Kristene Geering, MA, *ICI

Kristene has a B.A. in Theater Arts and holds both a Master's Degree and a Level 2 California Teaching Credential in Early Childhood Special Education. In addition, she has graduate-level training in psychotherapy (Dramatherapy), training from Mindful Schools, and is an Independent Certified Instructor with the Baby Signs(R) Program. Currently she is also Director of Education for Parent Lab, and much of her work can be found in the Parent Lab app.

Kristene has more than 30 years of teaching experience in a variety of settings. While living in Japan she taught English as a foreign language to adults and children for four years, and was a guest instructor for acting/directing techniques at Sugiyama University. After returning to the United States, she worked as a substitute teacher in elementary, middle, and high school. She's been a childcare and preschool teacher at centers with philosophies including Waldorf and Reggio Emilia.  In her work as a developmental specialist she has provided early intervention and parent education/support in a variety of settings in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to direct intervention, this work included family-centered developmental assessments, running parent support groups, and coordinating intra-agency services for families.  Her boy/girl twins, however, have given her a deeper understanding and empathy for parents across the board and is, by far, the most challenging and rewarding experience she has had!

Parent support and Infant Mental Health have been a pivotal focus in Kristene's career.  Her thesis, How Do Parents Perceive Support Systems in their Early Intervention Programs, explored how parents reported the level of support they felt in both center-based and home-based intervention programs.  Kristene also co-presented Taking on the Tough Cases: Infant Mental Health & Relationship-Based Interventions at the Infant Development Association Conference with Charlene Canger, MFT, LCSW and Denise Carbon, MA. Her commitment to the well-being of the parent-child dyad is key in her philosophy and the reason she has chosen to teach parents and children together.