Banner image ID: Cassidy holding a light in the dark under the Milky Way
Caregiver Coaching
First and foremost, let’s define ‘parent’ and ‘caregiver’ and honor that families take many forms. If you are a grown up raising one or more humans of any age, these services are for you. Folks have the option to sign up for themselves, themselves and a partner/partners, or any combination of grown ups involved in a kid’s life. Here’s to the ‘Raisins’ (i.e., those in the role of “raising” a child). Whatever way you define family will be supported, whether that’s as a solo caregiver, those in CNM relationships, a Queer partnership, marriage, platonic co-caregiving, divorced co-caregiving, etc.
Here you are. Looking for something. Because while your social media newsfeed make it look like everyone else in the world is a perfect grown up raising perfect children, who never have to say sorry, moving through life with a perceived ease you can’t currently fathom, I promise you aren’t alone. Caregivers are bombarded with information from books and blogs and unsolicited advice from well-meaning loved ones, and often wind up feeling inadequate. I see you.
You may have looked into therapy for your kid and at some point in the process you thought, ‘wait a second, the things I’m concerned about aren’t quite that. I’m more worried about how my role in all this. Am I providing the most supportive environment for my kiddo(s)? I feel like my intentions in my caregiving practices keep missing the mark, and I'm not sure why.' If this is you, I got you! Some kids aren’t best served by engaging in a therapy experience themselves. Your intuition is telling you that therapy for the child(ren) in your life isn’t what is called for in this moment. Trust your intuition and get the support you need.
If what you have read so far has resonated with you, here’s what we can agree to be true: Your kid(s) have some unmet needs that at this point are either relatively elusive to pin down OR the unmet needs have been identified, and you are struggling with taking action to meet those needs. If you had the time and space, you might uncover that you yourself have some unmet needs that need tending as well. It is extremely common to have unmet need(s) as a caregiver. It's likely that being in the role of caregiver has wound up being different than you anticipated (*). Ultimately, you are struggling. You are likely hurting. You deserve support.
If you are like many caregivers I've worked with, you are already second guessing this path. 'Do I NEED support?' or 'I've heard that stuff about the oxygen mask, but isn't it selfish to prioritize myself over my kids?' What if I told you that one of the most generous things you could do for your kids, one of the most healing processes you could engage in, is to participate in caregiver coaching? Because here’s the thing. You know you aren’t a bad caregiver. I know you aren’t a bad caregiver. Yet amidst the day to day challenges, you find yourself questioning your own decisions around what is best for the kids. What you need is some support to bring you back to that brilliant inner wisdom hiding under all the noise. You want to get some outside perspective on the day-to-day struggles of the caregiving experience. You need clarity and a sense of empowerment and direction to help you get a handle on things. We will navigate the day-to-day uncertainties and challenges, identifying solutions together drawing on your existing inner knowing alongside my years of experience working with struggling caregivers. You need to have someone to vent to, someone to laugh with, someone who isn’t going to judge you, someone who has heard it all. Engaging in this process will allow you to be the the most empowered, consistent, compassionate version of yourself in your caregiving relationships. It is the opposite of selfish. It is a gift. One of the most beautiful things that we know from relational neuroscience is that children learn from what they see, not what they are told. As a caregiver, you have the opportunity to teach by showing what it is like to tend to yourself, act with intention and self-awareness, and grow your capacity for compassion and grace for yourself and those around you. Healing has a ripple effect in often imperceptible directions. If you have ever witnessed someone engage in a healing process and then observed shifts in their close and extended family members or friends, you know this to be true. Be the change. See the change.
What Caregiver Coaching looks like:
I will hold you accountable, relying on you to be a contributing member of this team. That way, by the end of our time together, you will feel proud of the effort you put in to make positive changes that benefit the whole family. I will be honest with you even when it’s uncomfortable. Sometimes being honest will means I tell you that while I know I can do great work with you from a coaching perspective, you and/or another caregiver have some bigger mountains to climb and you need to see a professional yourself. Sometimes I will make the same recommendation for a kid. If what I'm hearing in our sessions suggests that there are issues that are beyond my scope to support you in, I'll let you know. Whether that be professional evaluations and/or services. In that vein, there are clear definitions that make counseling and coaching distinct. Most of my coaching clients are already engaged in other healing modalities (whether that be therapy or other practices) and need support and guidance specific to their caregiving experience.
If this is you, I offer Parent/Caregiver Coaching so that you can set goals, receive guidance and feedback, and make the changes that feel aligned with your caregiving values. If it sounds like I might be able to help, you can go directly to my coaching specific online scheduler to set up your free 30 minute consultation. We will figure out if I am the best fit to support you in this season of life and I will answer any questions you have. Can’t wait to hear from you!
Differences between Parent Coaching and Counseling
It’s really important that we distinguish what is what here. Parent/Caregiver Coaching is aimed to help you achieve goals you are striving for in your parenting experience. In the parent coaching role, I am not able to assess or diagnose you or your child. Coaching isn’t able to be submitted for reimbursement for health insurance purposes, as it is not considered a medically necessary service. There are some similarities between coaching and counseling, but Cassidy does not combine counseling with coaching. Further, Cassidy is not currently seeing child clients in a therapeutic capacity.
Generally, we can separate the roles and separate conversations that occur within the coaching or counseling space. Coaching services aim to increase caregiving confidence, comfort, and caregiver-child relationships. This is done by encouraging you to make significant behavior and lifestyle changes to incorporate new skills. Although both coaching and counseling use knowledge of human behavior, motivation, behavioral change, and interactive counseling techniques, there are major differences in the goals, focus, and level of professional responsibility. In some situations, I may recommend that you or your child enter psychotherapy (with a separate psychotherapist or counselor) as a condition of continuing coaching. I may also request to consult with your existing psychotherapist or counselor when appropriate if matters arise that are outside of the scope of coaching and could benefit from therapeutic intervention.
Coaching General FAQs:
* We can thank social conditioning for that. There is a less than honest narrative that humans are fed throughout their lifetimes that glamorizes the role of caregiving/parenting, and leaves out a lot of the messy/hard stuff. And if the messy/hard stuff does come up, the common refrain 'but being a parent makes it all worth it' is dismissive and invalidating and not how I roll. It can be true AND we can leave space and compassion for the truly challenging moments (and seasons) of being in the caregiving role.
First and foremost, let’s define ‘parent’ and ‘caregiver’ and honor that families take many forms. If you are a grown up raising one or more humans of any age, these services are for you. Folks have the option to sign up for themselves, themselves and a partner/partners, or any combination of grown ups involved in a kid’s life. Here’s to the ‘Raisins’ (i.e., those in the role of “raising” a child). Whatever way you define family will be supported, whether that’s as a solo caregiver, those in CNM relationships, a Queer partnership, marriage, platonic co-caregiving, divorced co-caregiving, etc.
Here you are. Looking for something. Because while your social media newsfeed make it look like everyone else in the world is a perfect grown up raising perfect children, who never have to say sorry, moving through life with a perceived ease you can’t currently fathom, I promise you aren’t alone. Caregivers are bombarded with information from books and blogs and unsolicited advice from well-meaning loved ones, and often wind up feeling inadequate. I see you.
You may have looked into therapy for your kid and at some point in the process you thought, ‘wait a second, the things I’m concerned about aren’t quite that. I’m more worried about how my role in all this. Am I providing the most supportive environment for my kiddo(s)? I feel like my intentions in my caregiving practices keep missing the mark, and I'm not sure why.' If this is you, I got you! Some kids aren’t best served by engaging in a therapy experience themselves. Your intuition is telling you that therapy for the child(ren) in your life isn’t what is called for in this moment. Trust your intuition and get the support you need.
If what you have read so far has resonated with you, here’s what we can agree to be true: Your kid(s) have some unmet needs that at this point are either relatively elusive to pin down OR the unmet needs have been identified, and you are struggling with taking action to meet those needs. If you had the time and space, you might uncover that you yourself have some unmet needs that need tending as well. It is extremely common to have unmet need(s) as a caregiver. It's likely that being in the role of caregiver has wound up being different than you anticipated (*). Ultimately, you are struggling. You are likely hurting. You deserve support.
If you are like many caregivers I've worked with, you are already second guessing this path. 'Do I NEED support?' or 'I've heard that stuff about the oxygen mask, but isn't it selfish to prioritize myself over my kids?' What if I told you that one of the most generous things you could do for your kids, one of the most healing processes you could engage in, is to participate in caregiver coaching? Because here’s the thing. You know you aren’t a bad caregiver. I know you aren’t a bad caregiver. Yet amidst the day to day challenges, you find yourself questioning your own decisions around what is best for the kids. What you need is some support to bring you back to that brilliant inner wisdom hiding under all the noise. You want to get some outside perspective on the day-to-day struggles of the caregiving experience. You need clarity and a sense of empowerment and direction to help you get a handle on things. We will navigate the day-to-day uncertainties and challenges, identifying solutions together drawing on your existing inner knowing alongside my years of experience working with struggling caregivers. You need to have someone to vent to, someone to laugh with, someone who isn’t going to judge you, someone who has heard it all. Engaging in this process will allow you to be the the most empowered, consistent, compassionate version of yourself in your caregiving relationships. It is the opposite of selfish. It is a gift. One of the most beautiful things that we know from relational neuroscience is that children learn from what they see, not what they are told. As a caregiver, you have the opportunity to teach by showing what it is like to tend to yourself, act with intention and self-awareness, and grow your capacity for compassion and grace for yourself and those around you. Healing has a ripple effect in often imperceptible directions. If you have ever witnessed someone engage in a healing process and then observed shifts in their close and extended family members or friends, you know this to be true. Be the change. See the change.
What Caregiver Coaching looks like:
- Scheduling *virtual* meetings with me at your pace, whether that is every week, two weeks, month or as needed
- Exploring your values in order to direct us down a path where you can feel true to your self and confident in your decisions
- Building on your existing caregiving skills and knowledge in order to achieve YOUR caregiving goals
- Taking action steps devised to bring you closer into alignment with where you desire to be with your caregiving experience
- Replacing unhelpful conditioning with realistic expectations for yourself and others
I will hold you accountable, relying on you to be a contributing member of this team. That way, by the end of our time together, you will feel proud of the effort you put in to make positive changes that benefit the whole family. I will be honest with you even when it’s uncomfortable. Sometimes being honest will means I tell you that while I know I can do great work with you from a coaching perspective, you and/or another caregiver have some bigger mountains to climb and you need to see a professional yourself. Sometimes I will make the same recommendation for a kid. If what I'm hearing in our sessions suggests that there are issues that are beyond my scope to support you in, I'll let you know. Whether that be professional evaluations and/or services. In that vein, there are clear definitions that make counseling and coaching distinct. Most of my coaching clients are already engaged in other healing modalities (whether that be therapy or other practices) and need support and guidance specific to their caregiving experience.
If this is you, I offer Parent/Caregiver Coaching so that you can set goals, receive guidance and feedback, and make the changes that feel aligned with your caregiving values. If it sounds like I might be able to help, you can go directly to my coaching specific online scheduler to set up your free 30 minute consultation. We will figure out if I am the best fit to support you in this season of life and I will answer any questions you have. Can’t wait to hear from you!
Differences between Parent Coaching and Counseling
It’s really important that we distinguish what is what here. Parent/Caregiver Coaching is aimed to help you achieve goals you are striving for in your parenting experience. In the parent coaching role, I am not able to assess or diagnose you or your child. Coaching isn’t able to be submitted for reimbursement for health insurance purposes, as it is not considered a medically necessary service. There are some similarities between coaching and counseling, but Cassidy does not combine counseling with coaching. Further, Cassidy is not currently seeing child clients in a therapeutic capacity.
Generally, we can separate the roles and separate conversations that occur within the coaching or counseling space. Coaching services aim to increase caregiving confidence, comfort, and caregiver-child relationships. This is done by encouraging you to make significant behavior and lifestyle changes to incorporate new skills. Although both coaching and counseling use knowledge of human behavior, motivation, behavioral change, and interactive counseling techniques, there are major differences in the goals, focus, and level of professional responsibility. In some situations, I may recommend that you or your child enter psychotherapy (with a separate psychotherapist or counselor) as a condition of continuing coaching. I may also request to consult with your existing psychotherapist or counselor when appropriate if matters arise that are outside of the scope of coaching and could benefit from therapeutic intervention.
Coaching General FAQs:
- All services are virtual utilizing google meet for appointments (except for circumstances when Cassidy is off-grid and only has access to cell service).
- Coaching clients can be located anywhere! Scheduling is done in EST for simplicity. You can customize your client portal to reflect whatever time zone you are in.
- Sessions health portal emails come from: support@sessionshealth.com
- Appointment reminders come from: noreply@sessionshealth.com
- You’ll click or copy and paste the meeting link that comes in your email reminder into a browser page for session
- To access your client portal, use this link and login: https://cassidydemos.patientsecure.me/
- As a part-time nomad, sometimes I don't have strong enough service for a video call. If that is known to be the case ahead of time, I'll let you know and call you at the time of session.
* We can thank social conditioning for that. There is a less than honest narrative that humans are fed throughout their lifetimes that glamorizes the role of caregiving/parenting, and leaves out a lot of the messy/hard stuff. And if the messy/hard stuff does come up, the common refrain 'but being a parent makes it all worth it' is dismissive and invalidating and not how I roll. It can be true AND we can leave space and compassion for the truly challenging moments (and seasons) of being in the caregiving role.