A unique approach to wellbeing and parenting

Being a parent is hard. Kids don't come with an instruction manual and when you get handed this little fragile ball to take away from the hospital it can be terrifying. We all want to be perfect parents and ensure that our kids are happy. But we are bombarded with conflicting advice on how we can do this. Every single aspect of parenting comes with differing opinions and there is a lot of pressure on parents to do the right thing for fear of being judged by others. Lack of sleep combined with anxiety, stress and quite often very demanding offspring makes parenting one of the toughest jobs in the world. 

Often parents feel that they must devote their whole self to their children to be a good parent and can find themselves burnt out and struggling to cope and this can lead to frazzled caregivers who struggle with self-deprication, anxiety, stress and depression. 

I use a combined approach when working with parents and families. I am a qualified psychotherapist, mindfulness teacher and I study neuroscience (the biology of the brain). I'm also a parent to two primary aged children, one of whom has some behaviour challenges. 

I combine my knowledge from my training and experience of parenting along with experience of working with clients and counselling both adults and children. My services are bespoke as there is no 'one size fits all' when it comes to parenting and family life. I will tailor my approach to your unique set of circumstances and help you to build up a set of skills that you can confidently use to help you become the parent that you want to be.  

Mindfulness is about living in the moment and being non-judgmental, including towards ourselves.

We can practice mindfulness in many ways. One of which is through a formal meditation. By talking time out of the day for mindful meditation we are practicing self-care and we bring our focus and attention to how we may be feeling. This can help prevent us from becoming overwhelmed which can better enable us to tackle the daily challenges of parenting. Daily meditation has been proven to physically alter the pathways in our brain meaning we actually become less reactive to stress.

Mindfulness is not just about meditation though. It is also a way of being. When we become more mindful it also helps us to be present with ourselves and our children and enjoy the moment rather than worrying about whether we are getting it right or what could go wrong tomorrow. I can teach you how to become more mindful of things that trigger you as a parent and how to approach this. Being mindful also focuses on becoming better in tune with your bodily responses to stress so that you can sense when you start becoming overwhelmed before you end up in a full burnout mode.