My Story

A few years ago, I was a mom in crisis. I was busy rebuilding my acting career in Minnesota after moving here from Hungary where I was a professional actress. But then things got quite challenging at home. My daughter struggled with her behaviors extensively and conventional parenting strategies like time outs, consequences and rewards charts just put more fuel on the fire. She was living at the extremes. She was either screaming with anger, or squealing with delight.

As if she was at war with the world- alone, trapped in her body, fighting to be understood.

She was trying to tell us adults around her in many different ways, the best ways she could, that what we were doing in the name of discipline was not working for her. By the time I started listening to her, our entire family was at the brink of crisis due to her extreme, often violent behaviors.

After our family received little to no help with the behavioral challenges at home, and due to the limitations of outpatient therapies, our choices were either hospitalization, or to find a different way. I did not feel comfortable with inpatient behavioral treatment so I had no choice but to meet the challenge myself. I launched my mission to find the tools I needed in order to parent my kiddo. As it turns out, my curiosity, empathy, sense of humor, and grit, the smorgasbord of skills I mastered as a theatre actor was exactly the skill-set I needed to find what I was looking for. 

What I learned on this journey transformed my parenting, my relationship with my daughter, transformed her, and without a doubt, made me a better human.

After months of attending courses and conferences, I discovered the Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) model and shortly after implementing it, I was struck by its power and effectiveness. In CPS, I found not only an effective parenting tool, but also hope for the future. Following several years of training in and implementing CPS at home, I became a Certified CPS Provider.

I emerged from my parenting crisis transformed, inspired, and driven by the mission to empower other families to also emerge from crisis mode, transform their relationships and find confidence and joy in their parenting. 

I am uniquely suited to support families of kids with extreme, intense behaviors, not only because of my personal experiences, but because of my professional training. 

My educational background is in psychology along with theatre arts. I am also trained and certified in Mental Health Crisis Intervention, Crisis Counseling, and Youth Mental Health First Aid. I am trained in childhood trauma and Pathological Demand Avoidance. I taught de-escalation techniques for first responders at Crisis Intervention Team Trainings for years, and I was a Crisis Counselor with the Crisis Text Line.

I picked ‘crisismom’ as a pseudonym—part joke, part badge of honor— to remind myself of where I’ve been and how far I’ve come—and to inspire hope (and maybe a laugh) to other families on their own wild parenting journeys. 

Children with behavioral challenges are tragically misunderstood. These kids need a different approach to discipline; one that is relationship-driven, developmentally aware, neurodiversity affirming, trauma responsive, and is able to meet the unique needs of each individual child and family. Autonomy-supportive parenting and the Collaborative Problem Solving approach help achieve all of that.

My acting background continues to inform and enrich my parent education work. My specialty is role-play, which is a critical tool for bridging the gap between theory and effective implementation. I am also a confident, enthusiastic, and I’ve been told, entertaining speaker and presenter. I believe in the power of kindness and approach everyone I encounter with compassion and curiosity.

I am excited by the opportunity to work with you, collaborate with you, and learn and grow alongside you.

The most powerful lesson I’ve learnt from both of my professional and personal journeys is that empathy, treating people with dignity and respect, and collaboration are transformational. The quality of the relationship we build with others predicts the level of our influence on them; whether we’re helping someone who is suicidal, teaching someone a new skill, or parenting.

I know that so many of you fellow parents of children with intense, explosive behaviors have been blaming yourselves because the parenting strategies that seem to work for others, don’t work with your child. It’s not in your head. Please trust me when I say this, it is not you and it is not your child either…. It is the parenting tools that have been failing the both of you.

You deserve the tools and support that will actually make a difference.

I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE HERE!