Gaby Portilla — Regenerating Roots
Facilitator.
Guide. Founder.
Nine years accompanying families through the one shift that changes everything: understanding the nervous system instead of managing behavior.
A different
kind of
guide.
Gaby Portilla is a mother, facilitator, and guide for families raising neurosensitive and neurodivergent children. She is also neurodivergent herself — ADHD, PDA, autism, and giftedness. This is not just something she studies. It is something she lives.
Her work is grounded in nine years of intensive study — polyvagal theory, developmental trauma, somatic and trauma-informed care, resilience-focused therapy, psychopedagogy, self-directed education, and Montessori guidance — integrated with direct practice alongside more than 200 families across two continents.
She is the founder of Regenerating Roots, the FERN Model, Family Sensitive, and The Nest — a living learning ecosystem being built in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. She has trained parent coaches in her original methodology, CriAS, and accompanies neurosensitive families through the work of nervous system-based parenting.
"I don't hold a university license. What I hold is nine years of deep study with the leading voices in the field, a methodology built from the inside out, and the lived experience of raising a neurodivergent child while being neurodivergent myself. The knowledge that guides this work doesn't live in a diploma. It lives in every family that has found its way back to connection."
One root system.
Many branches.
The FERN Model
The theoretical backbone of everything. A nervous system-first framework for learning, parenting, and environment design. FERN holds that before curiosity, creativity, or learning can emerge — the body must feel safe.
Explore the FERN Model →The Nest
A living, self-directed learning ecosystem for children and families rooted in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. Currently in development.
Learn about The Nest →Rooted
8-session nervous system-based parenting program for families in and around Vilcabamba. Built on the FERN Model.
See the program ↓Rooted ND
Individual coaching for neurodivergent and neurosensitive families. 3-month deep process. Available internationally in English.
See the package ↓Family Sensitive
Comunidad privada de más de 120 familias neurosensibles. Acompañamiento, recursos y formación en crianza desde el sistema nervioso — en español, con alcance internacional.
Ir a Family Sensitive →Rooted
Because regulation at home changes everything.
A 2-month parenting journey built on one biological truth: learning and connection cannot emerge from fear. They emerge from safety.
"What we call behavior is the visible expression of an invisible process: the nervous system organizing for survival."
— The FERN Model
The Body Knows First
Polyvagal basics without the jargon. Where does your own nervous system live most of the time?
Reading the Map
What dysregulation actually looks like in children — and in you. Fight, flight, freeze, fawn at home.
Neurodivergence at Home
ADHD, PDA, autism, giftedness, high sensitivity — as nervous system profiles to understand, not diagnoses to fix.
The Adult in the Room
You cannot co-regulate from dysregulation. The parent's nervous system is the intervention.
Connection Before Correction
What repair actually looks like. Why chronic unrepaired rupture is the real problem.
Designing the Home Environment
Predictability, sensory load, transitions, choice architecture. How to build rhythm without imposing control.
The Family as a Living System
Everyone in the home has a nervous system. How regulation and dysregulation are contagious.
Continuing Without Me
Building your own capacity to observe, reflect, and adjust. Each family identifies their one real shift.
Full · or $150 × 2 payments
Program value: $1,200+
Full · or $110 × 2 payments
Sliding scale available — reach out
Rooted ND
Nervous System-Based Parenting
for Neurodivergent Families
Individual parent coaching for families navigating neurodivergence — ADHD, autism, PDA, giftedness, high sensitivity, or any combination of these.
This is not advice-giving. It is a structured process of understanding your child's nervous system, your own, and the dynamics between them — so you can stop reacting and start responding.
Grounded in Polyvagal Theory, trauma-informed care, and the FERN Model. Non-pathologizing. Neuroaffirmative. Built for the complexity of real family life.
This program is eligible for autism funding applications in Canada when framed as parent training. Documentation of the program's framework and facilitator background is available upon request.
Book a Session →Acompañamiento Integral · 3 Meses
6 sessions of 1 hour · one every 2 weeks
Deep, personalized 3-month process
- 6 x 1-hour sessions with Gaby
- Nervous system assessment of your family dynamics
- Regulation, school, limits, parental burnout
- Decision-making from a neuroaffirmative lens
- Real-life scenarios — your actual family, not hypotheticals
- Support between sessions via voice message
- Session recordings
Primera Sesión · Neurosensible
1 hour · Entry point for families new to the work
- Full intake and nervous system mapping
- One concrete shift to take home immediately
- Assessment of whether the 3-month process fits
Sliding scale available for families with financial constraints. This work should be accessible. Reach out directly if the investment is a barrier.
Family Sensitive
Para las familias que hablan español — o prefieren recibir este acompañamiento en su idioma — existe Family Sensitive: la comunidad privada donde más de 120 familias están aprendiendo a criar desde la comprensión del sistema nervioso.
No es una red social. Es un espacio de formación continua, recursos, acompañamiento en grupo y acceso directo a Gaby — sin importar dónde vives en el mundo.
Conocer Family Sensitive →Una membresía que acompaña, no que informa
- Formación continua en crianza neurosensible
- Recursos prácticos para familias con niños neurodivergentes
- Sesiones grupales en vivo con Gaby
- Comunidad de más de 120 familias navegando lo mismo que tú
- El marco del Modelo FERN en español
- Acceso a la metodología CriAS
The
formation
behind
the work.
Nine years of intensive study with the leading voices in polyvagal theory, developmental trauma, somatic therapy, and neurodivergent-affirming education — integrated into direct practice with families across two continents.
Polyvagal Trauma Therapy Certificate
60-hour live program with Dr. Stephen Porges, Deb Dana LCSW, Dr. Janina Fisher, Dr. Arielle Schwartz, Dr. Scott Lyons, and Jan Winhall MSW
Certified Parent Coach
Jai Institute for Parenting — evidence-based, neuroscience-informed parent coaching program
Teoría Polivagal Aplicada
Instituto Newman — applied polyvagal theory in family and educational contexts
Psicopedagogía
Child development, learning processes, and educational support
Terapia Asistida con Perros
Foundation of the Dog Sensitive methodology — human-animal co-regulation
Neurosoma
Marco Ratti — nervous system, body, and trauma integration
Agile Learning Centers
Self-directed education facilitation — the Agile model for non-coercive learning environments
PDA — Pathological Demand Avoidance
At Peace Parents — full program on extreme demand avoidance profiles
Montessori Education
Autonomy, prepared environment, and child-led development
Learning Human & Learning Dog
Learning Animals Institute — with Francesco Di Giorgio and José
The Trust Technique
Presence-based human-animal connection and co-regulation
Descodificación Biológica
Instituto Ángeles Wolder
Dr. Stephen Porges
Polyvagal Theory — the biological basis of safety, co-regulation, and connection
Deb Dana, LCSW
Polyvagal-informed therapy — practical application in daily life
Dr. Janina Fisher
Trauma and the body — parts-based approaches to complex trauma
Dr. Gabor Maté
The Wisdom of Trauma — trauma, addiction, and the mind-body connection
Dr. Arielle Schwartz
Resilience-Informed Therapy — EMDR and complex trauma
Natalie Brunswick
Sensitively Wired — highly sensitive and neurodivergent children
Laura Gutman
Primer año de biografía humana — early bonding and development
Ángeles Wolder
Biological decoding — meaning and origin of symptoms
Elaine Aron, PhD
The Highly Sensitive Person — foundational research that shaped Gaby's early work
ADHD: A Hunter in a Farmer's World
Unmasking Autism
Low Demand Parenting
It's Never Just ADHD
Drop the Disorder
Raising Twice Exceptional Children
The Heart of Trauma
Trauma Proofing Your Kids
Hold On to Your Kids
Wild Mind / Soulcraft
Active Hope
The Highly Sensitive Child
Where do you
want to start?
Every branch leads back to the same root.
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