About Loving Parents

Loving Parents is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization focused on supporting Austin parents. Loving Parents envisions a community of connected, loving, and resourced families in Austin. We see a community where parents are cared for and have what they need to be healthy, and we see the beautiful impact that loving parenting has on multiple generations of children.

We seek to uplift families by meeting parents where they are, by supporting them in a way that is holistic, trauma-informed, and connected, and by creating communities where parents find real belonging.

Our Core Beliefs

• How parents are doing is how their kids are doing. Children experience positive outcomes when parents are supported and nurtured.

• Trauma is a part of being human. All of our practices include a trauma-informed approach, and our staff and volunteers are all prepared to show up in a compassionate way for other humans.

• We are holistic and body-centered. We believe our bodies hold the stories of our lives as well as the keys to healing.

• Parents need and deserve deep and compassionate support throughout the different ages and stages of their children. Raising a teenager can be just as challenging as the first days as a new parent. Parenting is not easy, but it can be the most rewarding job any of us get to do. True and deep support helps parents show up as their best selves. Support is vital!

• We believe building resilience is key to navigating our best lives as humans. All our programs are built around supporting our clients as they build up their resilience and emotional capacity.

• We offer loving, compassionate care to people –including our people. For those of us at Loving Parents to do this important work, we need to care for ourselves deeply. This is a daily practice.

• We believe Connected Community is vital to the health of humans. A Connected Community is one where we are showing up as authentic humans and expect others to do the same. A Connected Community is a group of people who feel they belong with each other.

Loving Parents Board of Directors

Stephanie Bazan

Rachel Fratto

Claire Gloria

Heather McKenzie

Katie Schonert

Past Members of the Board

Kareshma Pooran

Leigh Gatlin

Loving Parents Origin

Sarah Stasica and Peter Norris met in the Fall of 2021 as they were beginning their studies at the University of Houston's Graduate College of Social Work. Their shared experience in raising children, and their interest in changing the landscape of how parents are supported, resulted in the creation of Loving Parents. They focused their studies on the development of an organization that could reflect the values of the profession of social work and meet parents where they are in the long journey that is parenting. Along the way, they have found others who believe in the power of supporting parents and a special group of those amazing people are the Loving Parents board members. They all share in the desire to bring a trauma-informed approach and deep compassion to supporting parents, and they are excited about empowering parents in Austin, TX.

Loving Parents Therapists

Peter Norris is a father to four sons and a husband to Nancy. He is a Licensed Master Social Worker and is certified as a mental health peer support specialist.

Peter offers a light-hearted perspective to the therapy space, and he integrates nervous system regulation into all his work. His kind and responsive approach with mothers and fathers is coupled with numerous therapeutic modalities, such as person-centered, CBT, and DBT. He served in the U.S. Army for twenty-three years, and he brings his experience as a father who parented through difficult circumstances, to include missing the birth of two children, to every session. Peter’s areas of focus are PTSD, depression, anxiety, and moral injury. The issues of fatherhood in all stages, veterans and first responders, and religious trauma and deconstruction, are close to his heart.

If you would like to schedule a free 15 minute consultation with Peter, please contact us here and he will get back to you within 48 business hours.

Texas LMSW License #113500

Supervised by Arlene Montgomery, LCSW-S

Sarah Stasica is a mother of three, a Licensed Master Social Worker, a trauma informed yoga teacher, a birth and postpartum doula, and a mental health peer support specialist. Her therapy style is person centered, trauma informed, warm and holistic. She uses her deep knowledge of the body and nervous system to help you to find safety and comfort that you can tap into on your healing journey. Sarah is IFS (Internal Family Systems) informed and has training in a variety of therapy modalities such as CBT and DBT. She believes that both the mind and body are important when healing from trauma, so she finds that using cognitive and body based therapies are helpful tools on your path to healing. Sarah’s areas of focus are complex trauma and PTSD, medical trauma, perinatal mental health and anxiety.

If you would like to schedule a free 15 minute consultation with Sarah, please contact us here and she will get back to you within 48 business hours.

Texas LMSW License #113506