I purposefully work with parents to build value based, assertive communication practices that reduce high-conflict parenting interactions to support the healthy emotional, physical, and psychological development of children.
— Andrea Watkins
Andrea loves helping people discover and honor the things that help them feel centered and empowered while also caring the right amount about others.
In 2004, my children’s father and I divorced. At the time, neither one of us recognized how the process of divorce (e.g., splitting assets, sharing parenting responsibilities, and navigating decisions for children) could hurt, cause defensiveness, and put our children’s development at risk. Trusted, skilled professionals helped me clarify my personal values and what I valued with my children, enabling me to communicate efficiently and effectively.
This experience set the stage for advocacy and work with parents who have dependency and neglect cases. I have used my restorative and transformative justice experiences, mitigation experience, and research on emotions and emotion regulation to lay the foundations for my parent coaching and parent coordination/decision-making practice. My work on interdisciplinary teams advocating for clients who have disabilities related to Intellectual Developmental Disabilities and disabilities related to their mental health diagnoses was recognized by the Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel in 2024. In 2025, I delivered a training at the National Adoption Council's yearly conference on maintaining communication with parents after a termination of parental rights.
In 2025, I began offering parent coaching services. My program provides a framework for parents involved in high-conflict co-parenting dynamics to develop communication and parent coordination skills for effective, efficient co-parenting or parallel parenting. The program is research-based and is rooted in my love of emotions, emotion regulation, and restorative and transformative practices. I have also received training related to child abuse, interpersonal violence, parental alienation, parent coordinating, and decision making.
While another person's behavior may never change, changing how we interact, communicate, and hold people accountable can transform our experience and create a safe, protected space for our children to give and receive love from two parents. Liberation is possible.
When not working, I can be found enjoying nature, swimming, walking my dog Squibnocket, reading a good book, or learning how to play Mah Jong.