It can be difficult to be a parent, especially when it comes to facing contentious issues such as homework, screen time, food choices, and bedtime. And when your child’s behavior or emotional reactions seem particularly intense, parents can feel at a total loss.
At the Center for Connection, we understand and are here to help. Our therapists seek to deeply understand what challenges you’re facing and identify relational supports individualized to you and your family that help you navigate the parenting journey with more confidence, connection and success. We will listen and explore strategies based on the latest research on parenting and the brain, which can help you not only survive difficult moments with your kids, but actually use those very moments to help you and your child thrive.
Image from The Power of Showing Up by Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson.
At the Center for Connection, we offer three types of parenting support (with virtual options for those based outside of California):
With a primary focus on developing your toolbox of parenting strategies, we can help you navigate challenging behaviors and moments of dysregulation with your child while developing your strengths as a parent. Parent coaching often encompasses the following:
Steps for identifying your own discipline philosophy; and mastering the best methods to effectively discipline and communicate the lessons you want to impart.
Strategies to calmly connect and communicate love for your child, no matter how extreme the behavior, while still setting clear and consistent limits.
Tips for guiding or partnering with your child through emotional storms.
Facts about child brain development and what kind of discipline or expectations are most appropriate and constructive at all ages and stages.
Techniques and strategies to help strengthen your child’s communication, play, executive functioning development, and regulation with family members and friends.
Keys to understanding what’s typical for your child’s age and stage, to better determine together whether your child might need some additional support.
We’ll work to help you peacefully resolve conflicts, inspire happiness, understand your child’s growing brain and developing mind, and strengthen resilience for everyone in the family. It can be tremendously valuable to sit with an expert and ask your questions, learn more effective strategies, and figure out how to be more intentional about building your relationship with your child.
Click on our therapist photos below to learn more about our parent coaching experts:
Key Insight


How It Works
Click on our therapist photo(s) below to learn more about our reflective parent support expert(s):
Individual psychotherapy for parents is specialized to help you develop individualized tools and resources to remain regulated during difficult moments in parenting and beyond. We help you identify, process and manage your past and present experiences that may be impacting how you engage with and relate to your child. In some cases, psychotherapy for parents can help you and your partner determine similarities and differences in your parenting styles, improve your communication, and maintain a more cohesive, collaborative, consistent parenting approach. In addition to challenges related to parenting, your therapist will support you in exploring and more successfully coping with other concerns you may be facing, including anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, and other stressful life events.
Photo source: The Power of Showing Up by Dr. Tina Payne Bryson and Dr. Daniel Siegel.
What to Know
Dahlia Bagnis, LCSW
We know that it can be overwhelming to sift through all of the resources available to you across multiple platforms. To help, we have compiled a short list of resources that can provide you additional support and information. Click here to learn more.
The CFC is committed to giving back to its community via free parenting events. We’ve hosted author talks, workshops to support neurodiversity and families navigating chronic illness. To stay tuned about upcoming events, please visit our Events page.
NeuroPlaybook Parenting was founded by two moms who understand the ups and downs of raising kids with neurodiversity. They created this space by parents, for parents—a supportive community where you can connect, share experiences, and find practical guidance. They offer monthly support meetings (in person and on Zoom) where parents can discover valuable resources and strategies to effectively support their child’s needs at school and home. They also team up with field experts, organizing informative online panels that address crucial subjects. These panels help parents understand their children’s learning differences, requirements, available support, and effective advocacy strategies. Whether you need advice, resources, or just a place where people truly get it, we’re here to walk this journey with you. You don’t have to figure it all out alone.
RSVP on the sign-up page for our upcoming support meeting:
https://www.neuroplaybookparenting.com/meetingschedule
Note: once you RSVP, you’ll be sent the Zoom link.
As you may know, the Center for Connection’s Founder/Executive Director is Dr. Tina Payne Bryson, LCSW, PhD.. Tina is also co-author of The Whole-Brain Child, No-Drama Discipline, The Yes Brain, The Power of Showing Up, and Bottom Line for Baby. As such, you can find summary sheets for her “whole-brain” approach to parenting below:
Click here to download the Refrigerator Sheet from The Whole-Brain Child (co-authored by CFC Founder, Tina Payne Bryson, PhD)
A note to your caregivers (This letter is an excerpt from No-Drama Discipline by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D. If you’re a fan of No-Drama Discipline and want the people who help you care for your children to know about your discipline approach, then keep reading. This letter was written for grandparents, friends, babysitters, nannies, and other caregivers who haven’t read the book.)
Click here to download the Refrigerator Sheet from No-Drama Discipline (co-authored by CFC Founder, Tina Payne Bryson, PhD)
Click here to download the Refrigerator Sheet from The Yes Brain (co-authored by CFC Founder, Tina Payne Bryson, PhD)
If you’re a fan of short videos, the check out Tina’s “Mistake Mondays” playlist on YouTube. It’s a short series where she talks about discipline mistakes we make regularly and what we can do instead. These ideas come from her book No-Drama Discipline, co-written with Dr. Dan Siegel.
Have a new baby? Congratulations! If you’re looking for a place to start, check out this limited-run podcast series with Tina and pediatrician Phil Boucher, MD, Baby in the House.
Need book recommendations? Check out Tina’s favorite books for parents here.
Click here to download the Refrigerator Sheet from The Whole-Brain Child (co-authored by CFC Founder, Tina Payne Bryson, PhD)
A note to your caregivers (This letter is an excerpt from No-Drama Discipline by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D. If you’re a fan of No-Drama Discipline and want the people who help you care for your children to know about your discipline approach, then keep reading. This letter was written for grandparents, friends, babysitters, nannies, and other caregivers who haven’t read the book.)
Click here to download the Refrigerator Sheet from No-Drama Discipline (co-authored by CFC Founder, Tina Payne Bryson, PhD)
Click here to download the Refrigerator Sheet from The Yes Brain (co-authored by CFC Founder, Tina Payne Bryson, PhD)
If you’re a fan of short videos, the check out Tina’s “Mistake Mondays” playlist on YouTube. It’s a short series where she talks about discipline mistakes we make regularly and what we can do instead. These ideas come from her book No-Drama Discipline, co-written with Dr. Dan Siegel.
Have a new baby? Congratulations! If you’re looking for a place to start, check out this limited-run podcast series with Tina and pediatrician Phil Boucher, MD, Baby in the House.
Need book recommendations? Check out Tina’s favorite books for parents here.
The scientific lens that informs our work is interpersonal neurobiology, an exciting field of research about the neuroscience of change and of healthy, connected relationships.
We know that connected relationships matter and play a role in how our brains and lives change, so that's where we start.
Grounded in interpersonal neurobiology, our approach reflects the latest research on how relationships shape the developing brain.
Clients are matched to a therapist based on areas of specialty, relational fit, and availability, unless otherwise requested.
The perinatal period, spanning pregnancy through the early years of parenthood, is one of the most demanding neurobiological transitions a...
Autism evaluations at the Center for Connection are neurodiversity-affirming assessments designed to illuminate each individual's unique neurological profile, not simply...
Learn more about this service at the Center for Connection.
Fill out our brief intake form and we'll be in touch within 24 hours to help match you with the right clinician.
We know this step takes courage. We're honored that you're considering us.
Choose the path that best describes your needs.