Bringing Parenting Science to the Real World

Giving Parents, Educators, and Clinicians Tools They Can Trust

Not every family can or will walk into a clinic for therapy. Our mission is to bring evidence-based tools to families within and beyond our clinic walls.

meet us

meet us

We're Drs. Elgin and Alvarez

As child development researchers and clinicians, we were passionate about evidence-based parenting even before having kids ourselves. Once we became parents, we were overwhelmed by the amount of parenting information available, some of which isn’t backed by research. This inspired the Helping Families Thrive mission: to bring parenting science to the real world.  

The tools we share have been found to decrease challenging behaviors, improve parent-child relationships, and decrease parental stress. We don’t promise to make parenting easy, but we do promise that applying our techniques will make the hard work you put in more valuable to you and your family.

 

Welcome

Evidence & Balance

Less Shame. More Support. 

emotion regulation guide

Improve Your Child’s Emotion Regulation Skills

A free, 15-page guide filled with practical strategies.

"Parenting Essentials is Trusted by the Seattle School District's Head Start Program"

Our methods work because they are supported by decades of research showing long-lasting, positive effects.