Meet our team of RCB Instructors and Parenting Coaches; all of them dedicated to building stronger, happier, more peaceful families here in the Eastern PA/NJ/NY area.
Shel Dougherty, Area Director
Certified Parent Educator and Parenting Coach
Passionate about making parenting a priority and bringing peace and positive change to the home, Shel founded Redirecting Children's Behavior (RCB) of the Lehigh Valley. RCB of the Lehigh Valley is an organization created to advocate and promote awareness for the need of positive parenting in the community and to provide parenting and coaching services to local parents and organizations. RCB of the Lehigh Valley is proud to partner with the largest health care provider in the Lehigh Valley, Lehigh Valley Health Network, in bringing positive parenting programs to the community through its Parent Education Department.
Serving the Eastern Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York area, Shel provides one-on-one coaching to families who are eager to upgrade their parenting and bring peace and fun to their homes. She works regularly with teachers, counselors, and parents, presenting keynote addresses, workshops, and classes on empowering families. She has been a guest on RCN's monthly television feature 'Connections' and has been featured in such publications as Healthy You and Natural Awakenings magazines.
A Certified Parent Educator, Area Director and RCB Instructor Trainer through the International Network for Children and Families, Shel is also a Certified Family and Parenting Coach through International Coaching Unlimited and is a graduate of Global Relationship Centers: Understanding Yourself and Others, and Loving Yourself and Others. She is a member of the Children's Coalition of the Lehigh Valley and is a founding member of the Seven Generations Charter School.
Shel originated from San Diego, CA where she was part of the RCB Team - San Diego - an RCB team, 35 instructors strong. In addition to her work with RCB Team - San Diego, Shel contributed regularly to research studies for Children's Care Connection (C3) - a unique program funded by the First 5 Commission of San Diego designed to identify children 15 months-5 years who are at risk for mild developmental and/or behavioral problems and provide services for them and their families. In this unique program Shel studied childhood development, temperament, communication, sensory processing, parenting methods and models, parent-child separation issues, feeding and nutrition, and infant massage.
As a Certified Parent Educator and Parenting Coach, Shel loves bringing open communication and heart-to-heart connection back into the home. Through her genuine, heart-felt, speaking style, her sense of humor, and insightful observations, the discipline methods she teaches build children's self-esteem and parent's confidence. Shel's down-to-earth style and experience as a mom of 4 boys makes her empathetic to her audience and easy for them to relate to. Shel's prior background is in Corporate Brand Licensing with a BS from The Pennsylvania State University. She and her family make their home in Allentown, PA and can be reached at 484-201-4962 or sdougherty@lehighvalleyrcb.com.
Shel's Blog: http://sheldougherty.blogspot.com/
Jessica Batha, Certified Parent Educator
Jessica came to know the Redirecting Children’s Behavior program through a Mother’s of Preschool meeting, and was amazed at the philosophies that were offered during the workshop. She was delighted at how applicable and easy it was to incorporate RCB strategies into her family’s everyday routine and found them to be very successful in creating peace in the home. Coming from an educational background and work setting, RCB lent itself easily to working with; students, adults, and her own children.
After completing her undergraduate degree in performance choreography and exercise science from Rutgers University, Jessica became a teacher in the Franklin Township School district in central New Jersey and pursued her Masters Degree in Elementary Education from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Jessica has 10 years experience in the public school system, working with both elementary and middle school aged children. Jessica is currently an adjunct faculty member of Fairleigh Dickinson University, teaching the core curriculum history classes as well as the online Global Challenge component. She also teaches; dance, aerobics, and spin classes at Miss Julie’s Dance and Fitness Studio in Roseto, PA.
When not teaching students, Jessica hosts a weekly Christian Parenting focus group at her parish, sharing and discussing the challenges facing parents of today both in and outside of the home. Jessica is also a practicing massage therapist specializing in Deep Tissue and Reiki, and dances with the Pennsylvania Dance Vision Company. She resides in the Slate Belt area with her husband and two children and can be reached at: jbatha@lehighvalleyrcb.com
Therese M. Gyauch, M.A., Certified Parent Educator
As a Parenting Educator for Redirecting Children’s Behavior (RCB), certified through the International Network for Children and Families (INCAF), Thérèse inspires parents to believe in their power to create a peaceful, positive family. As a support to parents and caregivers, she offers the 15-hour program “Redirecting Children’s Behavior”, custom workshops, and one-on-one consultations on family health & wellness topics. Concurrently, she offers her expertise as a Holistic Health Educator in the areas of stress management, living with chronic illness & disability, and holistic parenting.
Thérèse comes to Redirecting Children’s Behavior (RCB) with more than 15 years of teaching and public speaking experience. With a M.A. in English from Lehigh University and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Communications through Davidson’s College’s Center for Special Studies, she has academic experience with middle school, college, and adult students. Throughout her academic career, Thérèse has maintained a lifelong interest in health & lifestyle issues. Not surprisingly, when offered the opportunity to employ her professional abilities in the health & wellness arena in 1997, she shifted focus. Thérèse has since served as the Program Coordinator for Community & Latino Outreach for the Family Caregiver Cancer Education Program [FCCEP] (a Pennsylvania state-funded grant program) at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, PA; worked as a Holistic Health Educator at the Woodlands Healing Research Center in Quakertown, PA; and acted as a volunteer Program Coordinator for Wellness for All at the Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living (LVCIL) also in Allentown, PA.
For Thérèse, RCB training was a natural evolution because of its emphasis on creating a healthy family. Upon introduction to RCB, Thérèse felt like she was “coming home.” She met many like-minded parents, and she keenly felt supported in exploration of prevailing discipline practices, assessment of her own parenting skills, and review of her own childhood experiences.
As a RCB instructor, Thérèse passionately commits herself to creating an open environment in which parents/caregivers can assess the effectiveness of their current childrearing practices as well as explore and practice new tools for creating the family life they desire. She encourages parents to ask themselves on an ongoing basis, “What information and tools will help my family live more purposefully, peacefully, and, ultimately, more joyfully? Right now, what is working for my family? And what would I like to work better for my family in the future?” She invites parents to create their own dream of family life and to integrate skills into their lives that will fulfill that vision.
Thérèse resides in the Lehigh Valley with her husband and son. When she is not working as a Certified Parenting Educator, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, writing, and dabbling with digital photography. Therese can be reached at 610-360-4543 or tgyauch@lehighvalleyrcb.com.
