Despite being loving, sensitive and hardworking, life as a parent can be hard. When they first come in, parents describe daily meltdowns and impossible power struggles. While they love their kids more than anything, they’ve come to dread certain times of the day such as mealtimes, bedtime or coming home from work. While peaceful, happy moments do exist, our clients struggle to fully enjoy these moments because they know that chaos could erupt at any time. Despite putting every one else in the family first, they constantly feel like they are coming up short and are running on E. They feel disconnected from their child and sometimes find them hard to be around.
Our clients are stuck in an unhelpful cycle that feels too far gone to reverse. Deep down they hold on to a fear of raising their children in the same way they were parented. Their own childhood was not as pleasant as it could have been, and they don’t want to repeat those same patterns.
All this chaos, conflict and confusion get in the way of the life these parents want. They’re stressed and operating in survival mode. They feel like their failing as parents and their confidence in parenting is tanking.
Before they came into our office, they thought they were beyond help. They worried that things could not change and they would just need to ride the wave until their child grew out of it. Individual counseling provides frustrated parents with a way out of this uncomfortable cycle.
You deserve to enjoy the happy moments with your children and break the patterns that continue this unhealthy cycle. You deserve to feel like a good mom, because if you are reading this- and seeking support to get out of this cycle- YOU ARE A GOOD MOM. Let us help you reconnect with the joy of parenting again.
If you want to end the chaos and find connection, we would love to help you get there.
We will start by identifying the issues you see coming up for you in parenting. Together we will work on identifying what behavioral issues you are seeing in your child and what areas you want to improve on as a parent. We will also discus you own childhood history to create an understanding of how you were parented, and how that is influencing you now.
Next, we will decide on what issues you want to prioritize and focus on first. Then we will identify strategies you can implement immediately. In your sessions you will gain an understanding of your thought patterns, how your emotions are impacting your behavior and that of your child, build coping skills and resiliency to get you through the rough patches and identify what you are already doing right.
Depending on the client, some individuals decide to delve more deeply into the impact of their upbringing on their current parenting style and challenges. Others, chose to focus more on the here and now.
You will have a safe space to work through often uncomfortable and conflicting emotions. We will help you allow yourself to enjoy “me time”- without the guilt – and truly embrace that taking care of you is part of taking care of them. When you are ready, we will end but you will always be welcome back for refresher sessions if need be.
