Engaging Parents: Overcoming Parental Resistance in Child & Family Therapy 

Overview: Many clinicians know how to create lasting therapeutic change in a family; they must get buy-in from the parent(s), but engaging parents in a therapeutic setting can be challenging. Even experienced clinicians sometimes feel they are fighting a losing battle when working with resistant parents. Learning to work with parents more effectively increases therapeutic success, decreases cancellations and early termination, and lays the foundation for lasting change in a family.

In this training, licensed clinical social worker and parenting coach, Mercedes Samudio, LCSW, will focus on what it means to work effectively with resistant parents and keep them engaged during the therapeutic process. She will explain the role a parent plays in a family’s ability to change and successfully maintain those changes, as well as share strategies she has developed to bypass parental resistance and develop a therapeutic alliance that empowers parents and heals families.

Mercedes will share her experience working with parents and educating them on the importance of their role as head of a family system. She will demonstrate how she conveys the importance of the family’s reliance on the strength of a confident parent, especially during times of increased stress and emotional upheaval. Attendees will learn strategies to engage parents, overcome therapeutic barriers, and manage common family system challenges to promote successful healing.

Objectives:

At the conclusion of the workshop, the participant will be able to:

• Explain the process of parental identity development
• Discuss parental defense mechanisms and parent shame
• Describe strategies for developing a therapeutic relationship with parents
• Recognize countertransference when working with parents
• Implement strategies to manage and document crisis with parents and families

Who Should Attend: This intermediate level workshop is appropriate for those who work with parents, families, children, and even adults. Attendees will learn how parenting affects both the caregiver and the child. 

Mercedes Samudio, LCSW

Mercedes Samudio, LCSW is a parent coach, speaker, bestselling author,  and founder of the Diversity in Parenting Conference who helps parents  and children communicate with each other, manage emotional trauma,    navigate social media and technology together, and develop healthy  parent-child relationships.

Over the course of her career, she has worked with adoptive families,  foster families, teen parents, parents navigating the child protective  services system, and children living with mental illness. Mercedes started  the #EndParentShaming movement as well as coined the term Shame-  Proof Parenting – using both to bring awareness to ending parent shame.

Mercedes is a leading parenting expert and has an amazing following on  social media that allows her to reach the hearts of thousands of parents  who feel heard and seen on their parenting journey. She has been featured on The Huffington Post, US News and Report, Woman’s Day, LA  Parent  Magazine, CBS LA, and Kids In The House. Mercedes seeks to empower parents to believe that they are already great guides for raising healthy and happy children. You can read more about her parenting expertise at http://shameproofparenting.com.

Conflicts of Interest: No conflicts reported

Schedule:

8:00 - 8:30 am

Registration and light continental breakfast

8:30 - 10:00 

• Intro: What's so Important About Engaging Parents?
• Exploring the Parenting Identity Development (PID) Model

10:00 - 10:10

Break

10:10 - 11:40

• Developing Relationships with Parents
• Dissecting the Shame-Proof Parenting Paradigm

11:40 - 12:50 pm

Lunch (on your own)

12:50 - 2:20

• Assessing a Parent's Level of Functioning
• Strategies for Using the PID Model

2:20 - 2:30 

Break

2:30 - 4:00

• Practical Exploration of the PID Model with Vignettes
• Wrap-Up: Exploring Counter-transference While Working with Parents