Are you ready to personalize and embody your role as the step-parent and expand the possibilities of family?

Building Blended Bonds: A modern, collaborative approach to step-parenting*

A 6 week coaching program and community building for those who don’t have children and are in a partnership with someone who does.

*you may not identify as a step-parent but are in a “bonus adult” role and you are welcome here!

Three girls and a woman with tattoos riding bikes in a park on a sunny day, with trees and houses in the background.

As a step-parent or “bonus adult” in a child’s life, you might be experiencing isolation, frustration, communication challenges, and uncertainty about your vision of family and your role in it.

Young woman lying on a couch at night, looking at her phone with city lights glowing through a window behind her.

Powerlessness around decision-making and boundary setting

Repressing or venting to your partner leading to anger or arguments
Seeking support and not finding resources that speak to you and your experience or identity
Guilt and isolation around your experiences in your family or relationship
Fear that there is no satisfying way forward

Maybe that includes:

A man with sunglasses and a pink shirt sitting with a child in a stroller, the child is reaching out to touch the man's sunglasses and is smiling. The sky is bright blue with a few clouds.

Envision yourself in a community of other step-parents sharing in the struggles and the possibilities of expansiveness in this role. Less isolation. More understanding and relational tools.

What if you could reimagine family roles in a way that liberates you to show up authentically as yourself as a “bonus adult” or step-parent?

Close-up of hands weaving a colorful basket with strips of plastic in orange, blue, white, purple, and green, using a weaving technique.

This program will help you to:

Expand skills for respectful leadership with kids/teens
Develop strategies for building bonds in the family and communicating with your partner
Deepen your understanding of how your own wounds show up in your family relationships
Expand your vision for family and how you fit in it

Meet Lauren & Kyrie

We are a Queer couple and mother and step-parent to one wild 8 year old! As Lauren stepped into a step-parenting role and Kyrie navigated new realms of co-parenting, we struggled to find voices that spoke to our experiences and hopes of what family could mean for us. This journey has presented both external and internal joys and challenges, and we long to be more communal, expansive, and liberated in what family could be.

Smiling woman with light brown hair wearing a teal jacket and light-colored jeans, standing outdoors with a blurred parking lot in the background.

Hi, I’m Lauren (she/her), a trauma specialist and step-parent (“bonus adult”) to one deeply feeling child. I found myself feeling isolated and powerless in the bonus adult role without resources to speak into my experience from a Queer or liberatory lens. I could barely find the language that felt authentic to my role and expansive around the ideas of family and community. With all the work I’ve done helping people heal, I should know how to do this, right?? I couldn’t find the resources that spoke to me in my position and challenges in my new role and I don’t think we have to do this alone. I’ve created this program in hopes that we can live into step-parenting with more support, joy, and freedom.

A woman with short dark hair, light skin, and a nose piercing, smiling and wearing a striped blue and white shirt over a yellow and cream top, standing in front of a colorful floral patterned wallpaper with large blue flowers and orange background.

Kyrie (she/her) combines a decade of experience in design, communications, and storytelling with lived insight as a co-parent to her biological 8 year old daughter. She’s driven by a belief in children’s agency, adult wellbeing, and the power of systems to create deep healing by providing clarity, connection, and care. Her work in this space will be to provide support to others navigating modern family roles, blending strategy and empathy to build inclusive, authentic family structures.

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We can’t wait to connect with you! Each month, we’ll share stories, helpful tips and strategies, podcast picks, and more—all designed to support and empower you on your journey as an authentic and confident step-parent.

And by we, we mean mostly Lauren but a little bit Kyrie too.

Here’s more about our program

Week 1

Build Communityasdfadsfasdff

In our first time together, we will begin setting intentions and building connections through an exploration of the history of family and how might that differ from the future and world we envision for ourselves and communities.

Week 2

Respectful Leadership+ Parenting of Kids & Teens

We will begin to cover strategies for age-appropriate communication with children about family, roles, expectations, and transitions in their lives. We will also discuss techniques around challenges with raising children such as boundary-setting, rupture and repair, and playfulness.

Week 3

Communicating with Your Partner

We will consider how to discuss expectations and values with our partners and what obstacles could be inhibiting effective communication.

Week 4

What Are All These Feelings?!

We all get triggered in our relationships. You will learn strategies for when you get triggered and gather more insight on what is happening in your inner world during these moments.

Week 5

Inner Work

We will go deeper with what came up from week four and learn how self-compassion and needs-meeting can decrease triggers in relationships.

Week 6

A Look Back and Ahead

We will take time to celebrate and reflect on our time together and what might change as we move forward.

6 Sessions- one 90 minute session per week for 6 weeks

What you need to participate: a stable internet connection, use of zoom and online community platform

Logistics:

Woman with glasses and earbuds working on a laptop at a wooden desk with papers and pens in a bedroom.

January 21, 2026 7-8:30pm EST

January 28, 2026 7-8:30pm EST

February 4, 2026 7-8:30pm EST

February 11, 2026 7-8:30pm EST

February 18, 2026 7-8:30pm EST

February 25, 2026 7-8:30pm EST

Dates & Times

Investment

Supported Access

For those with currently limited financial resources who will benefit from access supplemented by the community.

$350

Fair
Access

For those with sufficient financial resources and who can pay fair value for the experience.

$500

Rebalancing Access

For those with more than enough financial resources and a desire to support access for others to help rebalance systemic inequity.

$650

*credit: Reverend angel Kyodo Williams for pricing language and structure

Building Blended Bonds: A modern, collaborative approach to step-parenting

Building Blended Bonds: A modern, collaborative approach to step-parenting

You are feeling alone or stuck in your role as step-parent and are open to engaging with community around this experience
You value expansiveness and possibility in relationship roles
You have a supportive partner
You are open to new ideas and wanting to explore how your own relational history could be impacting your present relationships
You haven’t been able to find the resources that speak to you

This is for you if…

This is not for you if…

You are looking for a therapy group
You are trying to save your relationship*
You don’t value people of different race, gender or sexual orientation, religious background, etc
You are looking for ways to change other people in your family

**if you are in an abusive relationship, this is not the program for you and there are resources available:

FAQs

Each live call is 90 mins long. There may be optional assignments between sessions to deepen your work, but it is not required. You can engage in the online community as much or as little as you like, though this is where people feel they can deepen their communal experience.
If you have to miss a call, you will be missing a large portion of the program, but you can still participate. If you miss session 4, session 5 will be difficult to get the full experience, as it builds off the previous week.
Nope. Both those co-habitating and living apart are welcome.
This program is specifically designed for the person in the “bonus adult” role in their partnership who does not have children of their own.
It might be! This program addresses the experiences for those that arise in a partnership with a parent and the relationship with their child(ren). This certainly does not exclude those practicing non-monogamy; however, the program does not address the specific questions and experiences pertaining to a network of non-monogamous relationships. If you need more in-depth resources specific to parenting and partnering in non-monogamy, I may have some resources to recommend you to! Email hello@buildingblendedbonds.com for more information.
Due to the nature of the program—including live coaching, group interaction, and access to proprietary materials—we do not offer full refunds once the program has begun. However, we understand that unforeseen circumstances can arise, so we’ve outlined the following refund terms:
Before the Program Starts
- If you request a refund at least 7 days before the program start date, you will receive a 100% refund, minus any processing fees.
- If you request a refund within 7 days of the start date, you may be eligible for a 50% refund, as your spot has already been reserved.
After the Program Begins
- No refunds will be issued once the program has officially started, regardless of attendance or participation.
- In certain emergency cases (e.g., serious illness or family emergency), we may offer a credit toward a future program, at our discretion.
If you have any questions, please reach out to us at hello@buildingblendedbonds.com.

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