About – Pediatric Family Consulting

If you've landed here, there's a good chance something about family life feels harder than it should.

Maybe mornings have become a battle. Your child falls apart after school. Bedtime takes forever. You dread the phone calls from daycare or school regarding your child's behavior. Transitions lead to meltdowns. You're constantly repeating yourself, managing sibling conflict, and wondering why strategies that seem to work for everyone else's child aren't working for yours.

You may have read the books, followed the parenting accounts, tried the charts, rewards, consequences, timers and scripts, and you're still stuck.

I don't believe most families need more generic parenting advice.

I believe they need someone to look closely at what's happening, consider each child's individuality and ask a better question:

What's getting in the way for this child and how can the adults in their life help support them?

That's the foundation of my work. As opposed to traditional therapies and services, I work directly with parents to help streamline processes, identify needs and create happier homes.

Professional experience

I've spent my career understanding young children.

For more than 15 years, I've worked with young children and families in school and early childhood settings, with a particular focus on child development, behavior, learning, regulation and individual differences.

I hold a master's degree in Early Childhood Special Education, and my professional experience has given me the opportunity to work with children with a wide range of strengths, personalities, developmental profiles and support needs. I've worked both as a teacher and an administrator in public and private settings.

One thing I've learned again and again is that behavior rarely makes sense when we look at it in isolation. After years of working in school settings, it became glaringly obvious to me that while we often provide support to children through school-based interventions, occupational therapy, speech therapy, ABA therapy and more, we've completely dropped the ball on supporting parents. I fully believe a partnership with therapists, service providers, teachers and medical professionals is an essential part of my work and is what moves the needle for daily routines and overall functioning of a household.

When my own son was in occupational therapy, I was thrilled he was getting his needs met in the clinic, but it occurred to me that most parents have no idea how to implement strategies at home or when to even use them. That's when I really noticed a huge gap in the support system we have for families with young children because I was experiencing it first hand.

When we understand what's underneath the behavior, we can stop cycling through strategies and start choosing supports that actually fit the child.

A parent's perspective

And I'm a parent, too.

My professional background shapes how I understand children. Parenting my own children has shaped how I understand parents.

I know there's a big difference between a strategy sounding wonderful in theory and actually using it at 7:42 on a Tuesday morning when someone can't find their shoes, breakfast is untouched and you needed to leave seven minutes ago.

That's why I care so much about practicality.

I'm not interested in creating a beautiful plan that only works when everyone is calm, rested and having their best day.

It has to work in your actual house, with your actual child, in your actual life.

My job isn't to come into your family and tell you everything you're doing wrong. It's to bring another set of experienced eyes to the situation, help you understand what you're seeing, and work alongside you to make things feel more manageable. This is the parenting support model we all need and deserve.

My approach

Understand before we intervene.

Before deciding what to change, I want to understand what's happening.

We look at the whole picture: your child's developmental skills, environment, expectations, routines, sensory and regulation needs, executive-function demands, relationships and the patterns surrounding difficult moments.

Then we build from there.

Sometimes the solution is surprisingly small.

Sometimes a family needs more support.

And sometimes what I observe tells us that another professional, such as an occupational therapist, mental health provider, pediatrician or developmental specialist, should be part of the conversation.

Knowing when something falls outside my scope is an important part of doing this work well.

You don't need a diagnosis to need support. And you don't need to wait until family life feels unmanageable to ask for help.

Beyond the credentials

A little about me beyond the credentials

I'm based in Fort Collins and work with families throughout Northern Colorado.

I'm also raising two young boys, so my life outside of work includes plenty of the same things that fill the homes of the families I work with, school mornings, sibling dynamics, big feelings, missing shoes, bedtime negotiations, laughter, chaos and figuring things out as we go.

Pediatric Foundations grew out of the intersection of those two parts of my life: years of professional experience understanding children and the very real experience of raising them.

I created this practice because I believe families deserve somewhere to turn when they know something isn't working but aren't sure what kind of help they need.

You don't need another book or reward chart.

You need another person at the table.

Let's figure out what works for your family

A complimentary conversation is a simple place to start.

If you're wondering whether family consulting might be a good fit for your family, we can start with a complimentary 15-minute conversation.