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Re-Writing the Parent-Child Script!


Are you stuck in negative parenting dynamics with your teen? Are you unsure how to respond to their emotions and behaviors? Do you feel caught in frequent power-struggles? Do you struggle with how to respond to your child who is defiant or shut-down? Are you over-involved as a parent, unsure how to back away, how to let go, or how to provide the best support as a parent? Do you fear your child can't handle life's obstacles?

This Parallel Process Intensive has two parts, a parent workshop and also an adolescent workshop. If you have a willing adolescent bring them to participate in the DBT intensive with Katie LeRoy, however parents do not have to bring a teen to attend the Parent Workshop with Krissy Pozatek!!

In the parent intensive, parents will identify, understand, and transform their negative relationship patterns with their child. Participants will learn new communication skills that will be integrated through learning new dialogues, role-plays, attunement to feelings, boundary setting and a stronger awareness of parent-child differentiation. Attendees will have a greater awareness of parent-child enmeshment and how it can interfere with their child's maturation process and emotional skill development. Parents will come away with a "felt sense" through experiential exercises of how to show up differently.

The objectives of the teen workshop are to help adolescents develop their own toolboxes of effective strategies to regulate emotions, solve problems, improve relationships, and learn how to develop an enhanced life. The parent and teen participants will have an opportunity to clean up their side of the street (in separate workshops), through accountability and skill development, to reach new outcomes in the parent-child relationship. *The 2 groups will come together at the end, but parents do not need a teen to attend! 

Workshop Goals:

  • Parents will learn skills such as: emotional attunement to self and teen, Un-enmeshing, parental authority, boundary setting, new dialogues and scripts.

  • Teens will learn tools such has: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness.

  • Teens and parents will have an opportunity to come together to practice skills.

  • You do not need to have a teen attend to participate as teen spots are limited, but workshop is designed for group learning and integration of skills.

  • Teens and adults will come away with a "felt sense" of how to show up differently from experiential practices, and make new committments to use skills.

Workshop Schedule

Sat March 9th:

9:00-9:15 Workshop attendees arrive 

9:15-12:00: Workshop (Parents with Krissy, Adolescents with Katie)

12:00-1:00 Lunch (on your own)

1:00-4:30 Workshop (Parents with Krissy, Adolescents with Katie)

4:30-5:30 *optional group activity to walk to the beach to gather casually


Sun March 10th:

9:00-9:15 Workshop attendees arrive 

9:15-11:00 Workshop (Parents with Krissy, Adolescents with Katie)

11:00-12:30 Adolescents and Parents meet together in group setting (not required to have an adolescent)

12:30-1:00 Closing Ritual for Parents with Krissy and Adolescents with Katie

Total: 10.5 hours of therapeutic learning