Seek help if:
- Symptoms last more than two weeks
- Daily life feels unmanageable
- You have thoughts of harming yourself or your baby
- You feel anxious, panicked, or scared most of the day
- Immediate help: Call 911 if you feel you or someone else is in danger.
Other ways to cope:
- Talk to your doctor or OB-GYN—they can screen for postpartum depression and anxiety.
- Connect with a psychotherapist for guidance and coping strategies.
- Share your feelings with trusted family or friends.
- Practice self-care: rest, eat well, and accept help.
- Join support groups for new parents.
Parent-Child Therapy in Newmarket & York Region | Stronger Connections Start Here
Parenting is one of the most demanding things a person can do. And when the relationship between a parent and child becomes strained, when communication breaks down, when conflict becomes the default, or when a child’s behaviour feels completely unmanageable, it can feel like something has gone fundamentally wrong.
It has not. It means you are navigating something hard without enough support. That is what parent-child therapy is for.
As a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) in Newmarket with a background in child development and early childhood education, I offer parent-child therapy virtually across Ontario. Sessions are structured flexibly, with children, parents, or both together depending on what each situation requires. No waitlist. Sessions available day and evening.
No Waitlist
Start this week.
Free 15-min call
No commitment
Day & Evening
Flexible hours
Virtual
All of Ontario
What Brings Families to Parent-Child Therapy
Families arrive at parent-child therapy from many different starting points. Some come in the middle of a crisis. Others come because they can feel the connection with their child slipping and want to address it before it breaks down further. Others come because their child is struggling and they do not know how to help.
If any of that sounds familiar, you’re in the right place.
“My child used to talk to me about everything. Now I cannot get a word out of them.”
“I feel like I am always the bad guy no matter what I do.”
“The meltdowns are getting worse and I do not know what is driving them.”
“My child went through something difficult and I do not know how to support them.”
“Since the separation, everything at home has changed.”
“I love my child but I do not always like who I am as a parent right now.”
All of these are valid reasons to reach out. Parent-child therapy is not about assigning blame or proving that someone is doing it wrong. It is about understanding what is happening in the relationship and building something stronger.
What I Work With in Parent-Child Therapy
Parent-Child Communication Difficulties
When communication between a parent and child has broken down, both parties are usually trying. The problem is rarely that one person does not care. It is more often that they are speaking different emotional languages, or that patterns of interaction have developed that make genuine connection difficult. Therapy helps identify those patterns and build new ones.
Behavioural Challenges in Children
Persistent tantrums, defiance, aggression, school refusal, or other behavioural difficulties in children are almost always communicating something. Children do not have the neurological development or the vocabulary to say “I am overwhelmed” or “I feel disconnected from you” or “I do not know how to manage what I am feeling.” Their behaviour says it for them. Therapy helps parents understand what their child is communicating and respond in ways that address the root rather than just the symptom.
Attachment and Bonding Concerns
Secure attachment is the foundation of healthy child development, and when that foundation feels uncertain, whether because of early separation, trauma, postpartum difficulties, or other disruptions, it can affect the relationship in ways that are felt but hard to name. Therapy works with the attachment relationship directly, building the safety, consistency, and attunement that secure connection requires.
Parenting Through Divorce or Separation
Separation and divorce create a particular kind of complexity for parent-child relationships. Children may be caught between two homes, two sets of expectations, and two parents who are themselves in distress. Therapy supports children in processing the changes and helps parents understand how to maintain a strong, stable relationship with their child through a period of significant family disruption. If divorce or separation is part of your situation, divorce and separation therapy in Newmarket covers how I work with that experience for adults specifically.
Parenting a Child with ADHD or Neurodiversity
Parenting a neurodivergent child requires a different toolkit than mainstream parenting advice provides. The strategies that work for neurotypical children frequently do not work, and sometimes actively backfire, for a child with ADHD or other neurodevelopmental differences. Therapy provides psychoeducation about how the neurodivergent brain works, practical strategies that account for those differences, and support for the parenting stress that comes with navigating systems, schools, and extended family that do not always understand. For more on how I work with ADHD specifically, ADHD therapy in Newmarket covers that in detail.
Parenting a Child with Anxiety or Depression
When a child is struggling with anxiety or depression, parents often feel helpless, guilty, or unsure whether their responses are helping or making things worse. Therapy helps parents understand what their child is experiencing, how to talk about it in ways that open rather than close the conversation, and how to support their child’s recovery without inadvertently reinforcing avoidance or dependence.
Parenting Stress and Overwhelm
Sometimes a parent does not arrive because of a specific problem with their child. They arrive because they are running on empty, because the demands of parenting have exceeded their capacity, and because the person they are at their worst, the reactive, short-fused, checked-out version of themselves, is not the parent they want to be. Therapy in this context focuses on the parent’s own regulation and wellbeing as the foundation for everything else.
Rebuilding Connection After Conflict
Relationships between parents and children can sustain significant ruptures. Prolonged conflict, periods of disconnection, or specific incidents that damage trust can leave both parties unsure how to find their way back to each other. Repair is possible. Therapy provides the structure and the safety to begin that process.
How I Work With Families
Parent-child therapy in my practice is structured flexibly depending on what each situation requires. There is no fixed format because families are not fixed in their needs.
Attachment-Based Approaches
Attachment theory provides the foundation for understanding most parent-child difficulties. When the attachment relationship is secure, children are more regulated, more resilient, and more able to manage difficulty. When it is disrupted, everything downstream is affected. Attachment-based work focuses on building safety, consistency, and attunement between parent and child.
Play-Based Approaches
For younger children, play is the primary language of communication and emotional processing. Play-based approaches create a space where children can explore, express, and work through experiences that they cannot yet verbalise. I use structured therapeutic play with children to access material that talking alone cannot reach.
Psychoeducation
Understanding child development, the neuroscience of behaviour, and the way attachment works transforms how parents interpret their child’s behaviour. Many parents who have been feeling frustrated or defeated become more curious and compassionate once they understand what is actually driving what they are seeing. Psychoeducation is often the turning point in parent-child therapy.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT helps parents identify the thought patterns that drive reactive or unhelpful parenting responses, and build more deliberate, effective ones. It also provides practical tools for children who are old enough to engage cognitively with their own patterns.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT helps both parents and children build the psychological flexibility to navigate difficulty without being controlled by it. For parents, this often means developing a different relationship with the gap between the parent they want to be and the parent they currently are. For children, it means building the capacity to experience hard feelings without immediately acting on them.
Mindfulness-Based Therapy
Mindfulness approaches help parents develop the capacity to pause before reacting, to be present with their child rather than perpetually distracted or overwhelmed, and to notice and interrupt the automatic responses that damage connection.
Somatic Awareness and Nervous System Regulation
Co-regulation is how children learn to regulate. A parent who is chronically dysregulated cannot effectively regulate their child. Somatic approaches help parents develop greater awareness of their own nervous system states and build the capacity to regulate themselves, which directly improves their ability to be a calming, regulating presence for their child.
Behavioural Activation
For children and teenagers who have withdrawn from family connection and meaningful activity, Behavioural Activation provides a structured, gradual approach to reengaging. It works with the reality of low motivation rather than waiting for it to return spontaneously.
Most clients begin to notice a real shift within 8 to 12 sessions. I check in on your progress regularly, and I adjust the approach as your needs change.
What to Expect When We Work Together
The first session is 50 minutes and typically involves a conversation with the parent or parents to understand the full picture of what is happening, what has been tried, and what they most want to change. Depending on the child’s age and the presenting concern, subsequent sessions may involve the child individually, the parent individually, or both together.
There is no fixed structure because different families need different things at different times. A family in the middle of a behavioural crisis needs something different from a family that is rebuilding connection after a period of disconnection. The work adapts to where you are.
Parent-Child Therapy with Maria | Parenting Books and Resources | No Support | |
Addresses the specific relationship dynamic | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Works with both child and parent | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Attachment-informed approach | ✓ | Partial | ✗ |
Neurodiversity-informed strategies | ✓ | Partial | ✗ |
No waitlist | ✓ | N/A | N/A |
Virtual across Ontario | ✓ | N/A | N/A |
Extended benefits coverage | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
You've been managing this long enough.
Let's actually change it.
No waitlist. Most clients start within the same week as their consultation call.
- Sessions from $120
- Extended benefits accepted
- In-person & virtual
- Day & evening hours
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know before booking your first session.
How much does parent-child therapy cost in Newmarket?
Sessions are $120 per 50-minute appointment. Many extended health benefit plans in Ontario cover sessions with a Registered Psychotherapist. A receipt is provided after every session for direct submission to your insurer. Check your plan under “Registered Psychotherapist (RP)” or “Psychotherapy.”
What age of children do you work with?
I work with children from approximately age 5 and up, through to teenagers and young adults. The specific approaches used adapt to the developmental stage of the child.
Do both parents need to attend sessions?
Not necessarily. Many families have one primary parent attending therapy, and that is completely workable. Where both parents are involved in the child’s life, particularly in separated or divorced families, having both parents engaged in the process tends to produce better outcomes for the child. This is something we discuss at the assessment stage.
How many sessions will we need?
This depends on the complexity of the presenting concern and how long the difficulties have been established. Families working on specific communication patterns or behavioural strategies often see meaningful change within 10 to 16 sessions. More complex presentations involving attachment disruption, trauma, or significant family system changes typically benefit from longer work.
Do you offer virtual parent-child therapy in Ontario?
Yes. Virtual sessions are available to families anywhere in Ontario. Virtual therapy works particularly well for parent consultation sessions and for teenagers. For younger children who benefit from play-based approaches, sessions can be adapted for a virtual format.
Is there a waitlist?
No. There is currently no waitlist. You can book a free 15-minute consultation and typically begin the first full session within the same week.