CLICK HERE for more information about Lisa's presentations.
Helping parents learn simple, effective parenting skills is a passion Lisa Greene discovered after she became a mom and realized that kids don't come with an instruction manual! It's not easy being a parent, especially when a child has special needs.
When Lisa's first child Jacob was born unexpectedly with cystic fibrosis, she left her fifteen year career in mortgage banking to focus on taking care of Jacob. Needing information about both special needs and general parenting challenges, she started digging in to the many different parenting resources and experienced "information overload." There is so much conflicting, and un-researched, information about how to be an effective parent.
Then, Lisa discovered Love and Logic and life changed for the whole family. As her knowledge of Love and Logic grew, she started teaching it first to friends and now, as an independent Love and Logic facilitator since 2002, has taught the program professionally to thousands of parents around the country.
In 2004, Lisa wrote a letter to the founders of Love and Logic, Jim Fay and Foster Cline, MD. She asked them to help her create new resources for raising children with medical issues and a new program, Parenting Children with Health Issues was born! Lisa has been working with Dr. Cline on this important project ever since. As the co-author of an award-winning book with Dr. Cline, Lisa is honored to join the ranks of a very small number of Love and Logic authors.
Lisa enjoys working with families so much that she decided to get additional training as a parent coach. In 2007, she completed the parent coach certification program at ACPI. Lisa has also completed Love and Logic's facilitator training program and is a Certified Positive Discipline Educator. For formal education, Lisa has a Bachelor's degree in Business from Central Washington University and completed her Master's degree in Family Life Education at Concordia University in December, 2013. She also completed the 1,600 hour work requirement for certification as a family life educator through National Council of Family Relations.
Lisa lives with her husband and two children near Seattle, WA. For fun, she loves the outdoors, photography, writing, travel and spending time with family and friends.
Education
MA Family Life Education, Concordia University, St. Paul
BS Organizational Management, Central Washington University
Certifications and Memberships
Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE)
Independent Love and Logic Facilitator Training
Certified Parent Coach- ACPI (CCP)
Certified Positive Discipline Educator
National Council on Family Relations Membership (NCFR)
National Parenting Education Network Membership (NPEN)
National Speakers Association Membership (NSA)CLICK HERE for more information about Lisa's presentations.
To contact Lisa, call 425-298-7197 or SEND LISA A NOTE.
A Personal Note from Lisa
I’ve always dreamed of writing a book but never did I imagine my first book would be about parenting children with special needs. And even though this book isn’t exactly the thrilling whodunnit of my dreams, it shares my heart in a way that no other book ever will.
It doesn’t matter that the subject of this book won’t lead it to the best-seller lists. What does matter is the opportunity to provide crucial and life-changing information for the many families who, like us, struggle with parenting children with serious medical issues. My deepest thanks go to Foster Cline MD, Jim Fay, Dr. Charles Fay and The Love and Logic Press for publishing this book and giving us a place to go for answers and hope.
Having two beautiful children with a chronic, life-shortening illness has given me a perspective on life that I don’t think I would have otherwise grasped: Life is so precious, and every moment counts. Each new day we get to share with our children is a gift.
Since our son, Jacob’s, birth and immediate diagnosis with cystic fibrosis, I have also come to realize that, as a parent, the only thing I really have any control over is to be a great parent. This realization has been anything but easy.
The early days of Jacob’s diagnosis were a blur of disbelief, anger, and grief. Through the pain and tears, I decided it was my job to make him stay healthy. The problem was, I really didn’t know how to do it. Oh, but I thought I did! When things were going okay, I had it handled. It was only when things weren’t going “as planned” that I realized I needed help with my parenting skills.
One day, as I “recovered” from another close encounter with two-year-old Jacob over taking his medication (which had resulted in a doozey of a temper tantrum), I reflected on our challenges and felt so hopeless.
Jacob's medications are mandatory- not optional. How was I going to get this strong-willed kid to take them if he really didn't want to? He was only two and I was already struggling with compliance. And what about the teen years when I wouldn't always be around to make him take his meds and eat properly? I wanted our time together to spent having fun and loving each other, not fighting over medications and food. The difficulties that lie ahead seemed so huge. Where could I go for answers? Were there any?
Enter Love and Logic. My husband and I took one of their parenting classes and were so excited to learn practical, common-sense skills to avoid power struggles. And they worked with Jacob! Maybe there was some hope after all...
We started using Love and Logic with all of the "normal" day-to-day parenting issues as well as Jacob's medications and special dietary requirements. Things went well for quite awhile but as Jacob's medical needs became more complex, we needed more help.
I decided to send a letter to Love and Logic founders Jim Fay and Dr. Foster Cline asking them to adapt Love and Logic's parenting approach to kids with medical conditions. One evening, Dr. Cline called and said he would do it but only with my help. Wow! It was like talking to Santa Claus!
Foster was so compassionate and clearly eager and qualified to help our family and other families like us. He even had a recording of a counseling session where he had successfully used Love and Logic years ago with an eleven-year-old with cystic fibrosis who was on death's door for non-compliance. I knew right away he could help us with our challenges and answer my many questions.
So now, here we are- our book is finally done after much hard work. And we've also created a website, audio recordings and teleconferences to help parents continue to develop their skills and connect with each other for support.
As I’ve worked with Foster on this book over last few years, I’ve found it to be an experience filled with both joy and sorrow. It has forced me to look at some personal issues about my own background that I had neatly avoided but needed to face. And although the information we share within these pages may not always be comfortable to read, it is necessary, life-changing and, possibly, life saving for some of our children.
I have learned how to implement Love and Logic’s powerful leadership skills at a much deeper level and yet, just like us all, I am still a work in progress. This book will end but our stories won't. And, Dr. Cline is committed to giving us the training and support we need to successfully navigate around the obstacles we face as we strive to be great parents in very difficult parenting circumstances.
If it’s possible for me to learn and use these tools, then it’s possible for every one of you, too, even on those tough days when we don’t exactly feel like great parents. The fact that you are reading these words indicates your desire to walk the path of learning, growing, questioning, and changing. That’s what it’s all about.
We become aware of good, healthy parenting techniques, we toss away those that aren’t, and we take the necessary steps toward showing our love effectively. We are all on this journey together; showing our children a love that is logical and ensuring that all of our logic is laced with love. This will empower us to be great parents to our very special children because every moment matters.
