Therapy for Parents
in person in Center City, Pennsylvania
and online across PA & NJ
Therapy for Parents Who Want to Do Things Differently
You love your child. And still, parenting brings you face to face with parts of yourself you did not expect to meet.
The part that freezes when your child is melting down.
The part that snaps even though you promised yourself you would stay calm.
The part that feels ashamed for needing a break, for resenting the noise, for wondering why this feels so hard.
If you are trying to parent with more intention, more presence, and more care than you were shown growing up, that is no small feat. You are doing something brave. And it makes sense that it is exhausting.
At All of You Therapy, we offer therapy for parents who want to interrupt old patterns without reinforcing the shame that their own childhood was already full of.
You Are Not Failing. You Are Being Activated.
Most parents who find their way to us are not looking for another list of strategies. They have read the books. They follow the parenting accounts. They understand nervous systems and attachment, at least intellectually.
And still, in the moments that matter most, something takes over.
You might notice…
Big reactions that feel out of proportion to the moment
Guilt or shame after you yell, shut down, or disconnect
Feeling overwhelmed by your child’s needs or emotions
Fear that you are repeating the very things you swore you never would
A constant sense that you are doing it wrong, even when you are trying so hard
These are not signs that you are a bad parent.
They are signs that your nervous system learned how to survive long before you ever became one.
Parenting has a way of waking up old attachment wounds, especially for parents who grew up with emotional neglect, unpredictability, criticism, or pressure to be "good."
When your child asks for comfort, reassurance, or patience you never had, something tightens in your chest before you even realize it. It can happen while Ms. Rachel is still singing in the background, while you are pouring goldfish crackers, while you are trying to get out the door without being late again.
Therapy helps us slow this down.
Parenting Brings Your Own Story to the Surface
You might be parenting a child, but much of the work happens around the younger parts of you.
The part that learned to stay quiet. The part that learned to take care of others. The part that learned not to need too much.
When your child is dysregulated, defiant, clingy, or shutting down, those younger parts can come rushing in. Suddenly you are not just responding to your child. You are responding from an old place that learned how to stay safe in your family system.
In therapy for parents, we make room for that reality without blame.
We are not here to tell you to simply regulate yourself better or try harder. We are here to understand what gets stirred up inside you and why. From there, real change becomes possible.
What Therapy for Parents Looks Like:
Parent therapy at our practice is not about fixing your child or analyzing your parenting from a distance.
It is about working with your lived experience as a parent.
In sessions, we may:
Explore the moments that feel most charged or painful in your parenting
Gently unpack how your own upbringing shaped your nervous system and expectations
Work with emotions and body responses in real time, not just talk about them
Identify protective patterns that once helped you survive but now get in the way of connection
Practice new ways of staying present, boundaried, and compassionate under stress
We work from relational, attachment focused, and trauma informed approaches. That means we understand that change happens through safety, connection, and experience, not through shame or rigid advice.
This work is slow on purpose. And it is deeply effective.
For Parents Who Want to Break Cycles Without Breaking Themselves
Many of the parents we work with carry a quiet pressure to get it right.
They worry that one mistake will undo all the good. They hold themselves to impossible standards. They feel responsible not only for their child’s feelings, but for their future.
Therapy helps loosen that grip.
We focus on helping you:
Respond rather than react
Repair instead of striving for perfection
Hold boundaries without shutting down or exploding
Stay connected to yourself while staying connected to your child
You do not need to become a different person to parent differently. You need support that understands how deeply personal this work is.
This is also about you…
So many parents come to therapy saying, “I just want to be better for my kid.”
On behalf of your kid (who may be too young to realize what you’re doing in seeking your therapy)- wow. Truly- what an enormous gift you’re giving your child by doing this work.
But what we want you know- is that YOU matter too.
Your exhaustion matters.
Your grief for what you did not receive matters.
Your longing to feel steadier, more confident, and more at ease in your own body (even when your child says “you’re the worst mom ever” and it lands harder than you want to admit) matters.
When parents receive care, children benefit. Not because parents become perfect, but because they become more present, more resourced, and more forgiving of themselves when parenting touches the part of them that once waited for comfort, attention, or reassurance and did not always receive it.
Who This Work is For:
Therapy for parents at All of You Therapy may be a good fit if:
You are committed to doing things differently, even when it is uncomfortable
You want depth, not surface level reassurance
You are open to looking at your own story with compassion
You are tired of feeling like you are failing when you are actually trying so hard
We work with parents of young children, teens, and adult children. We also work with parents navigating neurodivergence (your child’s or your own), significant emotional and behavioral challenges in your children/family, trauma histories, and complex family dynamics.
Therapy for Parents in Center City, Philadelphia
All of You Therapy is a group psychotherapy practice based in Center City, Philadelphia. We offer in person therapy for parents in Philadelphia and telehealth therapy across Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Our therapists are deeply trained in attachment based, experiential, and trauma informed approaches. We believe parenting support should be nuanced, relational, and grounded in real understanding of how nervous systems and relationships work.
We understand the complex, conflicting feelings that come with parenting:
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You can love your child and still have moments where you wish your life were different, where the responsibility feels like too much, or where you feel resentment toward the role of being a parent. These thoughts are often followed by shame and fear of what they might mean. In therapy, we make room for them instead of pushing them away.
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You might work hard to stay calm, patient, and emotionally available, even when you feel flooded inside. Many parents learned early that other people’s needs came first. Parenting can make that old pattern feel inescapable.
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IYou can be grateful for your child and still grieve the freedom, rest, or identity you had before becoming a parent. That grief often goes unnamed, which can make it feel isolating or shameful.
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Certain moments, like tantrums, defiance, clinginess, or withdrawal, can stir up feelings you do not expect. You may wonder why something so small feels so big. There is often a very real reason, even if you cannot name it yet.
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You might crave connection and also feel touched out, talked out, or emotionally spent. Both can be true. Needing space does not mean you are rejecting your child.
You can be the parent you want to be.
Confidence, self-compassion, and grace through the hard moments is possible for you.
We can help you more deeply understand and heal from the impacts of your own history of family dysfunction, pain, abuse, or neglect, so you can parent with deep connection to both yourself and your child.