Adriana Castillo

Adriana is the mother of three, and has been teaching with Hand in Hand for over five years. She is a day care home provider, and has led Hand in Hand trainings in Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Redwood City and San Diego.

Alaiya Aguilar

Alaiya is the mother of boy-girl twins, and has been a Hand in Hand parent for over two years. She also has many years of experience developing pre-teen's leadership. You can read about her use of staylistening here or listen to her talk about Staylistening in regards to sharing here. She teaches in Ashland, OR.

Alma Mendoza

Alma is the mother of two daughters. She has worked with children with special needs and has been a child advocate within the public school system. She has led Hand in Hand trainings in Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Redwood City and San Diego.

Ann Hefferan

Ann has one adult daughter, and is Founder and Director of Community Transformations, Inc., a not-for-profit organization established in 2003. Located in Adelaide, South Australia, she brings the Parenting by Connection approach to parents, family support workers, parent educators and other professionals, and trains leaders to forward this work.

Annie Tyson

Annie began with Hand in Hand in 1990, and has taught for Hand in Hand since 1995. She is the mother of two young adults. She teaches for Hand in Hand in Berkeley and Oakland, is active in organizing parents in her church, and is an excellent resource for parents of teens.

Danielle Hanchett Friedman, LCSW

Danielle is a mother of two young daughters and a licensed psychotherapist. She became involved with Hand in Hand to learn more about how Parenting by Connection could help her to support her children. She has since completed the Instructor Certification Program and is now bringing Parenting by Connection to other parents in the community in the South Bay.

Barbara Freeman

Barbar works for a Local Government region providing support services to young children, parents & families in Perth, South Australia. There, the Parenting By Connection approach has been incorporated into the home-visiting Early Years Program. Barbara works privately with children and parents, and offers Building Emotional Understanding classes.

Carmen Johnston

Carmen has an infant and a stepson, and is an educator/child advocate who has spent over twelve years working with children and families in Oakland, CA. She now teaches writing at Chabot College, and is a poet and author of Confessions of a B-Girl. She began teaching with Hand in Hand in 2003.

Cynthia Klein

Cynthia has one adult daughter, and has been a parent educator for 20 years. She was Project Manager for the Building Emotional Understanding curriculum project in 2005, and teaches widely on the San Francisco Peninsula, incorporating Parenting by Connection into the classes she has developed.

Dana Davis, LMFT

Dana is the mother of two children. She received her Masters in Education in 1981, and has 13 years experience as a counselor and mental health worker. Dana has been affiliated with Hand in Hand since 1991, and has taught classes in Santa Cruz, California, Nyack, New York and now in Leucadia, California. Dana has led support groups for teen mothers and parents for 6 years. She received her Masters in Psychology in 2001, and is now working as a Marriage and Family Therapist in San Diego.

Deborah Betz, LCSW

Deborah Betz, is the mother of two daughters. She has a BA in Psychology from Lewis & Clark University, and a MSW from Boston University. She has worked with teens in group homes, and has trained foster families. Deborah leads Hand in Hand classes in Marin County, CA.

Emily Cernusak

Emily Cernusak has one daughter, and began teaching with Hand in Hand at the start of 2009. She has a master's degree in Counseling Psychology, and loves sharing information that parents in the trenches find to be practical, useful and illuminating. She teaches in the East Bay.

Emily Pollard

Emily Pollard is the mother of two young children. She has a BS degree in Human Development and Family Studies, and is a former preschool teacher and nanny. She has been using Parenting by Connection tools with her children since 2006, and lives in Palo Alto, CA.

Emmy Rainwalker, LICSW

Emmy Rainwalker has two grown sons. She is a parent educator and a Child and Family Counselor in Ashburnham, MA, and also in Watertown, MA.

Jamie Russell

Jamie has been practicing the Parenting by Connection tools with her children and the children of friends for over two and a half years, and credits them with nothing less than saving her family. She is the comoderator of the Hand in Hand Discussion Group. She lives in Oakland, California with her husband and two young sons, and is in training to become a Certified Instructor with Hand in Hand.

Jill Brodyk

Jill is the Director of the Happy Valley Community Children's Centre in Adelaide, Australia. Jill's centre implements the Parenting by Connection approach. In 2006, the centre was part of a pilot project to implement the approach into childcare centres that was funded by the South Australian State Government's Minister for Education and Children's Services.

Jill has been teaching and leading with Community Transformations since 2006. She leads an Early Childhood Professionals Skillbuilding Group.

As a Certified Parenting by Connection Instructor, Jill delivers our Building Emotional Understanding Course to both staff and to parents who utilise the Happy Valley Community Children's Centre.

Jill has three grown children.

Julianne Idleman

Julianne Idleman has been with Hand in Hand since 2006. Juli is a published author and writes about parenting and family life. (Read Juli's articles, "The Challenges of Early Attachment" or "I Swore I'd Never Say That!") Juli's blog is The Parent Scientist.

Juli has a school age daughter and two adolescent stepchildren. She has been using Parenting by Connection tools since 2002 and enjoys sharing them with other parents. Read about Juli's use of Parenting by Connection in her family on our blog. See Juli talk about the science behind Setting Limits.  

Juli is active in the homeschooling community and also volunteers to support the social and emotional needs of gifted students. Juli develops educational gardening programs and especially enjoys working with toddlers.

Julie Nevison

Julie Nevison is a Certified Teacher for Parenting By Connection in San Luis Obispo. She raised three daughters, including identical twins, using Parenting By Connection tools since 1990. As a result, her three daughters (now in college) know how to be skillful and supportive listeners with each other and in friendships.
 

Karen Murphy

Karen is the mother of two boys, ages 12 and 6.  She uses Hand In Hand tools and support everyday and has found them to be incredible relationship enriching resources.  Karen has worked with children in different professional capacities over the years from preschoolers to teenagers and appreciates the uniqueness of each child and family. A Parenting by Connection instructor since 2010 she offers Hand In Hand workshops and classes in the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon and Washington.  You can read more about Karen on her website, Kid Connection Toolbox.  

Kathy Kristjanson-Gural

Kathy Kristjanson-Gural began teaching for Hand in Hand in 2008. She has an eight-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son. She and her husband have been using Parenting by Connection since their children were babies. She is interested in building a parenting support network on the East Coast.

Kay Halle

Kay Halle is a parent and grandparent who has been working with parents and children for the past forty years. She has organized day care centers, taught children, trained and mentored teachers, served as a parent advocate and as a community activist. She is a parenting coach. With her Hand in Hand training, she offers parent education and support programs to parents and caregivers in the Baltimore, MD area.

Keiko Sato-Perry
Born and raised in Japan, Keiko taught in Tokyo for 10 years before coming to Palo Alto in 1998 for a second Masters degree in Education. Married, with two young sons, she has been reaping the benefits of the Parenting by Connection approach since 2007, becoming an Instructor in 2010. These effective tools have enabled her to translate her love into everyday parenting and to maximize her family's potential. Keiko enjoys offering parent-to-parent consultation, support groups, public and telephone talks, workshops, classes, family play events as well as translating Parenting by Connection publications into Japanese. Special interests include responding well to children's off-track signals (from difficulty with brushing teeth and separation to nail-biting, sibling issues, night scares, aggression, and more), parents' emotional and stress issues, and parenting well with a spouse.

Meet Keiko in this video.

Kirsten Nottleson

Kirsten Nottleson is mother of two boys, 12 and 6, and has been working with families in Austin, Texas since 1993. She has been using the Parenting by Connection Approach with her own family for 10 years, and has been a Certified Instructor since 2007.

Kirsten LOVES teaching all kinds of workshops, especially ones that involve Play, Pillow Fights, and Wrestling. She is proud of her Peer Education Parenting Curriculum that she helped develop and brought into the prison system last year. She has worked extensively with preschool staff and also parents who have substance abuse issues. All of her work is based on the principles of Parenting by Connection, which she believes to be nothing short of Peace Movement in Action. Listen as Kirsten teaches "Staylistening".

You can read about Kirsten's use of Parenting by Connection in her family on our blog. You can hear more from Kirsten on our audio "Raising Boys Who Can Be Gentle, Girls Who Can Be Strong" or read her interview in Live Mom. Kirsten's website is www.handinhandworkshops.com.

Laura Ossa

Laura Ossa is the mother of two sons, and the director of Sunset Co-Operative Nursery School in San Francisco. Laura has been teaching at Sunset since 1985 and has been the director of the school since 1994. She has taught Parent Education classes there, and at City College of San Francisco. She became a Hand in Hand Instructor in 2006. Laura has been sharing Parenting by Connection tools with the parents at Sunset Nursery School.

Leigh Jamison

Leigh Jamison is the mother of two young boys and is the first Hand-in-Hand Instructor in Europe. She has been using the Parenting by Connection approach in her family for over two years with wonderful results. Aside from a career in business administration, Leigh has over 20 years of experience in a variety of personal development modalities and now teaches Parenting by Connection classes in Stockholm, Sweden. Her website is www.heart-to-heart.se (English translation available here).

Magdalena Cabrera

Magdalena came to Hand in Hand twelve years ago. Since 1988, she has directed and taught an environmental education preschool program in Palo Alto in which she regularly uses the Parenting by Connection approach. She sponsored a Hand in Hand class for her single parents church group and has participated in several weekend workshops over the years. Parenting is a passion and a primary focus of hers and she is happy to report that her two children are pursuing their education, and are doing well. In her spare time, Magdalena likes to garden, play guitar and sing.

Martín Lamarque

Martín is the father of three, and the translator for Hand in Hand materials into Spanish. He is a bilingual Hand in Hand trainer and workshop leader in the Bay Area. He works as an interpreter at a hospital.

Mary Lou Johnson

Mary Lou was raised in Tucumcari, New Mexico and San Francisco, California. She is owner and Director of Happy Hall Schools in San Bruno. There, she is responsible for six day care and after school care programs that serve the children of 200 families, ranging in age from 18 months through sixth grade. Mary Lou is a Chapter President of PACE, a California-wide association of early childhood educators, past President of the San Bruno Rotary Club, a current member of the San Bruno Planning Commission, and was awarded the PACE Administrator of the Year award in 2001, and the San Mateo County 4-C's "Hero for Advocacy for Children" award in 2002.

Mary Lou has been using Hand in Hand’s Parenting by Connection principles at Happy Hall Schools for over a decade, and has led Hand in Hand classes, talks and workshops in English and Spanish since 1996. She is the mother of two sons.

Mary Robinson

Mary Robinson has been the Parent Outreach Coordinator for FamilyConnections in Austin, Texas since 1993 and reaches thousands of parents every year. Mary is the parent of two young adults. She has been using Parenting by Connection tools since 1986 and loves sharing this information with other parents. Mary also runs a summer camp and keeps herself busy restoring a piece of Texas hill country.

Maria Olivia Jauregui

Olivia was born in Mexico and has lived in the U.S. for over 30 years. She has 3 sons; two 26 year old twins which have already graduated form college and an 18-year-old that just started college. Since she started working as a preschool teacher about 16 years ago, she has been involved with Hand in Hand. She has taught parenting classes in Spanish for over 9 years on the San Francisco Peninsula.

Everything she has done at Hand in Hand has helped her become a better parent and a better teacher. She has been able to help the children a lot more. Hand in Hand has taught her to better understand children’s behaviors so that she can work with them more effectively and more efficiently.

Megan Edwards

Megan lives in Northern NSW, Australia. She has an eleven year old son, who has benefitted from the Parenting by Connection approach since he was four. She became a Hand in Hand Instructor in 2007 and is currently studying a Bachelor of Trauma and Healing.

Megan runs Parenting by Connection Six Week Groups both in person and over the phone. She also provides one-on-one parenting consultations and coaching programs. She is particularly interested in supporting parents and children who are in their preteens and specialises in helping children of any age with aggression. 

Megan says "Hand in Hand changed my life and helped transform my relationship with my son. Patty Wipfler modelled the warm acceptance of connection I needed and taught me the tools to build the type of loving relationships I'd been wanting for years. The Parenting by Connection approach is the only one I found that provided me with the level of support I needed to navigate my way through the parenting challenges I faced. I love to use what I’ve learnt to support other parents on their journey to a more connected relationship with their children.”

Michelle Pate

Michelle is a mother, writer and Parenting by Connection Instructor living in Central Oregon.

She says, "My commitment to Parenting by Connection grew as I saw that, no matter how challenging my daughter's behavior was, if I focused on connecting with her, we came through the situation feeling closer and happier. On the flip side, if I moved toward reasoning or threats, our relationship became one big power struggle! These changes were so significant for me I had to learn more and share these tools with other parents.”

Michelle loves helping parents find creative solutions to their parenting dilemmas. She will hold the space for you to explore the challenges you are facing and find the answers within yourself that are right for you and your family. She will share how to build deeper connections with your children, how you can set limits with warmth and how to tackle “hot button” issues playfully.

You can work one-on-one with Michelle through Hand in Hand’s Consulting Services or sign up for one of her classes as they become available.

Connect with Michelle now on her Facebook page and read about her experiences of Parenting by Connection in her family on our blog.

Pia Dominguez

Piedad (Pia) Dominguez lives in Austin, TX and has a fourteen-year-old son. Since she began practicing Parenting by Connection three years ago, she has rediscovered the joy of being a mom. Pia works for a Child Abuse Prevention Project, with grass roots parent leaders. They co-facilitate classes in Spanish in the community and share their stories about using Listening Tools with their children.

Rachel Schofield

Born and raised in Britain, Rachel moved to Australia in 2005 where she lives on the Far South Coast of NSW. She’s been using Parenting by Connection tools with her son since 2007 and looks forward to drawing on the ideas with her new baby.

Rachel says, “I stumbled across Hand in Hand when my son was a year old and I was feeling at a loss as to how to set limits. I was shocked at my own attempts at saying ‘no’ and feeling resistance to the idea of Time Out. So I had a go at the Parenting by Connection way of Setting Limits with warmth and listening to the feelings that flow. I was totally impressed at how this worked. The Listening Tools have been instrumental in building closeness within my family as well as helping us to face the challenges that come our way.”

Rachel has been teaching and running community groups with young people and children for 15 years. Her focus is offering distance support to parents worldwide who are unable to access Hand in Hand services locally. As Co-Moderator on handinhanddiscuss she enjoys contributing to discussions there. You can contact Rachel at rachelschofield@yahoo.co.uk

Randi Freundlich, MSW

Randi Freundlich, is a social worker and Parent Educator living in Somerville, MA. She has been Director of Community Programs at the Family Nurturing Center of Massachusetts since 2001. Randi is the mother of one son, now in his mid-twenties. She leads parenting classes and workshops in the Parenting by Connection approach for both parents and professionals in the Boston area.

Ravid Aisenman Abramsohn

Ravid Aisenman began by bringing Parenting by Connection to the Israeli community in Silicon Valley, California, and is now providing services in Israel. A mother of an elementary school age child and a teen age child, she has been using listening tools since 2008.

Through her work with Hand in Hand she has been teaching different classes, workshops, play trainings, and doing parent consultation (both in Hebrew and English). Seeing the growth and profound changes that you attain by using the Parenting by Connection approach is truly inspiring to her. Listen to her talk about Special Time here or read about her use of playlistening on our blog. You can contact Ravid at ravid@handinhandparenting.org

Regina Segura-Khagram, LMFT

Regina Segura-Khagram is a Licensed Marriage Family therapist with two inspiring sons, Ram age 12 and Raul age 6. After 5 yrs at the University of Washington Regina is moving on to launch her private practice full time and pursue her passion to be more involved in Hand in Hand Parenting Teaching as well as Mindfulness Meditation and Yoga. Regina has been using Parenting by Connection tools since 2005 and is currently in the process of making Hand in Hand classes available to parents and child care providers wanting to build emotional understanding and connection with the little people in their lives.

Robin Setchko, LMFT

Robin Setchko, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, works in Sonoma County, California. She gives Parenting By Connection talks 1-2 times a month in her office in Santa Rosa, leads online parenting groups and works as a parent consultant in person or on the phone. Robin and her husband John are parents of a 20-year old daughter and a 17-year old son. They owned and directed a children’s summer camp for 9 years.

“I am very grateful to be raising children today with the parenting information and tools based in attachment and with all we understand about our brains and emotions. Training with Hand in Hand since 2008 has helped me develop the practice of remembering to put my attention on the connection between my child and me. As my primary focus, I keep our connection strong and healthy and repair the connection when it has broken. These ideas, pivotal in building our family life, have profoundly enriched my parenting and I enjoy giving others the opportunity to hear them and work with them in order to continue to treasure the relationships with their children.” Listen to her talk about the importance of quality listening time here.

Sadie Van Gelder

A Parenting by Connection instructor in Los Angeles, and a co-moderator of Hand in Hand's online discussion group, Sadie is also a mother of two girls and an editor specializing in articles about psychology and health. As both an editor and a parent, she is constantly on the lookout for trustworthy information, and she says Hand in Hand is the best parenting resource she has come across. "When you're noticing a pattern that isn't ideal, or going through a challenging transition, Hand in Hand offers a different way of looking at all sorts of issues and helping both you and your child," she says. "Seeing so many benefits for my own family and others makes me want to spread the word.” You can get in touch with Sadie at sadie@handinhandparenting.org.

Sara Wood Smith, R.N.

Sara Wood Smith has been working with children and parents for over 35 years as a midwife, childbirth educator, family advocate, community health worker, and workshop leader. She has an adult daughter, and is a Trainer with Hand in Hand in the Santa Cruz area, teaching in English and Spanish. She sits on the Hand in Hand Board of Directors.

Shelley Macy

Shelley Macy has been working in the field of early childhood education for over 30 years, the last 20 of them as the early childhood education instructor and parenting instructor at Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, WA. Shelley has taught a great variety of early childhood education and parenting courses over the years. The ones she most enjoys sharing with parents and early educators are those that use Parenting by Connection tools. Shelley has two young adult children, four adult step-children, and five grandchildren.

Susan Hutchison

Susan Hutchison is a stay-at-home adoptive mom to three year old David. They enjoy visits a few times a year with David's birth mother and other family members. Susan leads classes and workshops for adults on listening and emotional healing in the Seattle area, and has been a counselor for many years.

Susan Karle, MFT

Susan Karle, MFT, mother of 2 grown daughters, has over 20 years of experience working with children and families, including extensive work with Hand in Hand Parenting. Her background includes teaching preschool, counseling at the Wilmar Center for Bereaved Children, and coordinating for the Stand By Me Mentoring program. Susan currently has a private practice in Sonoma and Santa Rosa.

Susana Witte

Susana Witte has been a teacher with Hand in Hand for over 12 years. She was born and raised in Uruguay, South America, and is the daughter of Jewish immigrants who moved to Uruguay from Russia and Germany in the 1930s. She has been a Berkeley, CA resident since she moved to the US in 1972. She works locally in the printing industry, and is also a parent and a visual artist. She started with Hand in Hand as the mother of a four-year-old son (he is now 21), and became a Certified Instructor, teaching in English and Spanish.

Suzy Heltzel, LCSW

Suzy Heltzel is an LCSW who has been working with children and families for fourteen years. She has three school-age children and has been involved with Hand in Hand since 2007. She works as a counselor with parents and children at San Jose State's Child Development Center and teaches Parenting by Connection classes in the South Bay.

Teresa Zepeda Kelleher

Teresa is a native of El Salvador, and has been with Hand in Hand for over three years. She has two young children, is a Hand in Hand Board member, and lives in Palo Alto, CA. She teaches classes in English and Spanish.

Todd Erickson

Todd Erickson is the father of three. He is a Teacher at Bing Nursery School, Stanford University, and is acquiring his Masters in Early Childhood Education. He taught for eight years at Foundations School Community in Los Angeles, a private school founded on Parenting by Connection principles.

Tom Idleman

Tom is the father of three. Tom specializes in providing one-on-one parent consulting as well as teaching Building Emotional Understanding and Parenting from the Same Page classes.

Tom especially enjoys working with parents of middle schoolers and his Skillbuilding groups with Fathers. Tom became a Certified Hand in Hand Teacher in 2007, and teaches in Palo Alto and the South Bay.

Torri Chappell

Torri Chappell has been a Hand in Hand instructor since April 2008 but has been personally using the tools since 2005. Torri is also a certified classroom elementary school teacher and has been teaching and tutoring for over 20 years.

In addition to teaching and tutoring children, Torri teaches adults how to be effective volunteer tutors in public schools. She has incorporated and adapted Parenting by Connection tools into her teaching work in Marin County with great success. Torri has been married for twenty years and has two adolescent children.

Tosha Schore

Tosha Schore, MA, is the mother of three young boys. She has been in the field of adult education for 14 years, gradually shifting her focus from ESL to Parent Ed, as her children have grown. Tosha enjoys teaching classes, giving talks, leading support groups, and providing one-on-one consultations. She is particularly interested in the issues of sibling relationships, boys and school, and helping children work through fear. She lives in Lafayette, CA and teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Read about Tosha's use of Parenting by Connection in her family.

Usha Sangam

Usha Sangam has been a Certified Teacher for Parenting by Connection since Feb 2007, having been introduced to this parenting approach in 2002. After many years in the high-tech industry as a software developer and manager, Usha switched gears and now has California Teaching Credentials to teach elementary grade levels as well as math at the secondary level. Although her primary focus right now is parenting and homeschooling her teenage daughter, she also enjoys working on short-term teaching and tutoring opportunities with school-age children as well as giving talks, teaching classes and leading parent support groups for Hand in Hand Parenting in the South Bay.

Veronica Lovejoy

Veronica lives in Tweed Heads, NSW, Australia with her husband and two children and is a Qualified Secondary Teacher. She teaches 6-week Building Emotional Understanding courses on the Gold Coast and Northern Rivers regions and is available for talks and skill building groups for parents looking to learn more about the Parenting by Connection approach. Contact her at veronica@parentingwithconnection.com.au

"After suffering post-natal depression following my first child I found Hand in Hand Parenting so influential in ensuring my recovery and knowing that these skills could help my daughter in her emotional healing. I enjoy seeing the transformations that occur in children and parents who begin using these listening skills, and I'm constantly inspired by the positive difference Hand in Hand Parenting is making towards our adults of the future." You can read about Veronica's use of Playlistening here.