Michael Larson

MICHAEL LARSON, BA, CCF
Teen, Parent and Family Counsellor
Founder of LIFE UPGRADE
I TEACH PARENTS HOW TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN A HEALTHY PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP

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Empowered Parenting: Creating a Healthy Parent-Child Relationship
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Michael Larson of Life Upgrade
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@michaellarson1111

"Parenting wasn't supposed to be this hard."

YOU ARE NOT A BAD PARENT AND YOU DON’T HAVE A BAD KID, YOU JUST NEED TO LEARN SOME EFFECTIVE PARENTING SKILLS, EVERY JOB REQUIRES A SKILLSET.

As parents, we need focus on effectively parenting rather than emotionally parenting.

WHAT I OFFER:

Counselling Sessions: Option of in-person or Virtual, Sessions are 60-90 minutes.

I specialize in Teen, Parent and Family Counselling.

I also offer something unique and is a game changer for families:

12-week Empowered Parenting Program that educates, supports, and helps you as the parent to remove the issues and problems from your home.
If you are willing to invest 3 months of your time, you can change your family’s destiny.
I have taken all my knowledge gained through my education, training, research and working with families since 2006 and designed a program to solve your family’s problems.
This program will transform your parent-child relationship and equip you with practical tools to solve problems right now, or any problem that arises in the future.
You will have 12 weekly Counselling Sessions with me, that are 60 minutes in length, as well as consistent e-mail support. These sessions can be a combination of scenarios that include one parent, two parents, the child (age based) or the family together.
You will be provided with Weekly Modules that will breakdown how to effectively parent through any challenge that you may have with your child.

EMPOWERED PARENTING PROGRAM OVERVIEW:
Week 1- Family Check In
Week 2- Exploring Parenting Style
Week 3- Providing a Secure Attachment and Building Connection
Week 4- Learning to Effectively Communicate and Establish a Teamwork Approach
Week 5- Stress Management
Week 6- Teaching your Children about Emotional Regulation and Brain Development
Week 7- Pause and reflect Week
Week 8- How to Effectively Discipline
Week 9- Emotional Intelligence
Week 10- The ‘Scary Teenage Years’
Week 11- Children with Complex Needs
Week 12- Program Wrap Up

Life Upgrade Services Breakdown:

Addiction:
Is your child obsessed with their devices?
Is your teen glued to their phone?
Do your children fight with you when you try and limit screen time?
Are you using drugs, alcohol, or food to numb out and supress emotions?

Anger:
Are you constantly yelling at your kids?
Are you getting mad at the people around you?
Is your child threatening you, breaking things or hitting you?
Does your home feel unsafe?

Anxiety:
Are you consumed by worries and fear?
Do you find yourself frequently thinking about worse case scenario?
Do you avoid doing things or going places?
Are you missing out on what life has to offer?

Co-Parenting:
Are you dealing with a Toxic Ex-Partner?
Do you require conflict resolution?
Do you need help developing a Parenting Plan?
Wondering what is for your child?

Depression:
Are you feeling sad and overwhelmed too often?
Has an event negatively changed or impacted you?
Have you lost your energy, joy, and enthusiasm for life itself?
Have you already tried medication?

Divorce:
Looking for ways to emotionally support your children?
Looking for ways to emotionally support yourself?
Are lawyers, legal bills and the courts stressing you out?
Seeking Conflict Resolution or a Parenting Plan?

Parenting:
Your kids will not listen to you?
Tried everything, nothing works?
Your child has a diagnosis, and you need guidance?
Your Teen is out of control?

Stress:
Overwhelmed all day?
You cannot fall or stay asleep?
Health issues like headaches and stomach problems?
Work, Financial, Relationship and Family Stress is all too common.

Trauma:
Has your family endured an unexpected tragedy?
A death in the family?
Divorce?
A traumatic incident or incidents can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Often our children’s challenging behaviors are a result of unhealed Trauma

WHAT MAKES MICHAEL LARSON DIFFERENT:

I chose to become a Parent, Teen, and family Counsellor because I understand the challenges parents face and I have seen firsthand the struggles children can experience.

I find fulfillment in helping parents and their children to re-connect and re-build their relationships.

I have helped lots of parents to look inwards to find the solutions they need to fix the struggles that they are experiencing with their children.

I have helped many teens transform their lives to improve their overall health and happiness.

I have helped many children, parents and families heal and overcome their struggles since 2006.

Prior to Creating Life Upgrade, I ran a Level 5 Specialized Treatment foster home for six years where I parented teenaged youth.

These youth that moved into my home were involved in the youth criminal justice system, gang involved, not in school, had addiction issues, and had experienced significant trauma in their lives.

These youth that I parented had diagnoses including ADHD, ODD, FASD, PTSD, schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety, and they all displayed significant aggression and tendency towards violence when first entering my foster home.

It was this, six-year long experience, where I was able to put my education and training to use, and where I learned the most about parenting.

The first year was a challenge, but once I was able to gain awareness of what the actual issues were for these youth, as well as awareness of how parenting was affecting me, the work became easier (still not easy though).

After my time fostering, I worked in a K - 8 school where I worked with younger children who required additional learning and behavioral supports. Most of my days were spent de-escalating young children who were being removed from the classroom due to significant behavioral issues.

Prior to fostering, I worked 2 years as a Juvenile Counsellor at a Correctional facility.

I left that job, because I wanted to dedicate my professional life to helping youth stay out of jail, rather than working with them in jail.

EDUCATION:

*Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Criminal Justice and Conflict Resolution from University of Winnipeg
*Certified Coach Practitioner
*Certified Wraparound Facilitator
*Formally trained in Culturally Competent Counselling
*Formally trained in Gordon Neufeld’s Attachment-Based Parenting
*Formally trained in Circle of Security Parenting
*Formally trained in suicide assessment and intervention, crisis intervention, and mental status examination

I have also learned a lot from my personal experiences as well, being:

*a father who parented a daughter following divorce
*a (step) father parenting a tween daughter
*a partner to a wonderful woman who is also a therapist
*a partner and parent navigating the intricacies of a blended and interracial family
*a son who experienced the family impacts after my father died from ALS
* overcoming stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, PTSD and chronic pain

TESTIMONIALS:

“The twelve-week Empowered Parenting Program with Michael is a very well-designed program that offers the help, guidance, and tools necessary with an individualized approach, to enhance your parenting strategies that result in a more fulfilling and healthy relationship between you and your child.

At the time I began Michael’s program, I was not sure what to expect, the only thing I was sure of was that I was desperate for help and change, and his program seemed like the best way for me to achieve both help and positive change.

Michael is really great at being supportive and understanding, while also helping you hold up the mirror in order to identify the issues, their root causes, your role as a parent, and what you can do to directly impact the situation.

Holding up the mirror can be very difficult and emotionally triggering, but one thing that got me through, was the one thing I feel that sets Michael apart from other counsellors and coaches.
Michael consistently offered unparalleled accessibility, no matter the time or day, whether you were between sessions or not, I could also reach out with a struggle in need of advice or just to simply ask a question and he would always respond with the right guidance.

Michael not only gives you the tools to improve your situation, but he is with you every step of the way in helping you implement them. Michael offers a safe place to be honest and vulnerable, and always helps you to feel like you are not alone in what you are going through as a parent.

Michael is the definition of what a good and effective counsellor should be, because he lives what he says in that you are genuinely working together as a team.
I am truly grateful for working with Michael and his Empowered Parenting Program, as I feel my family and I would not have made the progress we have and continue to make without all his guidance, knowledge, and support.
I highly recommend taking Michael’s twelve-week Empowered Parenting Program if you are ready to become an effective parent and willing to put in the hard yet very rewarding work to get there.”
-J.H. from Manitoba, Canada

“We purchased and completed this Empowered Parenting Program because we were really struggling with the challenges of having a blended family. Our kids were dealing with the aftermath of divorce and going through a lot of big changes in their lives. As parents, we wanted to help them but having different parenting styles led to a breakdown in communication and disagreements about how to implement rules and discipline in our home.

Taking this 12-week course was definitely what our family and marriage needed, and being able to talk about issues that we had been stalemated on for months, with an objective and understanding coach like Michael, was really helpful in being able to move forward as a team.

Michael offered his insight into some of our kids’ more challenging behaviors and our kids enjoyed having a few sessions to talk with him on their own. Michael’s engaging and friendly style immediately won them over, despite our teenager being reluctant to meet at first. They even asked if they could meet him again after their sessions.

The course material was easy to understand and every week focuses on a different aspect of parenting. Discussing it together helped both of us as parents find solutions that worked for us and that we were able to implement right away. We noticed a difference both in our parenting stress levels and also in our kids’ behavior, as we were able to communicate more clearly not only with them, but also with each other.

We were also able to take a closer look at why we parented the way we did and were able to gain greater clarity on the results of parenting by default. It is not easy work but for anyone looking to make lasting changes in their family, this material is invaluable.

We would highly recommend the Empowered Parenting program to any families who are looking for support and help in becoming more effective parents and having a happier, healthier family.
Thank you so much, Michael! “

-Mike and Victoria, Colorado, United States


“Working with Michael was a life saver! My son’s difficult behaviours started to get better about 4 weeks in, I was shocked!”
-T.L. Nova Scotia, Canada

“I was apprehensive. Worried about being judged and feeling like a terrible parent. Michael made me feel capable and supported through the entire program. I’m so proud of myself for taking the leap and doing this. Today I’m a confident parent and my relationship with my kids is so much better than I ever thought it could be.”
-D.S. Rhode Island, USA

“Our son has ADHD and we’ve tried medications, diet changes, activities, everything and nothing was working. My husband and I did Michaels 12 week program and we’re so happy we did. I wish we would have done it first, before all the other things we tried. The reality is that as parents we are the biggest influence in our sons life and certain ways we were parenting were not working. With Michaels help we learned new ways to parent and connect with our son and it made all the difference.”
-P.T. British Columbia, Canada

“If you’re on the fence about doing the parenting program - just do it. Michael is great to work with, the lessons are invaluable and he gives you practical tools to start using immediately. I’m a way better dad than I was and all 3 of my kids are benefiting from that.”
-G.H. Manitoba, Canada

“I felt like a failure as a mom. I was doing all the things my parents did that I told myself I would never do once I had kids. But I didn’t know anything else. My teen daughter didn’t talk to me other than when we were fighting and yelling at each other and I just thought this was how it was going to be. I joined Michaels parenting group then took his parenting program. Thank God I did! It was such an eye opener. I learned how to parent effectively and how to build a relationship with my daughter. To all those parents that believe that teens just want to be alone, it’s not true. My daughter and I have a great relationship now because I changed what I was doing. Thank you Michael!”
-Y.S. New Mexico, USA

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