Advocacy. Confidence. Knowledge.
Ensuring Success in Education and in Life for Exceptional Children.
What makes us different?
We are not a podcast or a video. We are not simply a website that provides information.
We are a live teaching experience with education attorneys and advanced senior advocates who are focused on teaching you what you need to know affordably and understandably.
Whether you sign up for our self-paced intensives or a live intensive - all of our intensive training includes live interaction, question-and-answer sessions, and an opportunity not just to read material but to discuss and learn how to use it.
We want you to learn, practice, team-build, and actively engage in our classes to take with you knowledge and confidence.
We are here to teach you what you need to know.
Education attorney Catherine Michael, JD, founded Coffee with Catherine, LLC, after spending more than twenty years working with families, behavior therapists, psychologists, parents, and teachers on a case-by-case basis to help design success for children with special needs. She realized that in order to create real change for families she needed to make the law accessible and understandable while teaching parents, advocates, and attorneys how to use what they learned in real life.
Do you have an exceptional child?
Exceptional is defined as unusual, atypical, unique, or special. Advocating and navigating the world with an exceptional child who is challenged by autism, ADHD, dyslexia, down syndrome, cognitive delays, a mental health condition, or any other challenge takes a community.
It takes knowledge. And courage.
It takes making the time to learn what you need to know.
Our transformative and empowering training intensives, our monthly 90-minute classes, our members-only coffee & cocktails events, and our resources and videos, are designed for parents, grandparents, advocates, teachers, and those who want to make a difference in the life of a child. They are made to fit your life and budget to teach you what you need to know and how to use it.
Advocacy
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Knowledge
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Courage
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Hope
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Coffee with Catherine, LLC
Advocacy • Knowledge • Courage • Hope • Coffee with Catherine, LLC
Rise to it.
We are here to arm you, calm you, support you, and empower you. So that one of these days you realize that going uphill is what makes you truly strong. We are here to walk that path with you. Every single week.
Our monthly 90-minute Saturday and Thursday classes and our deep dive seminar intensives focus on special education, law, advocacy, parenting, behavior, negotiation, building confidence, tackling disputes, and self-care for parents of children with special needs.
Seminars and Intensives for advanced advocates and new education attorneys also include due process training, negotiation skills, and advanced advocacy skills. We are on a mission to provide knowledge, skill and confidence along with a community of support, friendship, and a bit of fun thrown in on the way.
Intensives and Seminars.
We offer special seminars, training, education intensives, and events throughout the year. You do not need to be a subscriber to join.
These intensives and weekend seminars include special education bootcamps, advanced advocacy courses, due process training for advanced advocates and attorneys, and in-depth negotiation and strategy sessions.
Our intensives and seminars are meant to take skills to the next level in special education advocacy and law. For parents new to the special education system these intensives work to get you what you need to know. Intensives cover everything from IEP essentials, behavior plans, and discipline, to learning how to negotiate in difficult situations. Some of the intensives and seminars will offer CLE credit for attorneys. We also offer a class in the business of advocacy to help new advocates get off the ground and going.
Our Monthly 90-minute Classes
Coffee.
Whether you are a morning person who wants to have a cup of coffee and listen to a group talk, someone who wants to listen on a run, or a parent who wants to actively participate and ask questions our Saturday morning coffees are for you. Listen just like you would a podcast.
Cocktails.
Our monthly evening sessions morning coffee but tend to be a bit more relaxed. Grab a mocktail, cocktail, or glass of wine and join us to discuss different topics, ideas, and to learn. We want to engage you in this process. Whether you want to have a monthly get together with us or a standing date night we are happy to have you.
Monthly we bring you new and informative topics, from special education advocacy to law to behavior and discipline to self-care. Want an intensive class instead and to hit the ground running? We highly recommend it. Check out our seminars and intensives.
Our parent-focused monthly 90-minute classes provide real information you can use.
Social and special events for members.
We host regular virtual and in person events to share the joy, the knowledge, and empowerment. These events are free for subscribers. Come and surround yourself with others who will empower you, gain and share resources, and have a little fun with us. From a zoom night out event with a special speaker and breakout rooms for meeting friends to picnics in the park for members to live speaking and seminar events we try to connect you with our community.
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Small steps every day bring us and our children
a better tomorrow.
Let me join you for the journey
“Being an advocate for a child is not only helping a child when they need it - but also soaking up the joy that comes from being an integral part of the life of another and making the world better as a result.”
— Catherine Michael, JD
This intensive training is designed to help those interested in starting and running a professional parent advocacy business. It includes both self-paced classes through Teachable and live courses, and is taught by experienced advocates and an attorney. The training covers a variety of topics, such as how to screen clients, fee agreements for advocates, successful marketing, liability issues, attending IEP meetings and helping parents articulate their needs, avoiding Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL), complaints and due process, as well as mediation and settlement agreements. This comprehensive training will provide all the necessary tools and knowledge to help participants become successful in the field of parent advocacy.