About Caroline

At Caroline's recent book launch at the Freud Museum in London, she was interviewed about why she decided to write The Parenting Toolkit. Here she is, telling about the story behind the book, together with colleagues and friends saying why you should buy a copy.

Caroline Penney is a well-known parenting specialist and systemic family therapist. She comes from a family with a tradition of working in mental health, being the great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud and great-niece of Anna Freud.

Having first attended a parenting course in 1985 Caroline was a pioneer in the growing parenting education movement, working with the grass roots, running a wide range of parenting groups and later writing numerous different parenting courses adapted to children’s particular needs. 

A nurse and a teacher before becoming a family therapist, Caroline managed the Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities Project at the South London and Maudsley Hospital where she was responsible for training parents to facilitate parenting groups, so that they in turn can provide high quality parenting courses to all parents.

Caroline has worked in the field of parenting for over 30 years, and her courses support parents through every stage of their children’s development in the three parenting courses Baby and Us, Being A Parent and Understanding Teenagers courses. As well as the UK, her work has taken her overseas to Australia, Nigeria, Nepal and Sri Lanka. 

Caroline has a private practice at the Lantern Family Centre, where she sees many families, parents as a couple and children who are experiencing difficulties. She is the mother of three children and grandmother of two. She is registered as an accredited psychotherapist with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and as a Systemic Family and Couple Therapist with the UK Council for Psychotherapy and the Association of Family Therapy.