Fieldnote Studio is the virtual desk of a child therapist, mom, dog-mom, and occasional dinner-burner.
Learn with me as I pass along notes on parenting, neurodivergence, creativity, regulation, and how to come home to yourself in the midst of raising a family.
For Business Consultation, contact me below.
For Therapy, find us at The Real Work and at Thrive Outside.
Notes on Parenting: Parenting isn’t easy, and when you or your kids are wired a little differently, the challenges can feel overwhelming. As a neurodivergent parent myself (and parent of two), I get it. If you’re also someone who is navigating the joys and chaos of raising a child with a disability, trying to support yourself and kids through big changes like a separation, a death, or a move to a new home, or you’re a fellow therapist, you’re in the right place.
Notes on Therapy for Kids: Our kids deserve care that looks at more than how well they can behave. Learning to consider a person’s relational, regulatory, and developmental needs teaches us to respect them as a human. Kids deserve this just as much as adults.
Support for Parents and Therapists
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🧒 For Parents
Explore my two Portland-based group practices offering specialized care for kids, teens, and parents:
• The Real Work: trauma-informed play therapy and parent support
• Thrive Outside: nature-based occupational therapy groups -
🧠 For Therapists
You don’t have to burn out to do meaningful work. If you’re ready to leave agency work behind or grow your private practice, I’ve got your back.
“I'd like to suggest something a little scandalous. There is nothing wrong with you at all. Your very being, this breath, this strange and sacred sense of “I am,” is already perfect. Not morally perfect, not polished, tidy, or well behaved, but perfect in the same way a flame dances, a tree bends in the wind, or a galaxy spins. You see, you're not separate from nature, observing it from a distance. You are nature just as much as the stars, the ocean, the clouds, your thoughts, your laughter, your sorrow. They're as natural as ripples on water or thunder rolling across the sky. And you don't need to earn your place here.”
—Alan Watts
Framework for Relationships with Kids
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Education
Parents like us are constantly navigating difficulty with sleeping, feeding, bedtime, transitions, as well as getting ready in the morning, managing emotions, separation anxiety and more. Without specialized education about individual differences in the way the brain and body perceive and react to sensory and emotional information, you will continue to feel stuck and fearful that your child is not set up for success.
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Connection
Without connection, parents continue to feel trapped by unrealistic expectations, guilty for feeling like you’re continuing to “fail” their child, and confused by the lack of helpful strategies found in mainstream parenting advice.
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Individualized Strategies
Parents of kids who are Autistic, Neurodivergent, or Highly Sensitive find themselves without a plan that actually affirms their child. When you understand your child’s differences, you can make a better plan for how to support their growth and regulation. The individualized support and online community helps you create a plan that you feel confident in.
Parents just want their children to be able to thrive, and it’s heartbreaking and exhausting when we feel like nothing seems to help
Without education, you’ll keep trying to apply parenting strategies that don’t work for your child. Without connection with experts and parents like you, you will continue to blow up, shame yourself, or in your confusion and loneliness, blame your child.
Parents of neurodivergent kids are battling burnout and isolation, and you are determined to learn how to truly support their child and understand their complex needs.
When you work with me, you learn how to parent the child you have, not the child the world thinks you should have.
Recent Blog Posts
Why does it feel like I’m failing?
It’s because the world doesn’t know how to support neurodivergent kids and parents! Do you feel like you’re constantly awash in your child’s needs, confusing behaviors, or in the judgement of other parents? I’m so glad you found me—chances are, you’re here because you’re a parent who knows that the typical strategies just don’t work for your kid, and you're finally ready to go deep, learn what's really going on underneath tough behaviors, and grow your confidence in yourself and in your relationship with your child.
I’ve been there personally, too. And, as a licensed therapist and registered Play Therapist I’ve been helping parents and children navigate the most difficult of situations for over a decade using a brain-based and attachment-focused therapeutic approach . But now, too many of us are struggling to understand our intense, neurodivergent, brilliant, and highly sensitive kids. And the world wants us to blame ourselves and our own kids. I want as many parents as possible to be able to join me in learning more about themselves, finding confidence in the chaos of parenting a differently wired, sensitive kid, and ultimately re-delighting in your amazing, quirky, and absolutely gorgeously unique child.
