As a parent, you might feel: burnt out, overwhelmed, exhausted, and resentful. You might find yourself yelling more than you'd like to, feeling out of control, and struggling to find the joy in parenting that you once expected.
You might find that although things seem "fine" on the surface, you have developed coping mechanisms like people pleasing, avoiding, lying, misusing substances, compulsive scrolling, shopping, or procrastinating—habits that only leave you feeling worse.
I’m Laura Sullivan, an EMDR Certified therapist who helps parents heal their past, so they can show up for their kids with more confidence, calm, and connection.
As a mom of two (a teen and a tween—oh my!), I know firsthand that parenting can feel like an emotional roller coaster, and that navigating through it alone can feel impossible. Before focusing my practice on working exclusively with adults, I spent over a decade working with kids and their parents, helping families navigate big emotions and tough behaviors. What I saw time and time again was that when parents heal, everything changes—for them, for their kids, for their whole family.
That’s why I do this work.
It might come as a surprise, but I have found that when a parent hasn’t fully processed the challenges they've experienced in their own life, it can lead to:
- Emotional reactivity – Snapping, withdrawing, or shutting down when triggered, rather than responding with intention.
- Perfectionism and over-control – Feeling pressure to be the “perfect” parent or needing their child to behave a certain way to feel okay.
- Difficulty setting boundaries – Either being too rigid or too permissive, often out of guilt or fear of repeating past harms.
- Struggles with connection – Finding it hard to be fully present, emotionally attuned, or trusting in relationships.
- Passing down unhelpful patterns – Repeating the same relational dynamics they grew up with, even if they vowed to parent differently.
Support & Healing Helps You:
✨ Feel lighter and less weighed down by the past
✨ Trust yourself more—as a parent, a partner, and just as a person
✨ Know how to regulate your emotions instead of feeling overwhelmed by them
✨ Be able to set boundaries and say no without spiraling into guilt
✨ Feel present and connected with your family (instead of just exhausted by them)
This work isn’t easy—but it’s worth it. Because when you heal, you don’t just change your life. You change your child’s future, too.
Healing Helps Your Child:
When a parent works through their trauma, it breaks the cycle so their child doesn’t have to carry the same emotional burdens.
Here’s how:
✅ Emotional Regulation – A healed parent can manage their own stress, making home life feel safer and more stable.
✅ Secure Attachment – Children thrive when they have a parent who is emotionally available and attuned to their needs.
✅ Healthier Boundaries – Kids learn self-respect and self-trust when they see their parents set and maintain boundaries with love.
✅ Modeling Emotional Resilience – When parents work through hard emotions instead of avoiding or numbing them, kids learn to do the same.
✅ Breaking Generational Patterns – Healing means consciously choosing new, healthier ways to parent instead of defaulting to the past.