With more than 35 years of study and research in the area of parenting, and several decades as a parent herself, Dr. Kussin is honored to help parents navigate the overwhelming and challenging moments that are part of raising children. Jody Kussin has worked with thousands of parents across California and has trained hundreds of others to do the same. Author of a model 1990s training program and book, Catch Them Being Good: A Guide to Positive Parenting, Dr. Kussin brings humor, science, research, and personal and professional experience to help parents bolster their sense of competence. She helps them to maximize their strengths, minimize their weaknesses, and learn to tailor their interactions with each of their children to enhance both their children’s and their own sense of self.
Dr. Kussin helps parents in their most vulnerable moments. She is empathetic and practical and can expand parenting repertoires. For example, she helps parents understand that an eye roll can be a good thing (“It means they heard you; but if they glaze over, then you’re in trouble.”), that a temper tantrum in public can be ignored (“As long as you can ignore the stares of the other parents in the supermarket, you’re ok.”) and that not every teen will become an addict just because high schools have drugs and alcohol at the dances, (“Prepare your teen for real-life scenarios; don’t be stuck in the “Brady Bunch” era when your kids are surpassing you with Snapchat and Instagram technology daily.”)
Dr. Kussin works with individual parents or parenting couples, finding their strengths and helping them to develop a way to establish and sustain a relationship with their child/ren across the developmental stages (of parenthood AND of childhood!) Parents often find themselves calling on her to help every few years, as new and unusual challenges present themselves. She empowers, enlightens and even entertains parents, as she provides a foundation for them and their children to grow closer and to grow up, together. On occasion, she also works with nannies, in English or Spanish, to help all parenting partners support one another to raise up healthy children.