Robbyn Peters Bennett, LPC, CMHS, Licensed Supervisor
Robbyn works from a Jungian-oriented depth perspective with an appreciation for interpersonal neurobiology. Her specialization is in the area of traumatology and the longterm negative effects of early childhood maltreatment, and the effects of early stress on the brain.
Robbyn has practiced as a psychotherapist since 1998 after earning a Masters degree in Counseling Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria, CA. Her therapeutic foundation is grounded in the depth tradition with sensitivity to dream, the unconscious, and the regenerative power of the imagination. Robbyn studied for several years with the North Pacific Institute for Analytical Psychology in an effort to better understand the work of Carl Jung and the intersection of trauma, pathos and the soul. This investigation illuminated the importance of active imagination, dreamwork, play and other “right brain” therapeutic modalities.
Robbyn has always had an interest understanding and responding to the needs of those who suffer with chronic mental illness. While living in Albuquerque, NM, she served as Clinical Director of Presbyterian Hospital’s inpatient psychiatric program. During that time, she opened an outpatient psychotherapy clinic to support patients during the transition from the hospital to the community. She also worked to develop the Parental-Child Foundations Program providing education and services supporting healthy parent-child attachment. Her devotion to supporting early attachment is based in the analytic tradition that recognizes how our ability to thrive in relationship is engineered by our earliest experiences and continues to influence our threshold for intimacy and trust well into the future.
Robbyn served as Clinical Director of Catholic Community Services’ residential treatment center for mentally ill children. She was privileged as a Child Mental Health Specialist. Her private practice consisted largely of disadvantaged children and adults suffering from the effects of poverty and early childhood trauma and neglect. She worked extensively with Child Protective Services and the Department of Families and Children providing both direct care and parenting evaluations. In an effort to better understand the chronic distress of those who have suffered early abuse and neglect, Robbyn studied with the ChildTrauma Academy becoming a Phase II trainerin the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics, a neurodevelopmental lens for assessing and treating traumatized children. The neurodevelopmental model opened her eyes to the central significance of lower brain dysregulation on functioning and prognosis. She was able to recognize the need for educating parents on a neurodevelopmentally-informed parenting model that is born from and inextricably aligned with the principles of nonviolence. Robbyn then became a certified trainer in Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting.
Robbyn is devoted to ending child abuse. Toward that effort, she speaks nationally on child maltreatment and harsh discipline to raise awareness of cultural acceptance of violence against children. Her TED TALK links spanking with family violence, bullying, and child abuse. Robbyn founded StopSpanking.org which later became the US Alliance to End the Hitting of Children (EndHitting.org). She and her colleagues offered a free online parenting resource and sponsored annual free events called the No-Spank-Challenge that included dozens of well-known positive parenting educators and reaching thousands of parents annually. Robbyn was on the board of the US Alliance to End the Hitting of Children, a non-profit organization that brings together individuals, groups, and organizations to create a unified voice calling for and working toward the end of all forms of physical and emotional punishment against children. She co-published with Dr. Afifi and the Centers for Disease Control research on Adverse Childhood Experiences and Spanking, which was awarded the Article of the Year Award in the International Child Abuse & Neglect Journal. She has produced a variety public service announcement videos on the dangers of spanking, interviewing experts in the field of neuroscience and child maltreatment.
Robbyn is now collaborating with Dr. Leslie Ellis, offering a Dream Certificate Program for understanding dreamwork in the clinical setting. This is a beautiful way to enhance one’s clinical skills in working with nightmares and trauma. She also works individually with people who wish to better understand their dreams.
Robbyn is a mother and very blessed grandmother who lives with her husband in Portland, Oregon where she has a private psychotherapy practice.
Research, Publications, & Key INterviews
2017 Article of the Year in Child Abuse & Neglect The official journal of The International Society of the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect (ISPCAN). This paper was chosen as Article of the Year out of the 238 manuscripts published in Child Abuse & Neglect in 2017. The criteria for the award are: a) novel nature of the paper, b) potential to advance the field, and c) high academic quality. Afifi, T.O., Ford, D., Gershoff, E., Merrick, M., Grogan-Kaylor, A., Ports, K.A., MacMillan, H.L., Holden, G.W., Taylor, C.A., Lee, S.J., & Peters Bennett, R. (2017). Spanking and adult mental health impairment: The case for the designation of spanking as an adverse childhood experience, Child Abuse & Neglect, 71, 24-31.
Spanking and adult mental health impairment: The case for the designation of spanking as an adverse childhood experience. January, 2017.
Seattle Times OPED, Parents are losing it on social media and shaming children.August, 2015.
- Staying Sane While Parenting While Parenting with Shelter-In-Place, Interview with Dr. Bruce Perry, April 2020
- Safe & Sound Protocol – Learning to Feel Safe, Interview with Dr. Stephen Porges, November 2019
- How We Impact Our Children’s Nervous System with Dr. Stephen Porges, Children and the Polyvagal Theory, April 2018
Intervening with a Stranger, May 2015
Pro Player Insiders, “The Culture of Spanking: Abuse or Discipline?” Nov 2014 Interview in response to NFL player Adrian Peterson beating his 4-year-old son.
Key Lectures
- Panel Discussion on Delinquency, Trauma, and Corporal Punishment, Institute of Child Psychology, November 2021 Check out: Radio Talk Show Interview
- The Art of Co-regulation…A Brain Savvy Approach for De-escalating Outbursts and Having Fewer in the Future, Shoulder to Shoulder, Portland, OR, 2018
- Self-Regulation: Responding to Challenging Students Through the Art of Co-Regulation, Atlanta, GA Feb 2018
- Reparenting for Resiliency, A Neurodevelopmentally Informed Parenting Approach to Understanding and Healing Dysregulation Through the Art of Co-Regulation, CAMFT, May 4-7, 2017
- The Neurodevelopmental Roots of Empathy and Psychopathy/Treatment” Children’s Law Institute, January 2017
- “Building Trauma-Informed Schools & Communities” ECHO Parenting, March 2016
- “Global Scientific Summit, Academy on Violence & Abuse,” Jacksonville, Florida, November 2015
- “School-based Mental Health Conference” Calgary, Alberta Canada October 2015
- “20th International Summit & Training on Violence,” Institute on Violence, Abuse, & Trauma, San Diego, CA August 2015
- “Pulling Out the Roots of Physical Child Abuse,” APA Humanistic Psychology Annual Conference, Palo Alto, CA, March 2014
- Keynote Speaker, “Violence, A Family Tradition,” Annual LivesInTheBalance.org Conference, Portland, ME November 2013
- “Effects of Harsh Treatment on Child Development,” Head2Toe Annual Conference, ABQ, NM May 2013
Hosted Conferences & Campaigns
- No Spank Challenge Workshop (co-hosted with Amy Bryant with Parenting Beyond Punishment), 4200 parents attended, April 2021
- Annual NoSpankChallenge (co-hosted with Amy Bryant with Parenting Beyond Punishment, 2,000+ attend annually April 2015- 2019
- Discipline that Works (co-hosted with Dr. Ross Greene with Lives In the Balance), Atlanta, GA Feb 2018
- Stop Shaming Children on Facebook Campaign, July 2015
Public Service Announcements
Webinars
- 2018, How We Impact Our Children’s Nervous System with Dr. Stephen Porges
- 2017, Is Spanking really an Adverse Childhood Experience? with Dr. George Davis
- 2017, Meta-analysis of the Spanking Research with Elizabeth Gershoff, PhD
- 2017, Predictable Ways to De-Escalate Children with Amy Bryant, MS
- 2018, Juvenile Delinquency and the Adverse Childhood Experience Study
- 2016, Parenting from a Neurodevelopmentally Informed Approach with Dr. George Davis Part I with George Davis and Part II with Robbyn Peters Bennett
- 2015, Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting with Amy Bryant
Long-term Goals & Providing Warmth and Structure
Understanding How Children Think & Feel
Problem Solving – Bedtime, Tantrums, Listening
Responding with Positive Discipline! - 2015, Empathic Parenting with Edwin Rutsch
- 2015, The Art of Co-Regulation: a neurodevelopmentally informed approach to parenting.
- 2014, Are Permissive Parents Spoiling Their Children (with Alfie Kohn)
- 2013, What Neuroscience and Research Says About Spanking!
Testimonials
I don’t really know what we would have done if we hadn’t met Robbyn. As an adoptive parent of a child with early trauma, I was at sea as a mother to a child whose needs were counterintuitive to my mom brain. Thanks to her deep knowledge, compassion for both child and parent, her advocacy, and her inner radiance, she has helped to keep us in calmer waters. My daughter is now 13 and continues to benefit from Robbyn’s compassionate care, humor, and radical insights into neurodivergent experience. I would give her a kidney if she needed one, and I thank the universe every day for her.
JV …a grateful mom
Robbyn Peters Bennett, LPC 
Since doing the safe & sound protocol with Robbyn I have noticed that I actually feel healthier, my digestion is better, my startle reflex is greatly relaxed and I am sleeping through the night. I am taking better care of myself, slowing down and resting more. In my relationships I feel I am letting go of things easier and I am more patient with my children……… I had done the protocol on my own first and there was no comparison to doing it in relationship with Robbyn …..being held by her presence and warm heart made all the difference to me ….. I have also noticed that I often now see Robbyns smiling face in my minds eye and how she looked at me during the protocol……it fills me with a warmth and a feeling of being loved ……its hard to describe how, but I took in an experience with Robbyn that I never had with another person and it feels so healing and nourishing ….I really feel that the full potential of the safe & protocol lies in having the human to human connection and Robbyn is a wonderful woman to do this with. I would highly recommend her.
I described some elements of my child’s behavior to Robbyn and she recognized that a course of SSP would help her.
My severn year old daughter did not seem to be very in tune with her body. She would eat a large meal and before we had even cleaned up she would announce that she was still hungry. She would ask for snacks constantly, I really do mean constantly, throughout the day. She would bounce around the house, using every piece of furniture like a gymnasium, she had a very low frustration tolerance and she had stopped singing and dancing. She had reached the point where she was actually wetting, and sometimes soiling, her underwear as she was not aware that her body had needed to use the toilet, she was so distracted.
As a family we had recently moved across the country, leaving all the family and friends that she had grown up with, moved to a rental house and started at a new school and then moved house again, nine months later, and finally moved schools again a year after that. She was dealing with some “girl drama” in her new school and her behaviors started to change. At one point, in the middle of a moment of intense frustration with her homework, I looked into her eyes and I could see fear, frustration and absolute confusion. She had no idea why she was acting the way she was and it was frightening her.
I spoke to Robbyn about it and that was when she advised the SSP. Robbyn guided us through the whole process. I had so many questions about the protocol and Robbyn helped us navigate our way through it safely and kindly, every step of the way.
Since the protocol my daughter has been so light-hearted, I look into her eyes and I see her in there looking back at me steadily. She stops eating at some point in her meal and says she is full. She asks for a snack once or twice a day, between meals, and sometimes she doesn’t ask at all. She dances around the house and sings at the top of her voice. She is so engaging and engaged during conversation, making great eye contact and waving her little arms around gesturing. She has not wet or soiled her underwear since starting the protocol. She can sit and relax and watch a show, instead of jumping all over the furniture. Things that she had refused to do before she now enjoys such as playing soccer, basketball and riding her bike. She is engaging with her friends and her frustration tolerance is so much higher. She really seems happy and content in herself.
My husband, who was a complete and utter sceptic about the possibility of music being able to heal the nervous system, is a total convert. He is flabbergasted at the changes we have seen in our daughter. It is all thanks to Robbyn, if she had not listened to my concerns and had not suggested the SSP this would never have been possible and we would still be so confused about how to help our little girl.
Robbyn is an exquisitely attuned therapist, and a gift to children and families in need of good clinical care. I recommend her widely for traumatized and sensitive children. Her clinical judgement, insight, and skills are of the highest quality and deeply needed in our world.
I am so grateful for the expertise Robbyn has to treat my daughter. The intersection of my daughters trauma and autism (along with other diagnosis) takes a high level of expertise to navigate and Robbyn is able to do this with great ability.
Her specific skill set has allowed her to work with my daughter in ways few others would be able to. For example, Robbyn carefully built the foundation and trust needed for their theraputic relationship. This process took patience over years and was key to my daughter opening up and addressing the deeper issues in her life. Without this therapy could have been a waste of time, but instead it has been a great asset in healing and support.
Robbyn’s clinical skills are excellent working with my daughters multiple and layered diagnosis. She has a keen ability to dissect and examine the differential diagnosis and apply appropriate clinical interventions. This high level of clinical skill is very rare.
Beyond that, Robbyn applies this clinical skill with great compassion and care.
Without all of this expertise, skill and care that Robbyn offers, my daughter would not be on the trajectory of healing and higher functioning she is currently on. After the years of foundational work, Robbyn’s ongoing support been invaluable to maintaining a higher level of daily functioning. If we didn’t have Robbyn as a therapist it would compromise the solid ground of stability and higher functioning she has been able to maintain under her care. What a gift Robbyn is to our family!
Robbyn’s intuition, compassion, and deep empathy have guided me out of the depths of depression and helped me truly move beyond it.
The day I cried in front of her and began to process my childhood trauma, I knew her expertise was — and still is — in a league of its own. Before Robbyn, I had been seeing a psychiatrist for many years, yet not once did I cry or show any real emotion.
Any child or adult fortunate enough to be under her care will be better for it. I know this because, without Robbyn, I would not be the person I am today.
Robbyn is the only therapist who has been successful in walking with me as I parent my child with extensive early trauma. I have always felt supported and heard by Robbyn. Even more importantly, she has helped me understand my child’s needs from a perspective of neurodevelopment that helps me meet her where she is at. Robbyn has been a rock in our lives for 6 years and my child looks forward to her time with Robbyn now as much as she did 6 years ago. Robbyn is truly brilliant. The depth of knowledge she has for trauma has been a lifesaver to our family. Robbyn’s willingness to share her knowledge and support my child with her teachers and schools has been a priceless benefit to my child’s flourishing.
As a parent of five children who have faced the heavy shadows of early neglect and abuse, I am profoundly grateful for Robbyn’s deep insight, compassion, and support.
Her expertise is vast, encompassing the many intricate layers of trauma, yet her approach is beautifully precise – attuned to the unique rhythm and needs of each child and of our family as a whole. She listens deeply, honors the importance of culture, and hears each individual voice within the larger family story. She sees beyond behavior to the extraordinariness of the human being beneath, creating a nurturing environment for safe exploration, understanding, and healing.
Before finding Robbyn, we had been struggling within an uninviting, fragmented system where the most complex and vulnerable children are assigned to therapists who, in spite of good intentions, are least equipped to help. We felt overwhelmed, helpless, and often hopeless.
I cannot overstate how meaningful Robbyn’s skill, experience, and presence have been to the wellness and wellbeing of our family. She brings humanity and heart to circumstances more often met with judgment and reproach, offering a caring space for growth.
I have been working with Robbyn for over ten years and the impact she has had on my life has been profound. When we started, I was in a frozen, terrified, traumatized state and unable to function in daily life. I had little sense of hope or possibility for change. It took a long time to build trust and a sense of safety, but even in my darkest moments, Robbyn never pathologized or judged me, she always led with love and respect for the complexity of the human experience. Through her deep knowledge of trauma and the nervous system, and her unwavering compassion and consistent presence, I have slowly rebuilt my sense of self and my ability to live fully. Robbyn taught me, through her example, how to meet myself with kindness and curiosity. She showed me how to value my sensitivity and live in the present, rather than staying stuck in the past. I never thought I would be where I am today, and none of it would have been possible without the consistency, expertise, and deep care Robbyn brought to our work together. Prior to Robbyn, I had been in and out of therapy for many years with little improvement and I wasn’t very hopeful this time would be different. I had found that many therapists do not have the lived experience, understanding of trauma, or attunement to walk with clients through the long-term process that trauma recovery requires, but Robbyn does. Her care creates stability, resilience, and hope for people who might otherwise remain stuck in cycles of pain. The value of her work extends far beyond one client, it strengthens families and, ultimately, the community as a whole.