I became a mum at the age of 27, that’s over 21 years ago now!
I can remember feeling ready, excited and a little bit nervous.
I was confident and comfortable around children as I was working as a primary school teacher. I remember thinking it should be a piece of cake to look after one when I was used to minding 30 at a time!
Mmm…. it was a little harder than I thought…
I had always been a bit of a perfectionist. (I’m working hard to learn to let go of this as I get older!) Motherhood triggered something big in me. It was something I really needed to get “right”. I could not bear the thoughts of getting things “wrong”.
I put such huge pressure on myself in those the early days.
I am so thankful now that it was before the advent of social media and the plethora of
confusing and overwhelming parenting ideologies that are about now!
I really feel for modern day parents having to navigate all of that!
I loved bonding, cocooning and being with my son but I worried a lot about lots of little things. It was constant and it felt relentless. My mum was a great source of comfort and reassurance for me.
When I look back on that time, knowing what I know now, I would love to have been able to tell myself that what I was doing was good enough, and that it would all turn out ok!
Now I have an adult son. We are close, we talk, we laugh and we figure things out together. We have of course had our ups and downs. He has taught me more about being a parent than any of books I ever read. (And I have probably read most of them by now!) I just needed to learn to listen to him (and to my own instincts a bit more) and to be open to reflecting on what I needed to learn or to change.
We have done a lot of our growing together.
I worked as a primary teacher for 16 years. I have worked as a Child and Adolescent
Psychotherapist with a Specialisation in Play Therapy now for over 12 years.
I have lots of experience working with children and teens of all ages, stages, abilities, strengths and struggles.
I am always amazed at human capacity for growth and resilience.
Whilst all children are different, their needs are pretty much universal.
Working with parents is my passion. I believe parents don’t always recognise or trust in their own potential.
I found from experience as a therapist that putting more time into supporting parents had significant and long lasting benefits for families. I am a firm believer in supporting all who are involved in a child’s system in order to get the best outcomes for children and teenagers.
My private practice was constantly full, with long waiting lists for support. It was really hard telling parents that I had no spaces available to see their children. I appreciate how hard it can be to reach out for ourselves or our children when we need it. I wanted to be able to offer timely and targetted supports when parents were needing it.
So towards the end of 2021, I decided to take a bit of a risk, divert my services online to improve accessibility and focus my energies solely into creating a bespoke and individualised parenting support service which continues to grow and become what I had hoped and envisioned- a safe haven for parents to use as a sounding board to access support, reassurance and guidance when they need it.
Not unlike the journey of my beloved swallows!
The Swallow's Trail 