Beyond Behavior Charts and Therapy: What Really Helps Kids with Emotional and Behavioral Challenges?

June 23, 2026 12:00 pm EDT/EST

This discussion was hosted live on the date noted above, you can view the recording and download the handouts below.

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About this Workshop

What’s the best way to help your child who is struggling with anxiety, depression, or challenging behavior?

In this recorded conversation, founder Ruth E. Freeman, LCSW, interviews Marianne Barton, PhD, and Aaron Weintraub, MS, to explore how Gordon Neufeld’s attachment-based framework can serve as a foundation for understanding and supporting children, while also integrating tools from more traditional psychological approaches.

Drawing on insights from Hold On to Your Kids, Neufeld’s model emphasizes that secure parent-child attachment is the cornerstone of emotional health, resilience, and healthy development. Within this framework, a wide range of strategies—including cognitive behavioral approaches—can be thoughtfully incorporated to help children build coping skills, regulate emotions, and reduce symptoms.

In this previously hosted conversation, our experts will unpack:

How attachment-based parenting provides a foundation that can incorporate traditional child therapy tools
Why some children respond best when skill-building strategies are grounded in strong relationships
When approaches like CBT are helpful—and how they fit within an attachment-focused lens
How anxiety, depression, and behavioral challenges may be rooted in disconnection
What it means to support both the child and the parent-child relationship

Parents will leave with a clearer understanding of how to help your struggling child, when to seek therapy, and how to strengthen connection at home—without feeling like you have to choose between approaches.

Click the button below to watch the recording of this previously hosted Discussion and download the handouts.

In response to questions raised during this session, here are helpful follow-up resources:
- The book Ruth mentioned during the Lunch & Learn was “Permission to Feel” by Marc Brackett
- Two other books that participants may find helpful are:
  - “Keep Your Kids Close” by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate
  - “Brain-Body Parenting: How to Stop Managing Behavior and Start Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids” by Mona Delahooke
As mentioned during the conversation on Tuesday, here is a link to the document Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems (ALSUP)
- The Mental Health Essentials and Raising Neurodiverse Kids for proven solutions will direct you to topics related to Tuesday’s conversation, check out all our Resource Guides, featuring quick video libraries, recorded workshops, blogs, podcasts, handouts, and more.
Find proven solutions to support your parenting journey in our Search Tool, Break the Screen Cycle 2026, Quick Tips, and Discussions with our Experts.
Questions? Please email us at Solutions@Peaceathomeparenting.com