Welcome

 

Family relationships are likely to be the most complex connections we experience in a lifetime.  They are the deeply embedded root in all other relationships, and it is often the parent, caregiver, or extended family who provides the anchor.

 

About Carol

 

I have been working with families and schools for over 40 years.  Family and school clients span the age range of childhood 0-18 years.  I was the Executive Director of the Nan Tolbert Nurturing Center in Ojai, California from 2008 until 2017, serving families with children 0-5.  My theoretical leanings are in attachment and regulation in human development, child development, and anti-bias practices.  I am a mediator specializing in family and school-based communication.

Most recently, I’ve been part of a weekly Attachment Seminar for 8 years in which PhD and MFT students are trained in clinical psychology.  I have also had training specific to parent and infant relationships and maternal mental health.  My work is focused on social and emotional development.  I work closely with the adults who are in relationship with children, nurturing a deeper understanding of behavior and curiosity as to just what a child is telling their adults. My work includes building adult tools for observing children, understanding the emotional life of children, and the work each stage of child development or experience represents, noticing what parents, caregivers, and extended family are feeling, and uncovering the dilemmas children and families face.

 

Contact Carol

Carol’s wisdom and insight into the developmental issues of children and her profound respect for families create a fertile, supportive environment in which parents feel safe enough to engage in genuine self-examination.

Time and time again, a parent comes in grappling with a particular conflict.  Each time, as Carol listens and begins to probe with questions, a more complex set of dynamics emerges.  In her work with each family, the problem at hand rapidly gives way to deeper issues as she helps parents find their own solutions.

Carol inspires us to question our assumptions, try new approaches and see our role as teachers differently. Not just: “What will fix things in the moment?” but “What is it that we want to teach? What are our hopes for this child in the long run?” Carol has helped me with my commitment to building a world where parents have the support they need to build strong, healthy families — families in which children play, laugh, explore, learn, and take love and safety for granted.

Adrienne Hoskins

Past Director of Early Childhood Programs, Oak Grove School, Ojai, California