From Fear to Connection: Coaching for Parents of LGBTQ+ Kids
When your child comes out, it can stir up love, pride, confusion and a thousand questions about what to do next. This coaching package gives parents a space to process those emotions, learn affirming ways to communicate, and build stronger relationships rooted in understanding and trust. Together, we’ll work through the shifts that happen when your child shares this part of who they are. You’ll gain tools to navigate conversations with confidence, set healthy boundaries, and become the safe place your child needs most. Here’s what we’ll cover together: • Understanding the Journey: Make sense of what coming out means in your family’s context. Explore the emotions, values, and fears that often surface and learn how to respond with curiosity instead of panic. • Boundaries and Belonging: Discover how to support your child while protecting your own emotional capacity. Learn how to handle tricky family, community, or faith dynamics. • Reframing and Repair: Practice honest, affirming communication when things feel tense or uncertain. Learn to repair small missteps and create a sense of safety and trust. • Becoming an Ally at Home: Translate love into action. Build family rituals of support and connection, and identify affirming resources and communities that align with your values.
What's included
I bring both professional coaching and personal lived experience to this work. As an out gay executive and parent who grew up in a religious family, I understand how complex this journey can be. My approach is calm, structured, and judgment-free, honoring both the parent and the child. This is not therapy, and is a future-focused, goal-oriented coaching relationship. Each session combines empathy with practical tools so you leave knowing exactly what to do next: how to listen, communicate, and support your child while staying true to your own values.
- A clear plan for conversations. You’ll leave each session with language and steps you can use right away to talk with your child confidently and respectfully.
- Simple tools for handling tough moments. Techniques for staying calm when emotions run high, plus ways to reset after conflict.
- Resource guide. A curated list of trusted articles, videos, and organizations for ongoing education and support.
Meet your expert
Justin T.
I help high-performers find balance, clarity, and purpose in work and life
Justin Tidmarsh is an executive advisor and leadership coach dedicated to helping high-performing executives, changemakers, and leaders move from burnout to sustainable balance. As the founder of WITH/in, a Portland-based consultancy and coaching practice, he specializes in guiding high-stakes professionals through intense corporate pressures. Justin provides a trusted, expert space for leaders to set down their professional armor, break through cognitive overload, and align their personal vision with execution. Fortune 500 Leadership Justin brings over 25 years of lived experience driving growth marketing, customer loyalty programs, and integrated strategies for iconic global brands—including Nike, Starbucks, Best Buy, Target, Chase, and Lands' End. Because he has personally carried the pressure of delivering bottom-line results at the highest levels, he understands the challenge of navigating complex organizational change without losing your center. He effectively bridges the gap between high-level business strategy and the human systems required to make those strategies stick. A Holistic Coaching Philosophy Justin’s approach is rooted in the belief that sustainable growth systems apply to both business and life. His path has been uniquely holistic: alongside his corporate tenure, he is a Certified Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach, and formerly owned and operated a boutique gym. This multidisciplinary background allows him to treat executive burnout not just as a professional hurdle, but as a whole-body challenge. By bridging the gap between physical vitality and cognitive performance, he draws powerful parallels between the discipline learned in fitness, the empathy required in coaching, and the resilience needed in organizations. Drawing on his extensive corporate background and his lived experience as an out gay executive, Justin helps clients uncover blind spots, optimize their emotional clarity, and implement behavioral changes that protect both executive well-being and organizational growth. Credentials & Expertise Justin is uniquely equipped to support the whole person through an extensive suite of credentials: Executive & Life Coaching: Associate Certified Coach (ACC) through the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Certified Life Coach, and Foundations of Career Navigating & Coaching. Emotional & Cognitive Optimization: EQ-i 2.0® (Emotional Intelligence) Certified, ADHD Coach Certification, and Mental Health First Aid. Holistic Wellness: NASM Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach, and former boutique gym owner.