I encourage, inspire, and guide parents to change old patterns and to learn new practices that strengthen connection and heal family relationships.

– Noelle Wittliff / Mindful Parenting

Why Mindful Parenting?

My training, clinical work, and parenting experience informs the approach that I call Mindful Parenting. I do this work because it’s my passion and because I believe strongly that if one generation of children were parented consistently with empathy, respect, and kindness, we could create extraordinary healing in the world.
Working as a family therapist for over 15 years has allowed me to see similar patterns and themes that emerge within families. Giving parents a philosophy within which to understand their children’s needs and behaviors, along with strategies for meeting those needs, allows families to learn, grow, and heal.

My Journey

My mindfulness practice began in my early twenties as a result of feeling pulled along by life circumstances, but not feeling as though I had a deep connection to a solid sense of agency. I began reading books on mindfulness, started a meditation practice, and began to notice an internal experience that I had mostly tuned out before. Up until that time, much of my thought process was future or past oriented. Making a conscious choice to stay present opened me up to my entire life.
When I apply mindfulness to parenting, I’m able to slow down and see what’s happening more clearly. When I’m not distracted by future projections or past ruminations, I’m better able to attend to my own needs as well as the needs of my family. Mindfulness allows me to stay grounded and to be a calmer, more patient parent.

A New Paradigm

When I became a mom, I sought out guidance to support my parenting journey. I felt discouraged by the information that I found online and in popular parenting books and magazines. The strategies suggested felt punitive and manipulative to me, and I wondered how I would foster a trusting connection with my son if I applied some of the “common sense” advice that many people seemed to be recommending.
In my search for compassionate parenting approaches, I discovered the Echo Center, a parenting center founded by Ruth Beaglehole. The classes I took there emphasized empathy and a deep respect for children. For several years around this time, I also attended Janet Lansbury’s weekly RIE classes with my son. Her philosophy, also rooted in respecting children, strengthened my foundation for parenting.
After my second child was born, I underwent a two-year training to become certified in the Echo Parenting curriculum. A few years after that, I became certified in the Trauma Resilience Model because I believe that effective parenting requires resolving our own stressful childhood experiences as well as learning how to regulate our nervous system. I took the best of what I learned from my trainings and from my experience working with families in my clinical practice to develop the Mindful Parenting course.

Experience

In addition to a Bachelor’s Degree from UC Santa Cruz in Psychology and a Master’s Degree from the University of San Francisco in Counseling Psychology, I’ve continued my postgraduate education developing specialities in Mindfulness, Parenting, and Trauma Resiliency. Following is a list of certifications, credentials, and other relevant experience.

Mindfulness

  • Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification, 2-Year Program (with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach)
  • Growing Up Mindful, Intensive Teacher Training and Certification (with Dr. Christopher Willard)
  • Advanced Activity-Based Mindfulness for Kids (with Susan Kaiser Greenland)
  • Power of Awareness: Mindfulness Training (with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach)
  • The Four Foundations of Mindfulness: Six-Day Insight Meditation Retreat

  • Certificate in MBSR: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

  • Awakening to Mindfulness, Buddhism and Psychology (with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach)
  • Trust and Self-Compassion (with Kristin Neff, PhD and Brené Brown, PhD)
  • Mindfulness and Anxiety (with Ron Siegel)
  • Certificate in Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Children and Teens
  • Self-Compassion Tools for Teens: Overcoming Shame and the “Inner Critic”

Children & Families

  • Echo Parenting & Education Certified Trauma-Informed Parenting Educator
  • The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting (with Brené Brown, PhD)
  • Awakened Family (with Dr. Shefali Tsabary)
  • Embodied Child Raising
  • Hand in Hand Parenting, Professionals Intensive
  • RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers) with Janet Lansbury
  • Play Therapy and Beyond: Treatment Techniques and Strategies with Children and Pre-Adolescents
  • Certified Positive Discipline Parenting Educator

Supporting Gifted Children

  • Therapy for Gifted Kids (with Grace Malonai, PhD)
  • Giftedness Identification & Programming (with Dave Palmer, PhD)
  • Developmental Potential and Emotional Giftedness (with Michael M. Piechowski, PhD)
  • Tools for Helping Gifted Children with Emotional Regulation (with Vula Baliotis, PhD)

Trauma

  • Trauma Resource Institute Certified Trauma Resiliency Practitioner
  • Working with Trauma (with Pat Ogden, PhD)
  • Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • Seeking Safety/Trauma & Addiction

Gender Identity

  • Gender Expansive Youth: Working with Youth Across the Gender Spectrum (with Caroline Carter, PsyD and Erin Norton, PsyD)
  • Effective and Compassionate Clinical Work for Gender-Expansive Children, Teens and Families (with Susan Landon, LMFT)
  • EDGY Beyond the Binary Conference:
    • Support Starts at Home: Transgender Youth and Their Parents
    • Strategies to Support Families with Gender Expansive and LGBTQ+ Youth
  • Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Center for Transyouth Health & Development: Through Science to Justice Conference
    • Empowering Trans & Non-Binary Youth
    • Cultivating and Sustaining an Affirmative Therapeutic Space for Transgender and Gender Diverse Young People
  • Gender Diversity and Self-Expression

Anxiety Disorders

  • Making Sense of Anxiety in Children and Youth (with Gordon Neufeld, PhD)
  • Teaching Kids to Crush Anxiety (with Natasha Daniels, LCSW)
  • Teaching Kids to Crush OCD (with Natasha Daniels, LCSW)

Grief & Loss

  • Grief Training Intensive by Our House Grief Support Center

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Training

  • 6 month DEIA training with Konda Mason and Kate Johnson

Professional Affiliations

  • California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, Clinical Member since 2003 (CAMFT)
  • The Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists (OBLPCT)
  • Verified by Psychology Today
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