Episode 57 | Understanding Parent-Child Therapy

In this episode, Janet sits down with Dr. Ruwa Sabbagh, Ph.D., C.Psych., to explore how parent-child therapy can support emotional development and strengthen relationships from the earliest years of life.

Dr. Sabbagh is a clinical psychologist with over 25 years of experience working with children, adolescents, and adults. She has trained extensively in the Watch, Wait and Wonder model, a play-based, attachment-focused approach that supports healing and connection between caregivers and their children.

In this conversation, she explains how this style of therapy works, why it’s so effective for helping young children regulate emotions, and how it offers parents a chance to respond more sensitively, even when that wasn’t modeled for them growing up. She also shares insights into how attachment patterns form in early life and continue to shape relationships well into adulthood.