Workshops
Patterns of Parenting
Understand what shapes your reactions — and what you can change.
A psychology-informed small-group workshop for parents who want to better understand their emotional triggers, recognise family patterns and respond with more calm, confidence and choice.
Across four interactive sessions, we will combine psychological insight, systemic reflection and practical tools you can use in everyday family life.
4 weekly sessions · 1.5 hours each · max. 8 participants · €149 incl. materials
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Understand your patterns. Build your parenting toolbox.
4 evenings. 4 clear steps.
1. UNDERSTAND
What shapes the way you parent?2. NOTICE
Recognise your triggers and recurring patterns.3. CHOOSE
Decide what you want to keep, change and create.4. ACT
Turn insight into practical tools for everyday family life.
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1. UNDERSTAND
What shapes the way you parent?
We start with the bigger picture.
Parenting is influenced by much more than knowledge or good intentions. Our reactions are shaped by our upbringing, family culture, values, expectations, stress, sleep, health, relationship experiences and the strategies we learned long before we became parents.
The aim of the first evening is to make these influences visible — without over-analysing your past.
2. NOTICE
Recognise your own triggers and patterns
The second evening becomes more personal. We look at the moments that tend to repeat:
What situations trigger you?
What happens inside you just before you react?
Which thoughts, emotions or body signals appear first?
Are there family messages or roles that still influence you today?
You will work with simple systemic and psychological exercises individually, in pairs or in small groups.
You can only change a pattern once you can recognise it.
3. CHOOSE
What do you want to carry forward — and what do you want to change?
This is not a workshop about blaming our parents. Most families give us both strengths and struggles.
There may be traditions, values, humour, resilience or ways of caring for one another that you very much want to keep. And there may also be reactions or beliefs that no longer fit the parent you want to be.
We work with three simple questions:
KEEP
What do I want to carry forward?CHANGE
What no longer fits me or my family?CREATE
What do I want more of in our family life?The goal is not to reject your story.
It is to become more conscious about what you want to continue.4. ACT
Build your own Parenting Toolbox
The final evening is practical. Insight is helpful — but parenting happens in real moments, often when we are tired, stressed or emotionally activated.
That is why we translate what you have learned into tools you can actually use.
Your Parenting Toolbox may include strategies for:
recognising triggers earlier
pausing before reacting
regulating yourself in stressful moments
setting boundaries without unnecessary escalation
co-regulating with your child
repairing after conflict
reconnecting after difficult moments
creating small rituals of connection
choosing a response that fits your values
This is personal for me, too
I come to this topic as a psychologist — but also as a mother of four. And having four children has taught me something that psychology textbooks alone never could:
The same parent can feel like a completely different parent with different children.
One child may naturally bring out our patience. Another may touch exactly the place where we feel powerless, rejected, anxious or overwhelmed. What works beautifully with one child may completely fail with another. And some of the most difficult parenting moments are not actually about finding a better technique for the child.
They ask something of us.
Why does this affect me so much?
What am I trying to protect right now?
Which expectation is being challenged?
Am I responding to my child — or also to something from my own story?
For me, this is where curiosity becomes much more useful than judgment. I do not believe good parenting means responding perfectly. I believe it means being willing to notice, reflect, repair and keep learning.
Parenting is not only about shaping a child.
It is also about becoming aware of what shapes us.
As a mother, I also know that parenting does not happen in ideal conditions. It happens when we are tired. When work has been stressful. When one child needs us while another is calling. When we have not had enough sleep. When our own emotional resources are low. That context matters. Which is why this workshop is not about giving you another set of rules to follow.
It is about helping you understand yourself, your child and the system around you — and finding tools that realistically fit your family.
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Why this workshop goes beyond parenting tips:
Parenting is full of advice. Books, podcasts, social media and experts tell us what we should do. And yet many parents know the strange experience of thinking:
“I know what I should do — but in that moment I just cannot do it.”
There is a psychological reason for that. When we are stressed or emotionally activated, our brain relies more strongly on familiar, well-practised response patterns.
Reflection becomes harder. Flexibility decreases. Automatic reactions become more likely.
That is why we can understand a parenting strategy intellectually and still raise our voice, withdraw, give in or react in a way we later regret.
Knowing what to do is not the same as being able to access it when you are triggered.
This workshop is designed to help bridge that gap. We combine psychological understanding, systemic reflection and practical tools. Rather than focusing only on:
“How do I change my child's behaviour?”
we also explore:
“What happens inside me when my child behaves this way?”
Because the same behaviour can evoke completely different reactions in different parents. One parent may barely notice a messy room. Another may experience it as disrespect.
One parent may tolerate strong emotions easily. Another may feel overwhelmed by crying or anger. One parent may encourage independence. Another may become anxious when a child pulls away.
These differences are not random. They are influenced by our own learning history, attachment experiences, culture, values, family roles, stress levels, temperament and current circumstances. And once we understand that, something important becomes possible: choice.
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A safe space for reflection
Some people feel excited about self-reflection. Others may think:“Does this mean I have to tell strangers about my childhood?” No. This is a reflective workshop, but it is not group therapy. You are always in control of what you share. Some exercises are private.
Some can be done in pairs or small groups. Some invite group discussion. But you never have to disclose anything that feels too personal. You are welcome to:write things down only for yourself
listen
participate without sharing personal details
choose what feels comfortable to discuss
You do not need to tell your whole story to understand your patterns. The group is intentionally limited to eight participants so there is enough space for questions, reflection and real conversation without feeling exposed.
My aim is to create an atmosphere of curiosity, respect and psychological safety.
There is no perfect family story.
No perfect parent.
And no expectation that you need to change everything.
The question is simply:
What do you want to understand better — and where would you like to have more choice?
Understand what shapes your reactions — and what you can change.
A psychology-informed small-group workshop for parents who want to better understand their emotional triggers, recognise family patterns and respond with more calm, confidence and choice.
Across four interactive sessions, we will combine psychological insight, systemic reflection and practical tools you can use in everyday family life.
4 weekly sessions · 1.5 hours each · max. 8 participants · €149 incl. materials
Create your own personalised
Parenting Toolbox
Understanding your patterns does not change your past.
But it can change what happens next.
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What you will take home:
By the end of the four weeks, my hope is that you leave with:
More understanding
of why certain situations affect you the way they do.More awareness
of your personal triggers and patterns.More clarity
about what you want to keep, change and create.More confidence
in how you want to respond.More practical tools
for real family life.
Understand what shapes your reactions — and what you can change.
A psychology-informed small-group workshop for parents who want to better understand their emotional triggers, recognise family patterns and respond with more calm, confidence and choice.
Across four interactive sessions, we will combine psychological insight, systemic reflection and practical tools you can use in everyday family life.
4 weekly sessions · 1.5 hours each · max. 8 participants · €149 incl. materials
Many of the tools I use in individual counseling are also part of structured workshops for parents and professionals. Group formats can be arranged for specific themes such as stress regulation, emotional eating, or family dynamics.
Feeding the Mind – Adults
Changing habits for better focus & balance.
Gut–brain connection & stress
Energy drainers & blood sugar control
Simple, sustainable swaps
Feeding the Mind – Kids
Fueling young brains with the right nutrients.
Food → focus, mood & resilience
Sugar & additives: impact on attention
Brain-friendly meals & snacks
Resilience Tools for Professionals
Buliding Resilience through habits & routines
Psychoeduaction on stress
Regulation tools
Systemic Exercise: Refraiming