Parent Support

Parent Coaching

Raising children is a challenge! This is because it not only requires significant effort and attention but also because we are so invested in getting it right. There is also so much (often conflicting) information available about all the things that we as parents SHOULD be doing. In the face of all this noise it’s hard to feel confident in our decision making and choices with our kids.

Parenthood offers an ever-changing array of challenges (e.g. tantrums, sleep difficulties, school refusal etc) that it can feel difficult to feel grounded and calm. That’s in addition to all the other stressors we have in our lives. And, in the face of stress we become more reactive and often make parenting decisions that don’t help or that we regret.

If you are struggling to develop your sense of identity as a parent, or you feel like you need help to understand the patterns of behaviour between your child and yourself, please know you are not alone. Kate offers parent coaching sessions to help you think through the factors influencing your child (e.g. developmental stage, temperament, sensory needs) and you as a parent (e.g. stress, temperament, relationship history). These sessions are solution focussed and aim at developing a plan that fits with your values as a parent and helps you feel more confident when things get rough.

Parental Mental Health

Parenthood is a time of great change. The features that have grounded our lives since adolescence, including careers, relationships and self care, often shift in incredible ways and leave us feeling adrift. In addition to these changes, parenthood brings a multitude of potential additional stressors (e.g. periods of poor sleep, increased financial pressures etc.) that can leave people feeling depleted, anxious and low.

Parenting also brings such intense emotions!. I know that I have never felt such joy but also such sadness, guilt, anger and worry. Nothing is more challenging to our emotion regulation that interacting with our children. And, never have we wanted to be better at modelling effective emotional coping.

Parenting can lead to intense feelings of sadness, anxiety, anger, shame and guilt and without support these emotions can leave people struggling alone. In therapy overwhelming and unwanted emotions can be observed and understood so they no longer cause as much distress.

Perinatal Counselling

Pregnancy and the postnatal period are often described as a magical time of bonding and joy. But they can also be frightening, lonely and sad times as well. Our brains and bodies are going through so many changes that alone can cause shifts in our emotions. When we layer on poor sleep, increased stress and the relentlessness of having a new baby, parents can feel nothing like their old self. Old methods of self care and emotion regulation may feel out of reach.

Low mood, anxiety, anger and guilt are common emotions experienced by both women and men during pregnancy and postpartum. Perinatal counselling offers a space to gently explore these feelings and find ways to manage and even thrive.

Please get in contact if you would like more information or to set up a session with Kate.

Parental Separation

Divorce and separation are difficult for everyone in a family. Kate provides parents with a therapeutic space to make sense of their own grief and loss, while thinking about the best interests of their children. She can help parents develop a strategy for regulating their own emotions, speaking with their children and understanding their children’s reactions and behaviours.

Kate also has experience providing therapy for family members, who are currently involved in Family Court proceedings. This kind of therapy may be confidential or reportable, where a therapist is asked to provide information to the Court regarding outcomes. Depending on the therapeutic goals, therapy may involve some or all family members and Kate is understanding of the particular pressures and concerns that are often involved in families, who are experiencing high levels of conflict.

Kate provides Single Expert Reports and Child Impact Reports for the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. These are specific family assessments, Ordered by the Family Court, that investigate parental capacity, attachment, mental health and substance use and family violence.