Finding wholeness again when you’ve lost yourself to the drudgery and bigness of parenting responsibilities
Counselling for parental burnout
Online therapy across Ontario
Do you feel like you’ve completely lost yourself to parenting?
You’ve made it through the newborn fog, possibly the toddler tantrums, and maybe even the school-aged years, but, whenever it was, one day you looked in the mirror and barely recognized the person looking back. You feel completely consumed by parenting, to the point that you don’t even know who you are anymore.
You love your family, but you miss yourself.
This body of yours, it has changed so much. Your time is no longer your own. Your energy is non-existent once you are done being all the things to all the people.
If you identify as a mother, the expectations of Modern Motherhood are impossible to live up to. You may scroll social media, wondering how these other moms have it all together, and feel like you are not enough. (“When does she have time to make pottery and learn Spanish and take her kids to out-of-town dance competitions and post that promotion on her LinkedIn page and get her hair done?”) If you could only do more — if you could only be more, then maybe you’d feel more … fulfilled? More yourself?
So you continue juggling all the balls. You carry on wearing the “super mom” cape that you didn’t ask for.
You may feel overwhelmed, irritable, resentful. Hollowed out. Sad.
It’s starting to affect your relationships and other aspects of your life. Parenting was supposed to get easier, to take up less space, and it didn’t.
And there’s so little left of your own life for you.
With compassionate support, you can reclaim your identity outside of Mother or Parent, while also having the rewarding parenting experience you had imagined.
It doesn’t have to be this way. I can help.
As a mother of three myself, I have a deep, personal understanding of the challenges that we face every day — the stress, overwhelm, and pressure to be perfect. All the invisible labour and mental load of scheduling playdates, remembering family birthdays, figuring out childcare, keeping the house stocked with laundry detergent and toothpaste … The plans for ourselves that go sideways when someone gets sick. The exhaustion at the end of the day and wondering where the minutes all went. Thinking “is this really my life?”
I have felt the sadness and the guilt, and the overall “stuckness” of wanting to be there for my family, but knowing to my very core that I also needed to somehow care for myself. This is why I do this work.
Together, we can create a safe space for you to process your emotions, develop coping strategies, and find your way back to yourself. We will work to address negative self-talk, unrealistic expectations of yourself, or past traumas that may be impacting your ability to feel confident and capable and happy.
By learning new skills, reconnecting with personal desires and hopes, and practicing self-compassion, you can move through parental burnout and recreate your life in a way that includes space for you. A life you feel excited about. A life that nourishes you.
Here are some of the things we may focus on:
Recognizing parental burnout
Developing coping strategies for anxiety, depression, overstimulation, and stress
Addressing feelings of guilt, shame, or self-criticism
Exploring feelings of ambivalence about motherhood/parenting
Learning effective communication skills with your partner, if you have one
Exploring loss of identity and new identities in parenthood
Addressing past traumas that may impact your parenting experience
Processing feelings around body image and working towards body acceptance, if these are draining you
Identifying strategies to prioritize self-care
Frequently asked questions about counselling for parental burnout
FAQs
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The first step is to book a free 20 minute consultation to gain clarity on your situation and whether or not working together would be a good fit. From there, we would meet online via a secure platform to identify and then work towards goals around how you want to feel and what you want your life and parenting journey to look like.
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There is no prerequisite for getting support. You may feel a wide range of big emotions related to parental/maternal burnout, including stress, overwhelm, sadness, exhaustion, or a sense of feeling lost in it all. I am here to help you work through all of your unique feelings and experiences as you navigate your parenting journey.
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If the description on this page resonates with you, I can help - regardless of your gender identity or caregiving role.