Mindful Parenting

Susan Bögels, PhD, is a professor in Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology, through parent–child and family interactions, with a specific focus on the father; on the role of attentional processes in psychopathology; and on child and family interventions, including mindfulness. She is also the director of the academic center for the treatment of parents and children, UvA minds, in which evidence-based cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness interventions are offered to families. She was a member of the workgroup on Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum, Posttraumatic, and Dissociative Disorders of the DSM-5. Kathleen Restifo, PhD, is a clinical and developmental psychologist specializing in family interventions for children and parents with emotional disorders. She is a practicing family therapist and a mindfulness trainer. Her clinical interests include integrating mindfulness and compassion practices with psychotherapeutic approaches for children, couples, and families. Her research interests include evolutionary perspectives on parenting stress, effects of mindfulness-based interventions on children, and family processes in development of psychopathology. She is the founder of Mindful Families, a center which provides mindfulness and psychotherapy for children, parents, and families, and is adjunct faculty at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands.

"Parenting is often the greatest challenge in the 'full catastrophe' of daily life. In this elegant training manual, parents learn to strengthen their capacity for mindfulness and compassion regardless of the conditions of their lives, past or present. Essential mindfulness skills are gently woven into group exercises and psychoeducation about parenting and stress. This 'how to' program will surely be an important resource for couples and family therapists, and a refuge distressed parents, for many years to come." -- Christopher Germer, Clinical Instructor, Harvard Medical School, author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion