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When parenting feels like survival, you don't have to face it alone

When parenting feels like survival,

you don't have to face it alone

If parenting has begun to feel like survival, there is nothing wrong with you. Chronic caregiving stress changes the nervous system. Together, we'll help you restore capacity, reconnect with yourself, and find steadier ways to move through the realities of caring for your child.

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Ready for Support?

Contact me to schedule a free 20 minute initial consult.

About Elisha Bidwell (she/her)

I’m a therapist with 15 years of experience supporting children and families. My work centers on parents of neurodivergent, disabled, and medically complex children—and the burnout, traumatic stress, and grief that can accompany sustained caregiving. I offer a space where you can speak honestly about your experience, including feelings that are difficult to share elsewhere. Your needs, relationships, and sense of yourself deserve attention alongside the care you give.

Drawing on EMDR and somatic approaches, I help you find opportunities for recovery and work through accumulated distress. We also attend to the practical realities of your life: limited support, ongoing demands, and what can realistically change.

My practice is neurodiversity-affirming, disability-affirming, and LGBTQIA-affirming. I value lived experience and respect the knowledge you bring about yourself, your child, and your family.

Some areas of experience that help me support parents like you:

Autism, PDA, and ADHD
Sensory Sensitivities
Complex Trauma and Attachment Wounding
PANS/PANDAS and Complex Neuroinflammatory Issues
Hospitalizations and Residential Treatment

Nervous-System-Focused Parenting
Neuro-Affirming Advocacy
Parental Burnout
Traumatic Parenting Stress
Chronic and Autoimmune Illness

Ways to work together:

Coaching for parents of kids with brain-based disabilities, complex medical challenges, trauma, sensitive nervous systems and/or children who may otherwise be deeply misunderstood within the context of behavioral, educational, or other dominant paradigms.

We work together to understand what's driving behavior so we can develop parenting strategies rooted in relational safety and compassionate boundaries. Together, we explore what may be driving difficult moments and develop approaches that respect your child’s needs and your own capacity. Coaching can help you navigate boundaries, daily challenges, and advocacy with greater clarity and confidence.

Request a free consultation

Repeated crises, uncertainty, advocacy, and inadequate support can leave little room to recover. You may feel constantly on alert, emotionally depleted, or disconnected from parts of yourself.

Individual therapy offers a place to attend to your stress, grief, relationships, and wellbeing. We can work with difficult experiences, explore limits and support, and make space for a life that includes your needs.

My approach draws on EMDR, somatic practices, expressive arts, and an understanding of the realities of high-demand caregiving. We choose our approach together and adjust it as we learn what helps.

Request a free consultation

EMDR Intensives

I am now offering EMDR Intensives for parents experiencing ongoing, traumatic parenting stress. Parents with chronic, high-stress parenting experiences often face ongoing, unresolved, and repetitive trauma—a form of complex and relational trauma. EMDR Intensives offer a powerful, focused approach to healing.

Instead of spreading sessions out over weeks or months, intensives provide extended time (half-day, 3 to 4 hour sessions) allowing you to make meaningful progress in a shorter period of time. It's ideal for parents who experience chronic stress that never seems to resolve, want greater emotional capacity for caregiving, and have trouble making weekly appointments work.

Book a consult

FAQ

What are your credentials and training?
I have a Master of Arts degree in Counseling and hold a license as a Marriage and Family Therapist in Texas.

Some of my relevant trainings include:
- Somatic Experiencing
- EMDR
- Advanced Sandtray Therapy and other play therapy approaches
- Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy
- Trust-Based Relational Intervention
- Safe and Sound Protocol
- Certified Integrative Mental Health Practitioner
- Registered Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors Course Facilitator
- Kids' Yoga Teacher training
- Yoga Nidra Teacher training
I have also studied and trained extensively in the clinical applications of the relational neurosciences, i.e., Interpersonal Neurobiology, Polyvagal Theory, Attachment Theory, etc.

I engage in ongoing and active learning about neuro affirming practices and adapt all approaches to affirm neurodivergent communication, sensory, and perceptual experiences.
What is the financial investment?

20 minute initial consultation is free upon request.

Intakes are $225 and subsequent 50 min sessions are $200*.

I accept Cigna, Aetna, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, Quest, and Carelon, and I'm in the process of being credentialed with other major insurance carriers.

*I have a limited number of overall slots but, if available, I can offer a reduced fee agreement upon request to those impacted by historical financial loss due to colonialism and/or financial strain related to disability or a child's medical care.

Coaching does not diagnose, therefore, is not able to be billed through insurance.
Do you offer in-person sessions?

At this time, I am only offering virtual appointments to Texas residents through my HIPAA compliant practice management software.
What is your cancellation policy?

Since the scheduling of an appointment involves the reservation of time specifically for you, a minimum of 24 hours notice is required for re-scheduling or canceling an appointment. Unless we reach a different agreement, the full fee will be charged for sessions missed without such notification.
What's the difference between coaching and therapy?

Both Psychotherapy and Parent Coaching fall within my scope of practice under my Texas Marriage and Family Therapist License.

Psychotherapy typically involves treatment for struggles related to mental health. Parenting challenges can be part of what is processed in therapy, but the focus is on supporting your mental health, usually addressing longer-term, larger life issues, traumas, and patterns.

I do not meet with your child—our work together is focused on supporting you as a caregiver. Please read below to see if Parent Coaching and/or Parental Burnout Support is right for you.

Parent Coaching is not focused on mental health treatment. Coaching is a format where we focus in on specific parenting concerns, and I provide you with concrete, practical guidance informed by my 10+ years experience as a child and family therapist.

I will make referrals for therapy if during the course of our work together, it becomes evident that it is a better fit for your current needs and goals.

Individual Therapy for Parental Burnout , At this time, I am offering individual therapy for parents of neurodivergent, disabled, or medically vulnerable children. We explore skills and practices that will expand your capacity for caregiving and aid in your burnout recovery.