ORLANDO, Fla. — As millions of American parents struggle under the weight of daily stress, a children's mental health expert is bringing a critical message to Florida: prevention must start before a parent reaches the breaking point.
According to the American Psychological Association, 48% of parents report that their stress is completely overwhelming on most days, and another 41% say their stress is so high they can't function. The crisis has become significant enough that the U.S. Surgeon General issued a national advisory on the mental health and well-being of parents and caregivers, calling parental well-being a public health priority.
These numbers raise an urgent question for Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge, a licensed therapist and board-certified neurofeedback practitioner with more than 30 years of experience: Who is helping the parent before they reach their breaking point? That question will be at the center of her upcoming speaking engagements in Orlando, where she will address professionals at the Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida and the 2026 Florida Prevention Convention, themed "Stronger Families, Stronger Florida."
"We can't wait until a family is in crisis to decide they deserve support," says Dr. Roseann. "Prevention means reaching the parent while they're overwhelmed, not after they've reached their breaking point."
Her approach, known as Regulation First®, teaches parents and professionals to understand the nervous system beneath a child's behavior, regulate before reacting, reconnect, and then move into correction or problem-solving. The framework, which Dr. Roseann describes as "Regulate. Connect. Correct," is designed to prevent the escalation that occurs when two overloaded nervous systems collide.
"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."
The importance of addressing parental stress is underscored by prevention organizations that focus on strengthening families before challenges become crises. The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida invests in programs designed to improve outcomes for children and preserve and strengthen families, while Healthy Families Florida works directly with parents facing significant life challenges, building on family strengths and empowering parents through education and community support.
"Supporting parents isn't separate from supporting children," says Dr. Roseann. "When we give parents tools to understand their own stress response and their child's nervous system, we're strengthening the entire family."
Dr. Roseann emphasizes that parental stress does not cause child abuse, nor does it mean every overwhelmed family is in crisis. Rather, prevention includes making sure parents don't have to wait until they're drowning to receive support.
The principles she will share in Orlando are detailed in her forthcoming book, The Dysregulated Kid: The Parenting Playbook for Helping Your Child Find Calm in a Chaotic World, to be published by Page Two Books on September 22, 2026. The book introduces strategies like the Love Pause®, CALMS Protocol®, and 10-Minute Resets, all aimed at helping parents move from reacting to understanding what a child's brain and body need first.
"Parents don't need more blame," says Dr. Roseann. "And they don't need to become perfectly calm people. They need a simple way to understand what's happening beneath the behavior and know what to do next."
At a time when nearly half of parents report feeling completely overwhelmed on most days, these tools are about more than making parenting easier—they're about strengthening families and preventing crises before they begin. As Dr. Roseann puts it, "Every hard moment isn't a crisis. But every hard moment is an opportunity to change what happens next."
