Welcoming Dr. Andrea Abadi as Chief Medical Officer and expanding mental health care across Latin America

Parente, a clinical-grade AI platform for parent-led behavioral interventions developed with researchers at Palo Alto University and Stanford, is appointing Dr. Andrea Abadi as Chief Medical Officer to expand access to mental health care for families across Latin America (LATAM).

Today, I am thrilled to share three key updates that mark a meaningful new chapter for Parente.

First, we are formally welcoming Dr. Andrea Abadi, one of the most respected child and adolescent psychiatrists in LATAM, as Parente’s Chief Medical Officer for the region.

Second, we are expanding our parent-led intervention programs across Latin America. These programs are delivered through Zoom to increase access, in group format to make them more impactful, and supported by Parente’s AI to provide continued and personalized care to caregivers of children with various conditions. After more than a year of running these programs with families, we have the evidence and the parent stories to know this is the right path forward.

And third, we are expanding the menu of programs to cover more focus areas, including evidence-based parent-led interventions for parents of children with ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Anxiety, and Disruptive behaviors. 

Here is what that means, and why it matters now.

A track record of trusted expertise

Dr. Andrea Abadi is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and Director of INECO Infanto Juvenil, one of the most respected child mental health programs in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is widely recognized across LATAM and beyond for her work translating clinical science into practical guidance that families trust. 

Over the past year, Dr. Abadi has been the clinician behind our most successful group programs. Cohort after cohort, she has shown us what is possible when a deeply skilled professional and a thoughtfully designed AI platform work in true partnership. While based in Argentina, families across LATAM and beyond have attended Dr. Abadi’s programs. The parents in her groups consistently describe two things: the relief of finally being given concrete, evidence-based tools, and the comfort of knowing that support is available between sessions, in real time, when life is hardest.

Today we are formalizing what has been true in practice for many months. As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Abadi will lead our clinical strategy across all parent programs, oversee the curriculum and quality of every cohort, and shape the next generation of clinicians who will deliver Parente programs to families across LATAM and beyond.

“This is the future of mental health treatments. Professionals helping more parents, with great outcomes, without the burnout.” Dr. Andrea Abadi, Chief Medical Officer, Parente

Longstanding barriers to care

At Parente, we have always believed that training the parent is the most powerful way to help the child. The science is clear. Parent Management Training, Behavioral Parent Training, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, RUBI for autistic children, and SPACE for childhood anxiety are among the most rigorously studied interventions in all of mental health, and they consistently produce results that last.

But in too many places, including across LATAM, the families who would benefit the most from these programs simply cannot access them. Wait lists are long. Individual therapy is expensive. Even when families find a great clinician, they often go home with a photocopied worksheet and 167 hours of real life between sessions, with no one to ask when their child is melting down at the supermarket or refusing to do homework on a Tuesday night. Techniques are hard to remember and practice, especially in moments of emotional escalation. 

Furthermore, the individual session format limits how many families professionals can help. They have to work more hours in order to care for more families. This is impossible to do when schedules are already full; and with professionals in limited supply, waitlists keep getting longer.

The power of combining clinician-led programs with AI

By combining clinician-led programs with AI, care can extend beyond the traditional weekly session without asking therapists to work more hours. The human professional provides clinical judgment, supervision, and a trusted relationship, while the AI adds structured between-session support, reminders, practice opportunities, and in-the-moment guidance when parents are dealing with real challenges at home. This model can be used in both individual and group formats, helping professionals support more families, improve continuity of care, expand access to evidence-based strategies, and potentially improve outcomes while reducing waitlists.

What parents have accomplished with Parente

Early studies of Parente’s clinician-plus-AI model are promising. In one peer-reviewed pilot study, caregivers who completed a Parent Management Training program supported by Pat reported significant reductions in children’s externalizing and internalizing symptoms, including aggression and attention problems, along with reductions in caregiver depression, anxiety, and stress. A separate study of our group format with caregivers in Argentina and Paraguay also found high satisfaction, with a Net Promoter Score of 77, 95% positive sentiment in caregiver feedback, and 96% of caregivers reporting improvements in their relationship with their children.

Together, these findings suggest that combining clinician-led parent programs with between-session AI support may help families not only learn practical strategies, but also experience meaningful improvements in child behavior, parent well-being, and family relationships.

Parents described what made Pat, our AI coach, different from anything else they had tried:

• Always there. The most cited reason parents gave for their satisfaction was the constant availability, in their own language, in their own home.

• Concrete and practical. Not abstract advice. Real strategies, tailored to their specific child and situation.

• Emotional containment. A sense of being understood and supported in the hardest moments, not judged.

“The tools I acquired gave me the security and confidence to handle situations that previously overwhelmed me.” Parent of an 8-year-old, Buenos Aires

"It made me think, it calmed me down, and that's how what could have been a fight turned into a coffee chat and a reunion with my daughter.” Parent of an 10-year-old, Buenos Aires

Expanding mental health care programs for families in LATAM

In her new role with Parente, Dr. Abadi will help expand access to evidence-based parent training programs across LATAM, including support for families navigating ADHD, autism, anxiety, and disruptive behaviors.

These programs combine live clinician-led groups with daily support from Pat, Parente’s AI parenting coach, so parents can learn practical strategies during sessions and receive guidance between sessions, when challenges most often happen.

This approach allows families to receive expert clinical guidance, peer support, and personalized between-session help in a format that is more accessible, scalable, and connected to real family life.

In the coming months, you can expect to see more from us. New cohorts launching across all our program tracks. Conversations with leading researchers and clinicians across LATAM. And new studies from our research team that will continue to deepen the evidence base for this model.

A note of gratitude

To the parents who have trusted us with the hardest parts of their family life, thank you. Every cohort teaches us something new. To the clinicians who have partnered with us to deliver these programs, thank you. You are the reason this works. And to Dr. Abadi, for saying yes to this next chapter, gracias from all of us. We could not be more excited about what comes next.

If you are a parent in LATAM wondering whether a Parente group program might be right for your family, the best place to start is by visiting our cohort registration page or following Dr. Andrea Abadi on Instagram, where she shares free resources, hosts live conversations with our team, and announces upcoming group programs.

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Dr. Eduardo Bunge is co-founder and CEO of Parente, a psychology professor at Palo Alto University, and Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy and Technology Research Lab. He has spent over 20 years researching and delivering evidence-based interventions for children, adolescents, and families, with a particular focus on Spanish-speaking communities.

Connect with Eduardo on LinkedIn or reach out directly at ebunge@parente.ai