North Star Conversations Transcript: Understanding PCIT and PMT—How Parent Coaching Really Works | Mind Chicago
Lee Wells and David Meyerson of Mind Chicago explain how Parent Management Training (PMT) and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) go beyond behavior charts‚ offering live parent coaching and real-time connection with children to shift relational patterns.
Brandon Gimbel (00:00)
Can you tell me about PMT and PCIT, what they stand for and what they are?
Lee Wells (00:05)
PMT is "Parent Management Training," but a lot of people think of it more like parent coaching. And then PCIT is a form of PMT, "Parent-Child Interaction Therapy," that's for younger kids.
Brandon Gimbel (00:18)
Let's start with PCIT. Could you walk us through the process of evaluation and then of treatment? Is it just the parents who are involved? Is it the kids themselves?
Lee Wells (00:25)
Yeah, PCIT is particularly unique because the child is very actively involved in the process, yet the therapy is all about supporting the parents. What I love about PCIT is it actually takes the therapist out of it and really just focuses on the parents and the child and their relationship. There's a little bit of teaching for the parents of skills and strategies they might already have, but how to use them in an effective or even new way, and maybe even some new skills. And the way we do that is a little bug in the ear. We actually have a two-way mirror. Therapist is on the other side. Parent and child is on the other side. And while they're interacting, playing Magna-Tiles, or we have these Minecraft blocks that everybody loves. They're just literally playing. They're reconnecting as a family. And then the parent is getting guidance on how to respond to a child's behavior in unique in different ways in real time to practice it. And those changes help shift the relationship, shift behaviors, and increase parent confidence.
Brandon Gimbel (01:23)
That's brilliant. It really is. So much of what I've encountered historically has been teaching, has been talking to the parents about what they should be doing and what they shouldn't be doing. What you're doing is you are nudging the parent very gently in live situations.