About Amy
My mission as a parent coach is to help parents:
- strengthen relationships with their children
- gain clarity on their values
- confidently create the lives they want for their families.
I help parents through parent coaching to…
explore the challenges facing their family, discover the strengths of each family member, articulate their dreams, and face their fears in order to transform challenging family dynamics into more joyful experiences of connection and love.
My Education and Training:
- Parent Coach Certification® Training Program through the Parent Coaching Institute, an acclaimed, graduate level program affiliated with Seattle Pacific University
- Masters in Education (Learning and Teaching Program), Harvard University Graduate School of Education
- B.A. in American Studies, magna cum laude, Amherst College
- Trained to lead Prejudice Reduction Workshops, Anti-Racism and Multicultural Workshops, and Interfaith Children’s and Junior Youth groups
I love to explore, grow, and feel connected to other people:
- I have lived and worked in Baltimore city, a Lakota Sioux reservation in South Dakota, an organic farm in New Mexico, Appalachian towns in Kentucky, cities and villages in Chile, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica, England and Portugal in order to know people of many cultures and backgrounds.
- I have always loved asking people questions and pointing out connections that lead us to new insights and energy.
- I like jumping into new situations, seeing what happens, and pushing myself to observe, learn, and grow from challenging experiences.
- I am part of several professional coaching groups and love continually educating myself through books, on-line education, in-person “masterminds,” and conferences.
I have over 30 years of leadership, coaching and teaching experience:
- Since high school, I have served in many leadership, teaching, coaching, and counseling roles.
- I co-founded FORJ (Families Organizing for Racial Justice) and served several years as the Coordinator, coaching parent leaders at 21+schools in Newton, MA.
- I served as an Instructor for IDEAS (Initiatives for Developing Equity and Achievement for Students), teaching teachers.
- I taught middle school English and social studies for 11 years at independent and public schools.
- I founded interfaith women’s groups and children’s “Peacemakers” groups in the Boston area and in Portugal, which I have been running for the past 18 years.
- I run diversity and anti-racism workshops and helped co-found a chapter of SOAR (Students Organized Against Racism) at Amherst College.
- I create and run summer art programs for neighborhood children.
I am a mother of three children:
- I have three children, ages 13 to 18, who keep my husband and me growing.
- I decided to train to be a parent coach after benefiting from coaching myself years ago, when I was feeling confused, frustrated and out of ideas to deal with a particular parent-child pattern in our family. I still use what I learned then and love being able to now share the gifts of coaching with others.
- I am continually applying what I share in my coaching as a parent in my own family, which keeps me aware of how it feels to try new things and live what I teach and believe. I love the co-constructive experience of coaching and parenting.
Let’s talk.
Call or text me: 617-777-2080
Email me: amy@amybehrens.com
Through the whole coaching process, Amy was the very definition of committed. She was completely focused and engaged, took copious notes, asked highly relevant questions, engaged in dialogue for the sake of discovery and clarification, and then took the time to compose a very detailed and thorough email summary of every single session. I felt supported, heard, and understood every step of the way.
Amy helps me prepare. She helps me think through questions to ask my children to initiate difficult conversations, then role-plays with me so I feel confident in having those conversations.
What has stayed with me are the new ways of thinking, of seeing a situation, of approaching a tense situation, and of recognizing when I’m falling into my old patterns. I was also surprised to see in how many other areas of my life I was able to apply these insights—not only in my family, but also at work and my community.