As millions of American parents report feeling overwhelmed by stress, a children's mental health expert is calling for a shift in how we approach family support. Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge is set to speak at two events in Orlando, Florida, focused on strengthening families, early intervention, and child abuse prevention. Her message: we cannot wait until a family is in crisis to offer support.
According to the American Psychological Association, 48% of parents say their stress is completely overwhelming on most days, and another 41% report that their stress is so high they cannot function. The U.S. Surgeon General has issued a national advisory on the mental health and well-being of parents and caregivers, calling it a public health priority. These statistics underscore the urgency of addressing parental burnout before it leads to negative outcomes for children.
Dr. Roseann, a licensed therapist and board-certified neurofeedback practitioner with over 30 years of experience, emphasizes that when a parent and child are both dysregulated, their stress responses can feed off each other. "When a child is dysregulated, their stress response can activate the parent's stress response, and vice versa," she explains. "Before you know it, nobody in that moment has easy access to the calm, flexible thinking needed to solve the problem."
Her Regulation First® framework teaches parents to understand the nervous system beneath behavior, regulate before reacting, reconnect, and then move into correction or problem-solving. The approach is not about creating perfectly calm parents, but about giving them tools to manage their own stress and respond more effectively. "Prevention is about giving them another option when they feel themselves getting close to that edge," she says.
The importance of this approach is reflected in the work of organizations like the Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida and Healthy Families Florida, which focus on strengthening families before challenges become crises. Dr. Roseann will be speaking at the 2026 Florida Prevention Convention, themed "Stronger Families, Stronger Florida," joining professionals dedicated to prevention strategies.
Dr. Roseann's forthcoming book, The Dysregulated Kid: The Parenting Playbook for Helping Your Child Find Calm in a Chaotic World, will be published by Page Two Books on September 22, 2026. The book offers practical tools based on her framework, including the Love Pause® and CALMS Protocol®, to help parents move from reacting to understanding what their child's brain and body need first.
"Parents don't need more blame," says Dr. Roseann. "They need a simple way to understand what's happening beneath the behavior and know what to do next." With nearly half of parents feeling overwhelmed, these tools are not just about making parenting easier; they are about strengthening families and preventing crises.
Dr. Roseann is available for media interviews and speaking engagements. For more information, visit drroseann.com or dysregulatedkid.com.
