Questions? Call us at (469) 552-6610 Waxahachie, TX
Co-Parenting Coaching
Child-Centered Support for Separated or Divorced Parents
Separation and divorce change a family, but they don’t end it. Learning how to move from former partners to effective co-parents can be challenging—especially when emotions are high and communication has become difficult. Co-Parenting Coaching provides practical, child-centered support to help parents navigate this transition while keeping their children’s emotional well-being at the forefront.
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As a Co-Parenting Specialist, I help parents step out of patterns of conflict and begin viewing decisions through their children’s eyes. Together, we work on healthier communication, appropriate boundaries, managing conflict, navigating two households, and developing practical strategies that allow children to feel safe, secure, and free to maintain meaningful relationships with both parents.
My goal is not to determine who is right or wrong, but to help parents build a new kind of relationship—one centered on their shared role as parents. Your relationship may have ended, but your co-parenting relationship is just beginning. Together, we can work toward keeping your children at the center—never in the middle.
What Is Co-Parenting Coaching
Co-parenting coaching is a structured, solution-focused process designed to help separated or divorced parents develop a healthier and more effective working relationship as co-parents. Unlike traditional counseling, which may focus on processing the past or treating emotional and mental health concerns, co-parenting coaching focuses primarily on what happens next—helping parents develop practical skills and strategies for raising their children across two homes.
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Coaching provides a neutral space to identify patterns that may be contributing to conflict and learn new ways of communicating, setting boundaries, making decisions, and managing disagreements. Parents can also work through common challenges such as transitions between homes, differing parenting styles, schedules and routines, introducing new relationships, and communicating about their children without pulling them into adult issues.
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Most importantly, co-parenting coaching helps parents begin looking at situations through their children’s eyes. The goal is not to repair the former relationship or decide which parent is right or wrong. It is to create a new relationship centered around one shared responsibility: being the parents their children need. By reducing conflict and creating greater consistency and emotional safety, parents can build a co-parenting relationship that allows their children to remain connected to both sides of their family and keeps them at the center—never in the middle.
My Approach
My approach to co-parenting coaching is child-centered, practical, and compassionate. Separation and divorce can bring grief, anger, fear, and uncertainty, and those emotions can easily become intertwined with parenting decisions. My role is not to determine who was right or wrong in the relationship, but to help parents begin separating partner issues from parenting issues and make decisions based on what their children need to feel safe, secure, and supported.
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I encourage parents to begin seeing their choices and interactions through their children’s eyes. We work together to recognize patterns that keep conflict going, improve communication, establish healthy boundaries, and develop practical strategies for parenting across two homes. I believe parents do not have to agree on everything or have a close relationship to co-parent effectively. They do, however, need tools for managing differences in ways that protect their children from unnecessary adult conflict.
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At the heart of my approach is the belief that children should never feel responsible for managing their parents’ emotions, carrying messages between homes, choosing sides, or feeling that loving one parent is a betrayal of the other. My goal is to help parents transition from former partners into a new kind of relationship—co-parents who may be different, but who share the responsibility of creating an environment where their children can thrive. I want children kept at the center of their parents’ decisions, never in the middle of their conflict.
How I Can Help
Co-parenting coaching provides practical tools and support to help you navigate the challenges of parenting across two homes. Depending on your family's needs, we may work together to:
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Improve communication and develop more productive ways to exchange information about your children.
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Reduce conflict and recognize patterns that keep disagreements escalating.
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Separate partner issues from parenting issues so past hurts don't continue to drive co-parenting decisions.
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Establish healthy boundaries that support a more respectful and manageable co-parenting relationship.
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Keep children out of the middle by reducing triangulation, messenger roles, loyalty conflicts, and exposure to adult disagreements.
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Navigate two households while creating greater stability, predictability, and emotional security for your children.
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Manage transitions between homes and address challenges surrounding exchanges, routines, holidays, and special occasions.
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Navigate differences in parenting styles without expecting both households to operate exactly the same way.
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Respond rather than react during difficult interactions and learn strategies for managing emotionally charged situations.
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Develop child-centered solutions by learning to view decisions and conflict through your children's eyes.
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Navigate changing family dynamics, including new partners, blended families, and other transitions that may affect the co-parenting relationship.
The 4 Session Co-Parenting Program
My 4-Session Co-Parenting Coaching Program is a structured, child-centered program designed to help separated and divorced parents develop the skills they need to move forward as co-parents. Each 90-minute session focuses on a specific area of co-parenting, while allowing time to address the unique challenges facing your family.
Session 1 — Building a Child-Centered Foundation
We begin by looking at your current co-parenting relationship, identifying areas of conflict and concern, and establishing goals for coaching. We explore how separation and divorce affect children, the importance of separating partner issues from parenting issues, and what it means to begin viewing decisions through your children's eyes.
Session 2 — Communication, Conflict & Boundaries
This session focuses on changing the patterns that keep conflict going. You will learn practical strategies for communicating more effectively, responding rather than reacting, setting appropriate boundaries, managing difficult interactions, and keeping children from becoming messengers, mediators, or participants in adult conflict.
Session 3 — Parenting Across Two Homes
We focus on helping children feel safe and secure as they move between households. Topics may include transitions and exchanges, routines, different parenting styles, holidays and special occasions, children's emotional responses, new relationships, and ways to create stability without expecting both homes to operate exactly the same way.
Session 4 — Creating Your Co-Parenting Roadmap
In our final session, we bring the pieces together and develop practical agreements and strategies for moving forward. We identify what is working, address remaining challenges, establish communication and conflict-management plans, and create a personalized co-parenting roadmap that can continue to guide you after coaching ends. Throughout the program, the goal isn't perfect co-parenting or complete agreement. It is to give parents the tools to make more intentional, child-centered choices and create a family system in which their children can feel safe, loved, supported, and free to love both parents.
Program Format: 4 sessions • 90 minutes each • Available for co-parents together or, when appropriate, individual co-parent coaching.
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Cost: $1000 ($250 per session)
Cristin J. Lewis, LPC-S, EMDR-certified, Co-Parenting Specialist
Cristin Lewis, LPC-S, is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor, EMDR Certified Therapist, and trained Co-Parenting Specialist with a passion for helping families navigate difficult transitions in healthier, more child-centered ways. As the owner of Tree of Life Counseling Center, Cristin has worked with individuals and families experiencing trauma, grief, relationship challenges, and the emotional impact of separation and divorce.
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Cristin brings both professional training and personal experience to co-parenting work. She believes that while a marriage or relationship may end, a family continues—and children deserve the freedom to love both parents without feeling caught between them. Her goal is to help parents move beyond former-partner conflict, develop a new relationship as co-parents, and make decisions through the eyes of their children.
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Cristin completed the Co-Parenting Specialist® Training Program
with Christina McGhee, MSW, with specialized training in
child-centered approaches for working with separating and
divorcing families. Her guiding philosophy is simple: keep children
at the center—never in the middle.
Take The First Step
You don't have to have everything figured out before starting counseling. Sometimes the hardest step is simply reaching out.
If you're ready to begin your healing journey, we'd be honored to help. Schedule an appointment today and take the first step toward hope, healing, and lasting change.