Joyful Courage & Sproutable: one space for all parents & caregivers

If I had a superpower I would (obviously) choose the power to travel instantly, but after THAT I would love to have an immediate replay on my life. One that is edited, documentary style, filled with montages and side stories, with footage I hadn’t seen before, from other perspectives and people…perhaps someone walking by and picking up something I had dropped on campus only to realize later they would become the love of my life.

Until that superpower is discovered, I have to rely on memories and luck. Luck being the day my neighbors moved into the house behind ours. We shared a fence and they were lovely. Young! Energetic! They didn’t mind loud kids!

At this point in my life, I was working full time for Seattle Public Schools as a school psychologist and counselor, fulfilled by my work directly with preschool and elementary students. In the evenings and weekends, I grew my business teaching parents and training teachers about Positive Discipline through classes, coaching and workshops (cue the footage of me hauling a flip chart around town hugging parents and emphatically teaching.) Along with two (very) young children, it was a lot. So much so, that I finally reached a limit. There was only one of me, yet I had so much more inside to give! I wrestled with this tension, not having the time and bandwidth and yet also wanting to share the helpful (or, as parents would repeatedly tell me, “life-changing”)  information with more grown-ups.

It was at that moment my neighbor, Alanna Beebe, popped her head up and over the fence and said “Hey! I have an idea about using videos of real families.”

With her background in public health and early childcare, along with an expertise in getting information to the masses, Alanna had also reached a limit within the confines of a nonprofit organization. We realized we had the same dream- to help ALL parents and caregivers gain confidence and tools through trusted information to grow their remarkable kids. 

Within minutes, I said yes. Actually more like “YES!!!!!”  

We began merging our backgrounds in psychology, early child development, public health, counseling, mindfulness, social emotional learning, social justice, racial equity and Positive Discipline, joining forces to go farther than either of us could do on our own. We used innovation, technology, Alanna’s idea of videos of REAL families, and an online platform to share the helpful, immediately useful and mutually-respectful tools world wide. 

It felt like meeting someone and 2 weeks later eloping to Vegas to say “I do!” Time elapsed (cue the montage video as we get scrappy with the beginning videos and slowly grow our content and craft) and our company and partnership strengthened and deepened.  Our Sproutable community grew to include people from 26 countries and even through the pandemic we continued to create courses, classes and content that resonated with families.

One special branch on the Sproutable tree grew when we met Danielle Taylor, nanny extraordinaire, who took one of our in-person workshops. She immediately soaked up all things Positive Discipline and volunteered to help us edit and create our Nanny Certification Course. Danielle went on to be certified as a Positive Discipline educator and was officially hired as our nanny liaison, writing blogs and doing agency outreach amongst other incredible talents. 

After five years, we found ourselves at another crossroad. We had so much more to share and yet it was physically impossible to continue to grow by ourselves. Alanna had another idea.

“Let’s merge!”

Meanwhile, Casey O’Roarty had been facilitating Positive Discipline classes, coaching parents and growing her popular Joyful Courage parenting podcast. She and I met during our advanced Positive Discipline training and became fast friends and trusted colleagues. As my expertise focused on early childhood, her niche became working with parents of tweens and teens. We stayed in touch as close friends do (cue the documentary footage of us presenting together at Positive Discipline conferences, and laughing while talking on the phone) so she was the perfect choice. 

Miraculously, she said yes, and our capacity was instantaneous. 

Now we support parents/caregivers of children birth to teens. 

Together, we are reshaping Sproutable’s future, and our hope for the world: 

At its heart, Sproutable stands for a world where every human knows that they matter. We believe that all children and all adults deserve dignity, respect and compassion. We believe in everyone’s potential for growth. 

We believe relationship matters.

We believe in boundaries WITH love.

We believe in tools that support your heart and your children.

The Sproutable team works every day to co-create confidence, encouragement, and possibility with the clients we serve. We are deeply committed to the philosophy of Positive Discipline and practices that are backed by neuroscience to support brain development and whole health, threads that are woven into all we create for grown ups.

At Sproutable, we embrace all families. We are dedicated to continue to listen and learn from families of color and the LGBTQIA+ community, and all the places of intersection therein.

We are a growth-minded, solution-focused organization.We are committed to  always improving our support of families and classrooms. We are striving to cultivate connection, offer quality services and maintain integrity. 

The documentary is still being made, and I can’t wait to see how far we go!