Online Parenting Classes & Family Therapy in Hays, KS
The families who find their way to New Connections Mental Health often arrive carrying a particular kind of exhaustion. They have tried the strategies, read the guides, and kept showing up for their children even when nothing seemed to work. The parenting classes offered here give caregivers something most programs skip: a genuine understanding of why children behave the way they do, and a practical path toward a calmer, more connected home.
Tucked along the Big Creek corridor in Ellis County, the city stretches from the Fort Hays State University campus westward through quiet residential streets and out toward the plains. Families near FHSU, along the Vine Street corridor, and in communities as close as Ellis and as far as Russell and Plainville have made their way to New Connections, some driving in along US-183, others joining sessions from their own living rooms. The practice office on Plaza Avenue sits at the center of Hays, with fully virtual options that reach families across the region without anyone having to rearrange their day.
Hays parents tend to carry a strong sense of self-reliance, and asking for support can feel like admitting defeat. What most families discover is the opposite: enrolling in parenting classes in Hays, Kansas is one of the most proactive things a caregiver can do. The work here is not about fixing what is broken. It is about building something stronger than what was there before.
Explore our Online Child Parent Relationship Training
The Child-Parent Relationship Training is a 10-week guided program to help you turn daily meltdowns into moments of connection through play, co-regulation, and relationship-based tools, without yelling, power struggles, or feeling like you’re failing as a parent.
How it works
The CPRTprogram is a
framework built around connection, not correction
Most parenting programs focus on managing the child. The work at New Connections starts somewhere different. The CPRT model at the heart of these parenting classes invites parents to understand what a child's behavior is trying to communicate before deciding how to respond. That one shift tends to change the entire relationship.
Explore the right type of coaching for your family
Getting started is straightforward. Families in Hays and surrounding areas can reach out by phone to connect with Michelle Holdeman and find out which format fits their life. Group sessions and individual coaching are both available, and the conversation to find the right fit takes minutes, not weeks.
Skills that stay with families long after the program ends
Each week, parents take one new skill home and practice it in a short, structured play session with their child. Over the course of the program, those moments build into something lasting. Parents describe feeling more grounded, less reactive, and more like the parent they always meant to be.
Explore our services and specializations
Parents who come to CPRT often name the same feeling: they love their child fiercely, but something in the relationship has grown strained. The closeness they want keeps slipping. Meltdowns arrive without warning, communication has broken down, and the daily rhythm of family life feels harder than it should.
Week by week, something begins to shift. Parents report feeling less reactive in the moments that used to derail them.
Children start expressing what they need more clearly, and the home settles into something calmer and more predictable. The relief is not just behavioral. It is deeply relational.
Sessions explore the connection between a child's emotional world and their outward behavior, giving parents a new lens for understanding what is happening and why. This online parenting course is available virtually for families across Kansas, meeting caregivers wherever they are and building skills that carry forward long after the program ends.
Teenagers in the Hays area are navigating the same pressures that teenagers face everywhere: academic weight, shifting friendships, questions about who they are and where they belong. What looks like defiance or withdrawal from the outside is often something more layered, something that a skilled therapist can help a young person begin to understand.
Teen therapy at this practice is not about fixing who an adolescent is. It is about helping them see themselves with more clarity and less shame. Young people who feel genuinely heard in the therapy space tend to open up at home in ways that move their parents, sometimes for the first time in years.
Virtual sessions make it possible for teens to access real support during the school year, around athletic schedules, and on the weeks when life already feels overfull. The work is designed to fit into an actual teenager's life, not the other way around.
Sometimes the difficulty is not located in one person. It lives in the space between people, in communication patterns that have calcified over years and left everyone feeling unheard. Family therapy creates a structured environment where those patterns can be named and slowly changed.
Families who do this work often arrive frustrated with each other and leave with something different: a more generous understanding of how the people they love experience the world. That expanded view does not just reduce conflict. It rebuilds trust at the root level.
New Connections offers family therapy virtually for families across the Hays service area, removing the logistical barriers that so often prevent the whole family from showing up for the same work at the same time.
New Connections Mental Health serves faimilies in Hays, Kansas
With an in-person office at 2810 Plaza Avenue in the heart of Ellis County. Virtual parenting classes and an online parenting course are available statewide, making it possible for families in Ellis, Russell, Plainville, La Crosse, Great Bend, and beyond to access the same quality of care without driving across the plains. An embedded map appears below to help you locate the Hays office.
Testimonials
“I’m very grateful for your wisdom! You are so gifted at your profession!”
“Thank you so much for helping me with my child. You have no idea how much we appreciate it and how much you mean to the both of us!”
“I hope you know how much you mean to us. You are incredibly talented and came into our lives at the exact right time. Thank you for supporting and loving us. Your work has made a world of difference in our trajectory and healing. We love you very very much!”
Hi, I'm Michelle Holdeman, founder of New Connections Mental Health group practice
I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Registered Play Therapist who founded New Connections Mental Health because I believe families in Hays and across Kansas deserve more than generic parenting advice. Trained in Child Parent Relationship Training and EMDR, I've spent my career working with children ages 3 to 17 and their caregivers across school, hospital, and community mental health settings. The team I've built shares that same commitment to meeting families where they are. Behavior is communication, and connection is the foundation of healing."
Frequently asked questions
How is CPRT different from any other parenting curriculum?
- You won’t be overwhelmed or asked to change your entire parenting style overnight. CPRT introduces one new skill at a time, practiced in short, 30-minute play sessions with your child, making learning feel manageable and effective.
- The model uses play the most natural way children express themselves to help you connect and better understand your child’s emotions and thoughts.
- CPRT is also recognized as an Evidence-Based Treatment by SAMHSA, setting it apart from many other parenting programs.
What is expected from the parent:
- CPRT doesn’t expect you to change your entire parenting style overnight; it meets you where you are, introducing one manageable skill each week.
- You’ll have the chance to apply each new tool during a simple 30-minute play session with your child, making learning feel natural and stress-free.
- Through guided play, you'll deepen your bond as your child learns to express their inner world using the language they know best: toys.
- Unlike many programs, CPRT is backed by research and recognized by SAMHSA, giving you confidence that what you’re learning truly works.
Will my insurance cover the cost of CPRT?
Insurance is not billed for group CPRT classes. However, if you're attending individual sessions, we can provide a superbill that you may submit to your insurance for potential reimbursement.