practice, we often work with parents whose children are not in therapy of their own. In fact, many parents we work with report their child’s behavior improving as a result of parent coaching—and the child never even knew their parent was getting support!

    Parent coaching centers on what you can shift in your responses, understanding, and strategies as a parent, which often leads to meaningful change in your child’s behavior and your relationship with them.

  • It depends! Collaboration with your child’s therapist is helpful in supporting consistency and shared understanding across environments. In some cases, it’s appropriate for the child’s therapist to also work with the parents. In others, we recommend working with a parent coach who is not the child’s individual therapist. Even in these cases, you will still be able to communicate with your child’s therapist, and both therapists will be in communication behind the scenes.

  • Parent coaching focuses on your role as a parent and the patterns between you and your child, rather than the dynamics within the parent/caregiver relationship. While couples therapy works to strengthen the relationship between partners, parent coaching helps you understand your child’s behavior, improve your responses, and build more effective and connected interactions at home.

  • Sessions focus on understanding the function of your child’s behavior, what you’re experiencing as a parent, and what patterns may be keeping you and your child stuck. We’ll work together to build practical tools, shift responses in real time, and support stronger connection at home.

  • No! Parent coaching can support a wide range of concerns—from everyday power struggles to overall family culture and dynamics. It’s also a helpful prevention resource and a great tool for parents and caregivers wanting to strengthen an already healthy relationship with their child.