Lina Acosta Sandaal, MA, LMFT began her career at Vista del Mar in Los Angeles. There, she developed expertise in child and adolescent development and infant and early childhood mental health, while strengthening her resolve to support families. She has trained and participated in research studies with Yale’s Minding the Baby, National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and Child Trauma Research Program. In 2015 she was named Mujer Legendaria de Ford for quality in her field. She is the parenting expert for Telemundo’s national morning show Un Nuevo Dia. As part of her commitment to helping all families, she is a member of the Florida Maternal Mental Health Steering Committee and a consultant for the early learning team at MomsRising. She brings this expertise to her work at her center, Stop Parenting Alone, and to all the organizations who rely on her expertise and consultation on development and parenting issues.
Blog Post List
November 9, 2016
Last night as the news outlets spoke of statistics and predictions, my social media feed and email flooded with the same theme and question from most parents. They were all anticipating the conversation they would have with their children about the outcome of the election. It is a difficult conversation to have primarily because most parents have not made sense of the information for themselves. Here are tips on speaking to your children about the election: On answering the question what do I tell my children? We explain to them the process of voting and elections, in an age appropriate way...
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Childcare & Early Education Families & The Federal Budget Family Economic Security Maternal Justice MomsRising MomsVote Politics & Policy
November 2, 2016
Me avergüenza admitir que me emocioné hasta el punto en que mis ojos y mi nariz no podían funcionar apropiadamente. Traté de no respirar ni pestañar para evitar un chorro de lágrimas. Desde el escenario Heather C. McGhee nos hablaba de la importancia de escucharnos y comprender nuestra condición humana si queremos alcanzar un verdadero cambio. Comencé a llorar porque yo sabía que esa era, precisamente, la respuesta. Como psicoterapeuta de familias y niños, a diario me siento y escucho a otros hablar de su condición humana. Cuando escuchamos, comprendemos y llegamos a ese punto donde podemos...
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Childcare & Early Education Families & The Federal Budget Family Economic Security Maternal Justice MomsRising MomsVote Politics & Policy
November 2, 2016
I was embarrassed that I had welled up to the point where my nose and my eyes could no longer function properly. I attempted not to take a huge breath or blink since tears were going to pour. From the stage I listened to Heather C. McGhee tell all of us that we needed to listen and understand one another, to meet in our humanity if there was to be true change. I began to cry because I know that this is the answer. As a psychotherapist to families and children, I sit and listen to others' humanity daily, and it always works when we listen, understand, and meet in that place of "yes, me too."...
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June 27, 2016
At the end of the day, the crowd broke into an uproar when we heard Oprah Winfrey proclaim, "Hi, everybody!" We had all been anxiously awaiting the Q&A of Oprah with Michelle Obama, the hostess of our summit. Michelle Obama spoke of many things: self-value, self-worth, defining ourselves and handling criticism. She described how she chose her priorities and what she values most. But of all she described and shared, one line stuck with me. After Oprah asked her what she would be leaving the White House most proud of, she stated
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October 5, 2014
El dar nalgadas es un tema que puede dividir una reunión en la mitad en cuestión de segundos. Por esta razón he sido prudente, reflexiva, y paciente acerca de cuándo abordarlo. Durante este mes pasado vi en CNN como varios expertos hablaron de Adrian Peterson el corredor de los Vikingos de Minnesota que está siendo investigado actualmente por golpear a su hijo de 4 años de edad con una vara. Los comentaristas trajeron todo tipo de razones, juicios, y estadísticas. Algunos nunca había escuchado y dos me impactaron hasta mucho: el 70% de los estadounidenses aprueba "un buen azote" y el 94% de...
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September 18, 2014
Spanking is a topic that can break a room in half in a matter of seconds. For this exact reason I have been cautious, thoughtful, and patient about when I would approach it. Last night I watched CNN as several talking heads spoke of Adrian Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings running back who is currently being investigated for beating his 4-year-old son with a switch. The commentators brought up all sorts of reasons, judgments, and statistics. Some I had never heard and two shocked me to the core: 70% of Americans approve of “a good hard spanking” and 94% of parents of children ages 3-4 report...
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February 17, 2014
Recently, I have spent a lot of time writing and reading so that I can prepare for our new series of parent talks. As I was doing this I started thinking about my own journey in motherhood and how it has affected me. The one aspect of parenting that I have struggled with is the subject of the opening talk: how to parent the personality your child was born with. I have a very strong personality. (My husband attributes it to“being Colombian”.) When I was young I was told I was dramatic, and as an adult some people tend to be a little put off when they first meet me. I am passionate when I speak...
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