Instructor Specialty: Age 7-10

Carol Kellendonk

I am a certified music teacher and I have been teaching in different school settings for over 25 years. I am also the mother of four children from age thirteen to twenty five. I started teaching, because I always had a good connection and a natural empathy with children. I also deeply believed, that every

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Kristan Klingelhofer

Kristan Childs

Kristan has worked with children in many capacities, from teaching preschool to teaching high school, from working as an Outward Bound instructor, to an Americorps crew leader. When she had children of her own, she became deeply interested in parenting and made a real study of it. She ended up with bookshelf full of parenting

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Patty Wipfler, Founder

Patty Wipfler was born, raised, and educated in California, graduating from Occidental College in 1968, and is the mother of two sons. The focus of her work since 1974 has been teaching basic listening, parenting, and leadership skills to parents. She directed The School, a non-profit parent co-operative preschool in Palo Alto, and later directed

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Laurel Near

Laurel Near is the mother of three, two boys and a girl, who are now all adults. She began practicing Parenting By Connection with Patty Wipfler in the late 80s. After completing certification, she taught Building Emotional Understanding classes in her home, marketing only through word-of-mouth. Now she teaches at least four BEU classes per

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Kathy Gordon

Kathy came to parenting late in life.  She was single and in her 40s when she recognized her burning desire to be a Mom.  So 10 years ago, Kathy adopted a beautiful baby boy, who is now, as tall as she!  More than anything Kathy wanted her son to experience the unconditional love that she

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Michelle Kokel, Ph. D

Michelle has been involved with Hand in Hand since 2008 when she first experienced the transformative power of the listening tools. She feels privileged to support parents as they take on the emotional work necessary to untangle early hurts and build warm, connected relationships and strong support systems.  Michelle’s areas of interest include helping children

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Ravid Aisenman Abramsohn

Ravid began by bringing Parenting by Connection to the Israeli community in Silicon Valley, California, and is now providing services in Israel. She has two girls and has been using listening tools since 2008. Through her work with Hand in Hand she has taught different classes, workshops, play trainings, and parent consultations in Hebrew and

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Rachel Schofield

Rachel Schofield has been involved with Hand in Hand Parenting 2007. She’s a Professional Member of the Australian Association of Family Therapists, and Mum to two boys. Rachel says, “So many parents I work with want to raise their child in loving respectful ways but find it hard to do.” “They feel like failures – and

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Maya Coleman, PhD Clinical Psychology, MA Special Education

Maya Coleman is the Executive Director of Hand in Hand Parenting and leads an international staff and cohort of 180+ Certified Instructors to offer Hand in Hand’s unique social-emotional learning approach to parents and professionals worldwide. For the previous decade, Maya worked as a Clinical Psychologist in private practice with families of young children who

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