Parenting Therapy | Chicago & Online

Parenting Therapy for Parents of Neurodivergent Children: Chicago & Online

You are running on empty. None of the parenting books you’ve read prepared you for what you face. On top of typical kid challenges, your child is trying to manage neurodivergence like autism, ADHD, AuDHD, giftedness, PDA, or twice exceptional (2e); school problems; their gender identity or sexuality; medical or mental health issues; disordered eating; substance abuse; or other unique or special needs, and they are having a hard time.

You put so much energy into trying to lift them up and move them forward, and all too often you don’t have very much to show for your efforts. You want so much to help them, but you don’t seem to have the right tools for what they need, or the ability or energy to advocate effectively for their needs to be supported at home, school, or in the community. You have no idea what else you should do to help your child. You really need a break.

Parental Burnout or Caregiver Burnout is Taking a Toll on Your Health

Your heart starts racing when you see the counselor’s number come through on your phone or your child is nowhere to be found at curfew. Your sleep suffers for days leading up to meetings with the school team, and you notice yourself not wanting to go to that approaching gathering with your friends where you know that the conversation will turn to what is going on with everyone’s kids. All of the stress-eating is making your stomach feel sick, and you can’t even bring yourself to think about what your kid’s future might look like years down the road. The strain is affecting your marriage, your friendships, your career; even your health is starting to suffer.

As a Struggling Parent, You Need Parent Therapy Help Too!

It is hard to find parenting support from anyone who seems to really understand the specific needs of your child or your family’s situation; someone who gets what it is like for you as a parent, and your parenting pains and challenges. It can be difficult and uncomfortable to try to explain. You feel misunderstood, judged, and alone, even angry and resentful. When things get really intense you feel trapped or you act out, and then you feel guilt or shame. You've been focused on getting help for your kid, but you know it's time for you to get some more help for yourself.

If you are searching for parenting therapy, you may already know something important: you are running on empty.

You have likely spent years advocating for your child, coordinating supports, managing meltdowns, navigating school systems, absorbing stress, and trying to hold everything together. On the outside, you may appear competent and capable. On the inside, you may feel depleted, anxious, irritable, or quietly overwhelmed.

A Therapist for Parents and Caregivers Who Understands Your Struggles and Knows How to Provide Parenting Support

I’m Dr. Corrie Goldberg, a psychologist who completed dual Ph.D. programs in both clinical psychology, and in school psychology, and is licensed in both fields (#071.009961; #2019757). I know how important it can be to work with a therapist for parents who really understands the unique challenges of raising a young, adolescent, or adult kid with unique needs, higher needs, or whose needs are just other than what you have the tools or the agency to support effectively. I provide specialized parenting therapy for parents in Chicago, Evanston, the North Shore, and online across PSYPACT-participating states. My work focuses especially on parents raising neurodivergent children; including autistic, ADHD, AuDHD, gifted, twice exceptional (2e), PDA, and otherwise uniquely wired kids and young adults.

You deserve support, too.

Parenting Therapy for Parents of Neurodivergent Children

Many of the parents I work with are raising children with one or more of the following identities:

• Autistic

• ADHD

• AuDHD

• Gifted

• Twice Exceptional (2e)

• Pathological Demand Avoidance or Persistent Drive for Autonomy (PDA)

• Learning Differences

• Anxiety

• Depression

• OCD

• Trauma, Complex Trauma, PTSD, or CPTSD

• Other Complex Medical or Mental Health Needs

On top of typical parenting demands, you may be managing IEPs or 504 plans, private therapies, medical appointments, social challenges, emotional dysregulation, and long-term uncertainty about adulthood and independence.

Even when progress happens, the cumulative stress can take a toll.

If you are experiencing chronic exhaustion, irritability, anxiety, relational strain, or emotional numbness, parenting therapy can provide space to process, recalibrate, and rebuild internal resources.

What Is Parental Burnout?

Parental burnout is not just “being tired.”

It is a state of chronic physical and emotional exhaustion related to prolonged parenting stress. It often includes:

• Feeling depleted or overwhelmed

• Increased irritability or reactivity

• Emotional distancing from your child

• Loss of joy in parenting

• Guilt or shame about struggling

• Sleep difficulties

• Hypervigilance, often felt as anxiety

• Resentment or withdrawal

When Parenting Stress Starts to Feel Like Trauma

For many parents, burnout is layered with cumulative stress exposure.

Repeated invalidation.
Contentious school meetings.
Medical uncertainty.
Social isolation.
Masking, meltdowns, and shutdowns.
Fear about your child’s future.

Over time, your nervous system may remain in fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown.

This is why effective parenting therapy often requires more than coping skills. As a licensed clinical psychologist and trauma specialist, I integrate empirically supported trauma treatments into my work with parents whose burnout is rooted in chronic stress exposure.

Burnout is not weakness. It is often a nervous system response to prolonged strain.

Help to Prevent and Heal Parental Burnout and Caregiver Burnout

Parents raising neurodivergent children are at significantly higher risk for parental burnout due to ongoing advocacy demands, systemic invalidation, and chronic nervous system activation. Many of the parents I work with are navigating chronic stress within systems that were never designed for neurodivergent children or neurodivergent adults. I explore this more deeply in my article on parenting advice for neurodivergent children.

I’m aware that parents of children with higher support needs are at increased risk for problems with their mental, physical, career, and relationship health, and I know how important it is for these parents to be built up so that they do not succumb to parental burnout. I recognize how even well-intended, but uninformed or unrealistic advice or feedback from friends, family, or professionals can be invalidating and discouraging; resulting in you feeling even less supported and more alone.

As a psychologist providing specialized parenting therapy, I work with caring and motivated individuals who are struggling with effectively parenting children whose needs differ from many other kids to stop feeling anxious, out of control, stuck, worn out, or ashamed and begin experiencing greater confidence, acceptance, connection, effectiveness, and satisfaction as a parent and in other important relationships and aspects of their lives.

How Parenting Therapy Can Help

Parenting therapy is not about judging your parenting.

It is about strengthening you.

In our work together, we may focus on:

Regulating Your Nervous System

Chronic stress narrows your window of tolerance. Therapy can help you identify triggers, reduce hypervigilance, and build sustainable regulation practices.

Releasing Internalized Shame and Self-Blame

Many parents of neurodivergent children absorb subtle messages that they are “too much” or “not enough.” We work to rebuild self-trust and separate your worth from your child’s outcomes.

Processing Advocacy Fatigue

IEPs, evaluations, and systemic resistance take emotional energy. Therapy provides space to process frustration and prevent burnout from deepening.

Strengthening Relationships

Parental burnout often affects marriages, co-parenting dynamics, friendships, and career functioning. Therapy can reduce reactivity and improve communication.

Aligning Parenting with Your Values

Instead of rigidly following advice that does not fit, we clarify what works for your family’s nervous systems and values.

Feel Less Overwhelmed by Parenting Challenges and Be a More Effective Parent

Consider what it would be like to have a break; to take some time to focus on what you need and how you might truly be able to get those needs met. Through structured parenting therapy, I help struggling parents like you to stop just going through the exhausting motions of each day. We can work together to learn critical concepts, build skills, access useful resources, heal wounds, and reduce the intensity of emotional reactions.

Many parents report that they finally feel seen and understood; allowing them to lower their defenses, take a break from over-functioning or shutting down, and begin to heal some of their own pain and recharge their depleted reserves. I can help you connect with a greater sense of calm and more satisfying experiences of accomplishment in your parenting and in other valued roles and relationships by lessening the feeling of chaos and strengthening internal resources and outside supports.

Parenting Therapy in Chicago, Evanston & Online

I provide:

• Parent therapy in Evanston in Shore Therapy’s accessible office

• Therapy for parents in Chicago

• Parenting therapy along the North Shore

• Online parenting therapy across 40+ PSYPACT states

Whether you prefer in-person sessions at the Shore Therapy Evanston office or secure telehealth, support is accessible.

Why Work With Me?

I am Dr. Corrie Goldberg, a licensed clinical psychologist with dual Ph.D. training in clinical psychology and school psychology. I specialize in working with parents navigating neurodivergent family systems, chronic stress, and trauma exposure. I am also a parent to three children and understand the complexities and support of family systems firsthand.

My work is:

• Neurodiversity-affirming

• Trauma-specialized

• Grounded in polyvagal-informed nervous system science

• Informed by emerging research on parental burnout and neurodivergent burnout

• Informed by the lived experience of neurodivergent teachers and therapy professionals

• Integrative and evidence-based

This is not generic parenting advice.

It is structured, clinically rigorous parenting therapy for parents who are carrying more than most people see or understand.

Signs You May Benefit from Parenting Therapy

You may benefit from therapy if:

• You feel chronically exhausted or emotionally numb

• You dread school calls or meetings

• You experience anger or irritability you don’t recognize

• You and your partner argue more frequently, especially about your kids

• You feel isolated from friends or extended family

• You are constantly anxious about your child’s future

• You feel ashamed that you are struggling

• You have focused entirely on your child’s therapy but not your own support

If you are unsure whether what you’re experiencing qualifies as burnout, you can take the parental burnout quiz for additional clarity.

Frequently Asked Questions About Parenting Therapy

A Connected Ecosystem of Parent Support

In addition to individual parenting therapy, I also offer:

• The free parental burnout quiz

• The online neurodivergent, ADHD, and autistic parent burnout course for parents of neurodivergent children

• Educational resources and articles on advocacy burnout, dad burnout, parental burnout, trauma processing, & more

These options allow you to choose the level of support that fits your needs.

Take the Next Step for Parenting Therapy Chicago and Online

If you are searching for parenting therapy, something inside you already knows you need more support.

You do not have to continue pushing through exhaustion alone. It is time that you replenish your own reserves and start feeling better.

Whether you are seeking parenting therapy in Chicago or along the North Shore; in Illinois; or in many states across the United States, we can work together at the Shore TherapyEvanston office location or via online therapy in over 40 PSYPACT states across the US.

If you are ready to take the next step to prevent or heal from neurodivergent parent burnout or caregiver burnout, and to address symptoms of anxiety, stress, or trauma, I invite you to contact me for a free 15-minute consultation. We can discuss your needs for therapy for parents Chicago or online parenting therapy across PSYPACT states. Together, we can determine whether this work is the right fit for you.

Contact me today to begin rebuilding energy, clarity, and confidence; not just as a parent, but as a person.