Hallie BulkinAsk HallieAI:Your On-Demand Mentor in Pediatric Feeding & Myo

The Secret to Building Trust with Therapy Parents

15 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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0:58

In this segment of the YouTube video, Hallie Bulkin explains how therapists can build trust with parents by striking a balance between professionalism and relatability. She emphasizes that while maintaining a professional demeanor is essential, therapists should also be approachable, using humor and authentic communication to connect with families. Bulkin shares a concrete example of disclosing a personal family situation—cancelling sessions due to her son’s medical procedure—to illustrate thoughtful personal disclosure that demonstrates empathy without compromising privacy. She stresses the importance of protecting both client and therapist confidentiality, avoiding robotic interactions, and showing empathy even if the therapist is not a parent, by validating parents’ perspectives and experiences.

Chapters

I think we get nervous also, you know, like the professionalism. I take it very seriously. I'm like more of a professional person. I think it's important to be fun and relatable also for like, you know, parents. On my page I do funny jokes, but there's like, there's a level of professionalism that's needed in the field and I think there's a way to do it that you could be respectful but professional but also relatable. Like I was just texting a family member, one of my clients, and you know, I was relatable. I'm like, I'm super stressed about this. Yeah. Procedure that my own son has and, you know, we're canceling sessions for that week so I could be more local. You know, that's— I mean, as much as you want to share, you know, and privacy is all that also for my own family, I take it very seriously. Being seen and relatable also and not looking like back to the— like bots, like a robot, I think also adds value when you're working with families. And you don't have to have a kid to be like relatable. Like you could still, you know, have empathy and validate their perspective. There's so many other things that don't require you to have an actual child to relate to that other one who's— Yeah. Doing things with their child. Mm-hmm.