Real Parenting for Real Kids: Enabling parents to bring out the best in their children

About Melissa Hood

Melissa Hood is the founding director of The Parent Practice. A former solicitor when her youngest was born she changed career to spend more time at home working part time as a decorative painter. She took a parenting class when one of her sons diagnosed with dyslexia was in trouble at school with impulsive aggressive and disruptive behaviour. Melissa and John wanted to address the behaviour as well as help him academically. The advice transformed their family life as they learnt how to understand their childrens needs better communicate more positively and improve their confidence. Melissa completed the Teacher Training Programme (New Learning Centre) in 1998 and was a Parenting Facilitator there for 6 years running parenting skills classes workshops and parent and family consultations. She founded the Parent Practice in 2004 and since then she has led hundreds of classes. She has a Certificate in Systemic Family Therapy (Birkbeck) and is trained in NLP Group dynamics Non-verbal communication and Supporting Separated Families. She is the first UK Gottman Certified Educator to lead Bringing Baby Home Workshops.