I Help Parents Become the Healers in the Home. Here's What That Means.
You've read the books. You've tried the charts. You've taken a deep breath, counted to ten, and still completely lost it by 4 p.m. If you're here, chances are you're bone-tired—not just from the sleepless nights or the school calls or the meltdowns over things that seem completely random. You're tired in a deeper way. You're tired of feeling like you're failing the child you love most.
And here's what I want you to know right away: you are not failing. You are parenting a child whose nervous system is working overtime—and nobody gave you the manual for that.
I'm Abby McCarrel, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW, DCSW) and the owner of Welcome Home Family Therapy, a fully virtual private practice serving families throughout California. I've spent more than thirty years working with some of the most complex, baffling children in California—and the parents who love them fiercely and are running out of ideas. I offer therapy for parenting that goes far deeper than behavior charts and consequence systems.
This isn't about fixing your child. It's about understanding what's driving the behavior—and helping you become the calm, connected presence your child desperately needs.
Why Traditional Parenting Advice Keeps Failing You
Most parenting advice was not written for your kid.
It was written for neurotypical children who respond to logical consequences and can think through their choices when they're calm. But your child's nervous system is often stuck in survival mode—fight, flight, or complete shutdown—and from that place, no reward chart on earth is going to work.
If your child has ADHD or autism, you already know this in your bones—the strategies that work for other kids just don't land. If you're parenting a gifted or twice-exceptional (2e) child, you're living with the particular exhaustion of a kid who can debate philosophy at dinner and fall completely apart over a tag in their shirt. And if your child carries a history of developmental trauma, their behavior isn't defiance—it's survival wiring that developed long before you came into the picture.
That's not a parenting failure. That's neuroscience. And the moment you start seeing it that way—everything shifts.
What Is Therapy for Parenting?
Parenting therapy (also called parenting counseling or parent therapy) focuses entirely on you—not your child. Instead of putting your kid in therapy and hoping the skills transfer home, I work directly with you to understand what's happening in your child's nervous system, and in your own, and how those two systems affect each other.
Your nervous system is the most powerful regulating force in any room your child is in. When you're calm, your child can borrow that calm. When you're anxious or bracing for the next explosion, their nervous system picks up on that too. As Psychology Today notes in their piece on parenting neurodivergent children, behavioral approaches alone often miss the mark—what changes everything is helping parents understand what's really driving the behavior. My approach is grounded in the interpersonal neurosciences—polyvagal theory, state-dependent functioning, and family systems therapy. No blame, no shame. Just real tools that actually match the complexity of your situation.
Sometimes that means working with you alone as the parent. Sometimes it means bringing the whole family into the room through online family therapy. And for parents who want practical, brain-based tools they can use right away, I also offer parent coaching grounded in brain science. You can learn more about what to expect in our work together on my website.
Why Online Therapy Works So Well for Families Like Yours
Getting a dysregulated child in a car, driving across town, sitting in a waiting room—that's a setup for the very meltdown you're trying to avoid. When you work with me online, there's no commute, no waiting room, and no geographic limit. I work with families all over California—Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, the Bay Area, the Central Valley, and everywhere in between—through a secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform. And because sessions happen in your actual home environment, the tools transfer into your daily life more naturally. According to the American Psychological Association, teletherapy produces outcomes comparable to in-person therapy—so the help is just as real, and a whole lot more manageable.
Let's Talk First. No Pressure.
If you're still reading, maybe you're feeling a spark of hope. Or maybe you're skeptical, and that's okay too.
To get started, we'll have a brief screening phone call and if it feels right, we'll schedule an hour-long, free phone consultation to see if we are a good match for therapy. This is my offering to you, at a time when you are struggling the most.
My motto: Helping parents become the healers in the home.
Book a free Discovery Call: Click here
FAQs
What is parenting therapy, and how is it different from family therapy?
Parenting therapy (also called parent therapy or parenting counseling) focuses entirely on you—your nervous system, your responses, and your healing. I'm working with you to understand what's happening beneath the behavior and give you tools you can actually use at home. Family therapy brings multiple family members into the session—both are valuable, and I offer both.
My child won't go to therapy. Can working with just me actually help?
Yes—and honestly, this is one of the most powerful things I can tell you. Because you are the primary regulating presence in your child's life, when you shift, they respond. I've seen it again and again: a parent gets regulated and connected, and the child who seemed completely unreachable starts to soften.
I've tried everything. How is this different from other therapy we've done?
Most therapy focuses on the child's behavior—what to do when they melt down, how to manage the outbursts. What I do is different: I go underneath the behavior to understand what the nervous system is communicating, and I work with you to shift the relational patterns that are keeping things stuck. If behavior-based approaches haven't worked, that's actually a sign your family might be a good fit for this kind of work.
Is it too late? My child is already a teenager—or older.
It is never too late. I've worked with parents of toddlers and parents of adult children, and repair is always possible. The nervous system remains responsive to connection and co-regulation at every age—what changes isn't the timeline, it's the tools and the approach.
My child has ADHD and autism—or is twice-exceptional. Do you really understand what we're dealing with?
I do. I'm the mother of three twice-exceptional adult daughters, so I know this road from the inside—not just professionally. I've spent more than thirty years working with complex, neurodivergent kids who didn't fit neatly into any box. This is not my secondary focus. It is the heart of my practice.
Do I need to attend sessions with my co-parent?
Not necessarily—some parents attend alone, others come with their co-parent, depending on what you're working on. If co-parenting conflict is a big part of the picture, I offer co-parenting therapy specifically designed for divorced or separated parents navigating parenting across two households.
Is this covered by insurance?
Welcome Home Family Therapy is a private-pay practice, which means your therapy stays completely confidential and isn't shaped by insurance requirements or diagnosis codes. Many clients find the investment pays off quickly once the daily chaos starts to ease—and I'm happy to provide a superbill if appropriate and you'd like to seek out-of-network reimbursement.
What can I do while I'm waiting to get started?
Start with my mentor Robyn Gobbel's podcast episode What Behavior Really Is (EP 147). It might be the first time you've heard your child's behavior described in a way that finally makes sense.
About Abby McCarrel, LCSW, DCSW
I'm a licensed clinical social worker with more than thirty years of experience and a mom of three 2e adult daughters. I know this road from both sides—professionally and personally. Read more about me here.
You Deserve Someone in Your Corner
If you've made it to the end of this page, you're the kind of parent who doesn't give up. You're searching because you love your child fiercely and you know they deserve better than what things look like right now.
So do you.
We'll have a brief screening phone call and if it feels right, we'll schedule an hour-long, free phone consultation to see if we are a good match for therapy. This is my offering to you, at a time when you are struggling the most.
Book a free Discovery Call: Click here
By S. Abigail McCarrel, LCSW, DCSW | Welcome Home Family Therapy | Online Family Therapy in California | www.welcomehomefamilytherapy.com