Family Consultation

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. Often I work with tantrums. But once tantrums are under control, other things come to the surface. I work with communication of feelings, emotional expression, expectation management and sensory concerns as well as anger management and non-preferred task completion, such as homework and clean up.

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. My advice for potential clients is to try and be as normal as possible when consultants are in their homes. We see what is happening in the real dynamics of home life, differently than what we hear in the retelling of situations and events.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. If I were a customer, I'd want to know that I'm not the ONLY one! And the truth is that many families suffer in silence, fearing that others will judge them or think that they aren't good parents. Trade secret: everyone needs a little guidance, and sometimes it really does take a village to raise a child.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. The most important thing you need to know if you are looking for family consultation services is that MAK is a non-judgmental, positively oriented service for families who are willing to make small and large changes in their lives.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. Parents who have been receiving behavioral, speech, occupational and physical therapies for their children often get limited training by these professionals. Often thinking that these providers can "work miracles" with their children, parents are left to struggle when those providers are not there. My Awesome Kids provides training and support at home, utilizing proven techniques as well as completely personalized and individualized tools for everyday situations that aid in communication and foster understanding between parents and their kids. My Awesome Kids helps parents learn how to respond to their children in ways that reduce behaviors like tantrums and aggression and promote harmony at home.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. The best part about my work is seeing the results. I have had over 100 clients in the Bay Area who have seen positive and significant changes in their whole family's dynamics! Knowing that My Awesome Kids consultants are effective is the most rewarding aspect of being in business!

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. Q: What do you do?
A: Whatever it takes to provide you with the tools you need to never need me again.

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. A family that I was assigned to by the state who made every effort to treat me as if I was a court ordered clinician (by avoiding my phone calls, showing up 30-40 minutes late for scheduled meetings etc) actually said that when they consistently used two of the techniques that I brought to them they worked, "like magic"! They continued to treat me as an unwanted guest for the duration of our contract, despite my assurance that they could cancel our contract without any repercussions. But they did see a lot of value in the end results of our work together.

Even families that do not like me, for whatever reasons they had, saw that there was something that I could teach them that would bring harmony to their home.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. I wish that more people knew that this profession actually exists! When I talk to people who are having trouble with their children, they often are very surprised that there are people "like" me out in the world, looking to help others out!

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. I've been working with behavior challenges in the field of Autism for over a decade. The shift into working with kids who display behavioral disruptions, with and without diagnoses, was as simple as being asked by a friend of a family that I had already been working with. Recognizing that behavior changes happen all the time, my work focused on how parents can be more aware of how their interactions help promote the behaviors that they were seeing in their children. These techniques DO work with children with a full range of diagnosable disorders as well as with kids who not disordered, but face other problems with daily life.

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. Recently, while assigned to work with an Autistic child, I recognized that his older brother (not Autistic) was having many behavioral outbursts at home and out in the community. Working with their mother on programs that included the older brother and other family members seemed to have a reciprocal effect on everyone involved. It gave me an awesome feeling of pride to have been able to provide support in their on going effort to make life harmonious. Now, both boys play on baseball teams and cheer one another out on the fields!

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. I continue to attend seminars and read in professional journals to maintain my skills and learn about new techniques that have been helping families to journey forward. I also work closely with professionals in other fields, such as speech and language therapists, educational psychologists, occupational and physical therapists and neurodevelopmental pediatricians, to make sure that we are not providing services that are counter to one another.

Q. What are the latest developments in your field? Are there any exciting things coming in the next few years or decade that will change your line of business?

A. The latest development in my field is the collaborative concepts that ask professionals to recognize their own expertise as well as their limitations. The "team" concept is not new, but it is taking on a whole new life, especially in the Bay Area. Each specialist attends lectures, classes and other continuing education seminars and brings their new found knowledge to the group, finding ways to create tandem programs that can enrich lives.

Q. Describe your most recent project, what it involved, how much it cost, and how long it took.

A. Most recently MAK designed a "Response Checklist" for parents! This program is a ground breaking, and surprisingly simple, aid for parents to help them maintain some of the skills that they acquire during the course of work with us. It took hours of data collection over the course of 6 months to compile this simple, 5 step, easy to access flip book. This book is portable, colorful and breaks down how to respond to various behaviors that are common, even when the specifics of the behaviors are dynamic.

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. My Awesome Kids has a sliding scale from $60 - $125 per hour for Family Consultation. However, in this difficult economic time, I see the value in being more flexible with fees. MAK recognizes that if a service is not affordable, to many it might as well not exist at all. We are here to help families grow together, not to pull money out of pockets.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. Those who are interested in getting into this profession should be very aware that this is NOT where you go to get rich. Service to communities and families is something that comes from your heart and cannot be forced. Find a good fit for yourself and you will find that you are a good fit for others.