ORLANDO, FL — Nearly half of American parents report that their stress is completely overwhelming on most days, according to the American Psychological Association. Another 41% say their stress is so high they can't function. The U.S. Surgeon General has issued a national advisory on parental well-being, calling it a public health priority. Yet, as children's mental health expert Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge points out, the question remains: who helps the parent before they reach their breaking point?
Dr. Roseann, a licensed therapist and Board Certified in Neurofeedback with over 30 years of experience, will address this issue as a speaker at The Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida and the 2026 Florida Prevention Convention in Orlando. The convention, themed "Stronger Families, Stronger Florida," brings together professionals in Healthy Families, early intervention, and child abuse prevention to advance strategies that support families before challenges escalate.
"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."
When an overwhelmed parent meets an overwhelmed child, the result is often a collision of two dysregulated nervous systems. Dr. Roseann explains that a child's stress response can trigger the parent's, leading to escalating conflict and a loss of calm, flexible thinking. Traditional parenting advice often focuses on what the adult should say or what consequence to give, but Dr. Roseann believes something needs to happen first: regulation.
Her Regulation First® framework teaches parents and professionals to understand the nervous system beneath behavior, regulate before reacting, reconnect, and then move into correction or problem-solving. The sequence is Regulate. Connect. Correct. "The goal isn't to create perfectly calm parents," she says. "Parents are human. Prevention is about giving them another option when they feel themselves getting close to that edge."
Child abuse prevention is often discussed in terms of responding to concerns, but organizations like the Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida have long focused upstream. Healthy Families Florida works directly with parents facing significant challenges, building on strengths and providing education and support. Dr. Roseann argues that supporting parents is not separate from supporting children. "When we give parents tools to understand their own stress response and their child's nervous system, we're strengthening the entire family," she says.
Dr. Roseann's message is that prevention starts before the breaking point—when a parent recognizes their own stress cup is overflowing, when adults understand that a child's behavior may be communicating overwhelm, and when families feel supported enough to ask for help early. She emphasizes that prevention is about giving parents practical tools to use in hard moments, not just responding after problems become emergencies.
This approach is the foundation of 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®, RESET to Regulate®, and 10-Minute Resets to help parents move from reacting to understanding what their child's brain and body need first. "Parents don't need more blame," Dr. Roseann says. "They need a simple way to understand what's happening beneath the behavior and know what to do next."
Dr. Roseann is available for media interviews and speaking engagements while in Orlando. For more information, contact her team at drroseann@drroseann.com or visit drroseann.com. Pre-orders for the book are available at dysregulatedkid.com.
