Dr. Parnell is committed to helping clients transform through the challenges and conflicts they face. Services are founded on the belief that clients have the capacity to deal with change, resolve differences and grow in the process. Dr. Parnell endeavors to create a professional environment in which to guide clients to discover existing abilities, to learn new skills, and to achieve the productive outcomes they desire. In addition to providing support through challenging times, services are problem-focused and resolution-oriented. A primary concentration has been promoting positive outcomes for children during these family transitions. Since some families are unable to access quality services due to financial limitations, Dr. Parnell has been involved in several projects to provide dispute resolution and mental health services to lower income families.
After several decades of providing services to individuals and families connected to the civil, criminal, dependency, and family courts, her practice currently focuses on dispute resolution options for conflicts that occur within families across the lifespan. Dr. Parnell assists families in her roles as a Licensed Psychologist and Florida Supreme Court Certified Mediator (Appellate, Circuit, County, Dependency, and Family). She also serves as a neutral communication facilitator in a variety of other circumstances including as a neutral process facilitator in interdisciplinary Collaborative family law matters. She is an Accredited Collaborative Professional through the Florida Academy of Collaborative Professionals. In addition to her Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology, Dr. Parnell has a Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution.
Dr. Parnell has a lengthy history of designing and providing education programs to facilitate positive co-parenting relationships between parents. Dr. Parnell has also been involved in educating professionals through presentations at national and regional conferences, as well as publications in journals and books. She has also been a primary trainer for multi-day professional skills programs such as Parenting Coordination and the interdisciplinary Collaborative model training, as well as a topic trainer for family mediation training programs. Dr. Parnell has taught as an adjunct faculty member in several graduate programs and currently co-teaches a course at Barry University School of Law on Collaborative Law. She is lead editor of a book from Sage Publications titled Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome: Misunderstood Child Abuse and has contributed chapters to other published books. Dr. Parnell has served on numerous boards, subcommittees and task forces all related to resolution of family difficulties.
