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Robyn Koslowitz Ph.D.

About

Robyn Koslowitz, Ph.D., understands the desperate struggle of post-traumatic parents, who are trying to break cycles that almost broke us. There aren’t a lot of resources about parenting with PTSD and CPTSD out there, and that’s why Dr. Koslowitz is here, creating the resources she would have needed when she first became a parent.

Dr. Robyn Koslowitz received her Ph.D. in Clinical Child Psychology from New York University in 2009. While at NYU, Robyn served as a research assistant to such prominent professors as Ester Buchholz, Carol Gilligan (author of In a Different Voice, which revolutionized the psychology of women and adolescent girls), and Sandee McClowry, whose research pioneered empirically validated temperament-based parenting programs.

Robyn has been working as a licensed school psychologist since 2002, and as a licensed clinical psychologist since 2017 at the Center for Psychological Growth of New Jersey.

Robyn is a frequent and active media contributor. She is a regular columnist for Binah Magazine and has been interviewed by National Geographic Kids, PBS, Parents Magazine, and Romper, among other publications. She has appeared on Fox, CNN, NewsNation, and other national television shows. Currently, she is the host of the popular Post-Traumatic Parenting podcast.

Parents want to foster relationships with their children that come from a place of joy, connection, and attachment. Yet traumatized parents—those who suffered as children, or who are dealing with more recent traumas—see every relationship from a survival point of view. Instead of behaving like the parents we long to be, we find ourselves engaging in the exact behaviors we want to avoid, frequently snapping and losing it with our kids, or retreating into a paralyzed, distracted, self-involved world. That’s where "Post-Traumatic Parenting" comes in. We can stop our inner child from parenting our actual children. As we parent, we are re-parented, and as we reparent, we heal. Parenting can be both a healthy and healing endeavor.

Recent Posts
To spank or not to spank? It's sometimes presented as "spank- or spoil". But there are actually much better options - research based - for teaching kids self-control. No spanking required! Here are 5 tried-and-true alternatives - better choices - for helping kids learn self-regulation and self-control. Post-Traumatic and Cycle Breaking Parents - rejoice! You do have effective options.
5 Alternatives to Spanking for Cycle-Breaking Parents

Research demonstrates that spanking impairs neurodevelopment. Cycle-breaking parents ask—what else can I do? These 5 research-based alternatives are more effective than spanking.

Research demonstrates that spanking impairs neurodevelopment. Cycle-breaking parents ask—what else can I do? These 5 research-based alternatives are more effective than spanking.

Is #eggchallenge really a parenting practice we want to encourage? What happens when we trade our children's trust in us for some social media glory? Is this a risk we want to take?
A TikTok Parenting Trend to Avoid

TikTok's #eggcrackchallenge seems like a joke. Understand how attunement, attachment, and the stress response work together by analyzing what this trend does to a child's brain.

TikTok's #eggcrackchallenge seems like a joke. Understand how attunement, attachment, and the stress response work together by analyzing what this trend does to a child's brain.

Here's your permission to go "off book." In parenting, the actual words of the script don't matter - despite us often feeling that they do. Instead, it's about 'implicit scripts' and attunment. It's not Shakespeare. It's parenting!
Hate Parenting Scripts But Can't Look Away? Here's Why

Post-traumatic parents tend to focus on explicit parenting scripts, but these are not as helpful as they seem. Instead, learn implicit parenting scripts to improve attunement.

Post-traumatic parents tend to focus on explicit parenting scripts, but these are not as helpful as they seem. Instead, learn implicit parenting scripts to improve attunement.

Trauma can't be categorized - it's often about what didn't happen for you, as much as what happened to you.
There's No Such Thing as Little-T Trauma

The game of "trauma poker" has no winners and doesn't help us heal. It's a form of self-gaslighting.

The game of "trauma poker" has no winners and doesn't help us heal. It's a form of self-gaslighting.

All parents are in a state of mild trauma right now. Here's what to do about it.
The 4-Letter Words Undermining Parent Confidence

Two four-letter words and one four-letter acronym describe why so many parents struggle with confidence.

Two four-letter words and one four-letter acronym describe why so many parents struggle with confidence.

Has the time come to think in terms of psychodiversity, instead of psychological dysfunction?
It's Time to Embrace the Term "Psychodiversity"

The time has come to embrace divergence, not dysfunction, as a model for psychological functioning. A case for using the term "psychodiversity," as opposed to the pathology model.

The time has come to embrace divergence, not dysfunction, as a model for psychological functioning. A case for using the term "psychodiversity," as opposed to the pathology model.