Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I work with the Behaviour Mama?

I meet my families where they are at, and have developed tools for ALL families regardless of the stage they are at.

• If you are a soon-to-be parent or new parent (or have Littles in your life), I can help prepare you for the transition and any parenting challenge that may come your way.

• If you are a seasoned parent, I can help you find more calm, balance and harmony within your families every day.

I have 10+ years within the behaviour world, my Masters in Psychology with a Specialization in ABA and am a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA). I have worked with individuals of all ages and all ability levels.

In addition, I am a mom myself to two Littles, and the strategies I recommend to families are all strategies I have used numerous times and are backed by science!

How long do the strategies take to work?

My answer: It depends.

• Each Little and family is different!

• How consistent are you? AND everyone else? 

• What strategy are you trying?

• Do you have a plan? 

• What is the challenging behaviour? 

• Why is the challenging behaviour happening?

• What other things could be affecting your Littles behaviour? 

Behaviour change takes time and consistency. If you are implementing a new strategy, research shows that you should continue trying it for at least 8 weeks to see meaningful changes.

I want my littles challenging behaviour and big feelings to go away, can you help?

Being a parent (or caregiver) who utilizes ᴘʀᴏᴀᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ and ᴘʀᴇᴠᴇɴᴛᴀᴛɪᴠᴇ strategies does not mean that your Little is ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ going to have big feelings or engage in challenging behaviour! 

Using proactive strategies allows us as parents to simply change the way the environment is set up and how we interact and connect with our Littles to make the challenges ʟᴇꜱꜱ ʟɪᴋᴇʟʏ ᴛᴏ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴ! 

Over time the tools we are teaching and modeling for our Littles will allow them to find ᴀʟᴛᴇʀɴᴀᴛɪᴠᴇ ᴡᴀʏꜱ to get their needs met, and to have ᴄᴏᴘɪɴɢ ᴀɴᴅ ᴄᴀʟᴍɪɴɢ skills to manage the big feelings!

What do you actually do?

I provide parent / caregiver coaching and education, and behaviour consulting. I provide education, tools, and strategies to lessen challenging behaviour and BIG feelings, but also work on increasing more appropriate skills to replace those more challenging ones!

This may involve teaching new skills to our Littles or finding ways to reinforce more appropriate skills they already have!

A lot of my work though is centred around the tools and strategies caregivers can do and use to set up their environment more proactively, as well as how they are connecting with their Littles to make those challenges less likely to happen!

What does working with you 1:1 look like?

1:1 Coaching is virtual by phone or video chat*

If you live in Oxford County, we can arrange in-person consults!

One-on-one coaching is the best way to individualize my strategies to you and your family. It begins with sharing experiences, gathering information and completing initial assessments.

Throughout the process we will clearly identify WHAT challenges you and your Littles are experiencing, and WHY they are happening so we can pick and choose strategies that are specific to why the behaviour and big feelings are happening!

This “Basics” package includes:

• Two Calls:

  • One Initial Information Gathering Call

  • One Follow up Call (to Provide Strategies & Troubleshooting)

*unlimited follow-up consults can be added to “The Basics” Package to work 1:1 on the strategies.

• Initial intake package (intake form, consents, health checklist, etc.)

• Email & text anytime during our working relationship (I will always respond within 12-24 hours)

The best way to individualize my 1:1 services for you and your family is to fill out the inquiry form below.

Why does my Little have challenging behaviour and / or big feelings?

Does your Little have any Challenging Behaviour or BIG feelings that makes you question what’s happening in their brain and body?⠀⠀⠀

I have a FREE Webinar that was created to provide parents and caregivers with more knowledge and tools to understand WHAT behaviour is, WHY it happens, and what to do about it!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

This webinar is for ALL parents and caregivers of Littles, ages 0-12. The examples within highlight this age range, but the strategies are helpful for ALL ages! 

Who is the Behaviour Mama for?

Are you a parent, caregiver, support, aunt / uncle, grandparent, godparent, soon-to-be parent, or friend to someone who has Littles?

Then guess what! I have something for you. If you have Littles in your life in some capacity, you will absolutely benefit from learning together through my ebook, printables and other freebies, 1:1 services, and online courses!⠀⠀

What do you mean by “Littles”?

I typically use the term “Littles” when referring to kids. I find it is more of an inclusive term, as everyone is joining from a different walk of life, and the relation between Big and Little may be different than a parent & child relationship. I support and have tools for ALL parents and caregivers of Littles, ages 0-12. The examples I use typically highlight this age range, but the strategies are helpful for ALL ages!

When should I seek help for my Littles behaviour challenges?

“Some” challenging behaviour is to be expected!

Our Littles have been on this planet for a very short time, and they are learning, reacting, and testing boundaries for the people and environment around them

This is expected! We can anticipate that our Littles will NOT follow through with all of our expectations, to have BIG feelings about the expectations we do set, and generally just having a tougher time with change and regulating themselves

This is all new to them, it takes practice and repetition to build skills!

Am I saying that it’s just the way it is so we should throw in the towel now? Heck no! There are so many strategies to lessen the challenges, teach our Littles what IS expected of them, and to HELP them regulate their bodies and emotions! 

Checkout my ebook, my course “The Behaviour Roadmap” or reach out to me for 1:1 support to learn more!

Challenging behaviour becomes more of a concern WHEN: 

1. It is affecting your Littles and / or families day to day life 

2. It is a concern for your Littles and / or others safety

3. The intensity or frequency of the behaviour has increased and is not manageable anymore ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

💢If one of these 3 concerns resonates with you, I would recommend connecting with me to begin 1:1 support as soon as possible! 💢

IF YOU JUST WANT TO CHAT WITH SOMEONE, THEN THAT IS ALSO A GREAT REASON TO REACH OUT :)

I’ve tried everything, what do I do next?

Have you, or do you currently do something like yell, take away an item or activity, give a time out, etc. in response to a challenging behaviour that your Little is having? Do you feel that it helps reduce that challenge ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴍᴇɴᴛ? But it feels like you have to do this strategy (yell, take away, etc.) ᴀʟʟ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ?

Do you also feel like over time, you seem to be yelling louder or more often, or having to take more things away or take away bigger things or activities?

When you use these more reactive strategies, YOU are actually being reinforced i̲n̲ ̲t̲h̲e̲ ̲m̲o̲m̲e̲n̲t̲ when you yell, take away, etc. (“𝘰𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥, 𝘪’𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯”) because the behaviour is stopping right then… BUT the tricky part is that the challenging behaviour is going to keep coming back because those are not effective strategies at decreasing the challenging behaviour over the long term…

That’s where positive and proactive strategies come into play. They are proven to reduce challenging behaviour over the LONG TERM, not just the short term!

Checkout my ebook, my course “The Behaviour Roadmap”, or head to my shop for 1:1 services to learn more about what strategies would work best for your Little and your family!

What are your Qualifications?

I have my masters in psychology with a specialization in Applied Behaviour Analysis. I am a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA) which means.I had 6 specific courses within my Masters program as well as had to complete 1500 supervised hours, and write a Board Exam.

Are your Behaviour Services covered by Benefits?

If you have coverage for Psychologists under your benefits, then within the year my services will be covered!

I’ve tried this whole gentle & calm parenting thing… I just can’t be calm all of the time. What else can I do?

You absolutely do not need to be calm all of the time to be doing a great job!

No one is regulated all of the time. Being a parent who is only ever calm or happy.

→ 𝙄𝙎 𝙉𝙊𝙏 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙂𝙊𝘼𝙇

• You’re not failing if you are not calm all of the time

• You’re not failing if your Little experiences a range of emotions including anger, disappointment, frustration, sadness, fear, etc. 

As parents, it is more beneficial for our Littles to see us experience our full spectrum of emotions and be able to model a healthy way of working through them.

Modelling is the strongest teaching tool we have in our toolkits for our Littles.

Also, a lot of times if we are having troubles finding our calm, WE haven’t found the RIGHT tools and strategies for ourselves! You’re in luck though…

I have co-developed a course titled, Grow With Me Academy with Sabrina @mindfulyogabysabrina where we literally do just that - hand pick tools and strategies to create a “Mindful Menu” to help you find your calm. We also dive into helping your Littles find their calm and learn every behaviour strategy you could think of!