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Does This Sound Familiar?
- Your child is a teen or adult with autistic traits or ASD (Level 1).
- You see your child has significant strengths and challenges.
- They face severe anxiety or loneliness.
- You worry about their future and ability to live independently.
- Making and keeping friends may be difficult.
- Your child struggles to handle their emotions or challenges.
- You worry about how much time they spend alone.
- They are gifted or have strong interests and passions.
- Pressure to keep up with peers makes your child feel like a failure.
- When your child gets overwhelmed, they avoid and isolate.
- Your child is twice-exceptional (both gifted and autistic).
- You’re doing your best but feel overwhelmed or burnt out.
As a parent of a neurodivergent child, you might feel uncertain or stressed about how to best support your unique child. At Neurodiversity Wellness Center, our experienced therapists specialize in helping parents support their unique child, manage parenting stress, and improve overall well-being.
Parent Counseling for Caregivers of Teens and Adults with Autistic Traits (13+ yrs)
Parent counseling is personalized to meet your unique needs. In these sessions, you’ll focus on goals that support you best. Your autism therapist will provide a nonjudgmental space to explore your thoughts and concerns about yourself, your child, and the whole family. We’ll help you develop the tools and insights to navigate challenging situations, improve communication with your child, and manage stress. As needed, your therapist will offer psychoeducation on autism-related topics. We respect your knowledge about your child and work collaboratively to develop solutions well-suited for your family.
Through Parent Counseling
We Can Help You…
- Manage your parental anxiety and worries.
- Support your child’s independence and wellbeing.
- Guide your child in managing their emotions and reactivity.
- Support your child in learning ways to develop friendships.
- Learn about available resources for your child.
- Develop tools to improve parent-child communication.
- Improve your autistic child’s relationship with their siblings.
- Build a community offering understanding and parent support.
- Explore your own potential autistic or ADHD traits.
Trauma-Informed Counseling
You don’t have to struggle alone. We are here to help you achieve greater balance and emotional wellbeing. Our therapists are trauma-informed, and can support processing parental guilt, parenting trauma, and all other forms of trauma. As you heal old wounds, you’ll find a greater sense of calm and confidence, empowering you to navigate parenting and life’s challenges more effectively.
Individual Counseling for Parents: What to Expect
You’ll have regular sessions with your autism therapist, typically once a week for 50 minutes. During these sessions, you’ll build a trusting relationship, viewing your therapist as an understanding and supportive ally who values neurodiversity. Together, you’ll tackle important issues at a pace that feels right for you. You’ll learn and practice effective strategies for communicating with your child, fostering their independence, enhancing problem-solving skills, and boosting their confidence and motivation. You’ll also learn effective tools to support your own emotional wellbeing and resilience.
Our therapists integrate various approaches tailored just for you, including internal family systems therapy, positive parenting, person-centered therapy, mindfulness, narrative therapy, solution-focused approaches, motivational interviewing techniques, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), and skills training. These methods help you gain a deeper understanding of yourself and your child’s unique perspective and experiences, and build skills to better navigate parenting and life.
Is Parent Counseling different from Parent Coaching?
Yes, counseling and coaching are different.
While both parent counseling and parent coaching can help caregivers develop specific skills and strategies to handle parenting challenges effectively, parent coaching does not delve into underlying emotional issues. Parent Counseling focuses on addressing emotional and psychological challenges that may interfere with parenting or emotional wellbeing. Developing coping strategies to manage stress, increasing self-understanding, and processing trauma are common elements of parent counseling. Another difference is that parent counseling is conducted by licensed professionals.
Get Started With
Parent Counseling Today!
If you feel ready to start parent counseling or have more questions about it, the first step is to set up a free consultation. During the consultation, you’ll learn more about our services and which may be best for your family’s unique needs.
Fee / Rate
$220-$260 per 50-minute session*
Learn more about fees and payment.
Frequency
Usually, you’ll have weekly 50-minute online sessions with your therapist.
Location
All sessions are online only. We use HIPAA-compliant Zoom sessions. (Clients must reside in California or Oregon to receive services.)
Other Services at Neurodiversity Wellness Center
in Palo Alto, CA or Online
At Neurodiversity Wellness Center, we offer a range of services to support individuals and families within the neurodivergent community. In addition to individual therapy for parents, we offer individual counseling and therapy groups for autistic teens and adults. Groups offered at Neurodiversity Wellness Center include support for gifted and neurodivergent teens, neurodivergent college students, autistic young adults, neurodivergent women, and autistic working professionals.