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Professionally I am a Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist. Unprofessionally, I am a mother.
About me
I am a therapist, then I became a mother.
I had not planned to become a mother quite when I did. That’s not to say that I did not or do not want my daughter, more that we had not planned for it to happen quite as soon as it did. I have since learnt that nothing about children can be planned!
I found out I was pregnant only a month after moving to Bristol. On finding myself unexpectedly pregnant in a new city, I set out on a mission to meet new friends. It turns out that most people don’t really want to socialise with a pregnant woman (this possibly has something to do with the nausea, exhaustion, constant peeing and inability to go out drinking!) so I found myself meeting lots of pregnant women. Most of these women were lovely but most of them, including myself, were anxious about something. It occurred to me that the women I had met would really benefit from some of the anxiety management I use with clients in my work as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist.
Throughout my pregnancy and the first year of my daughter’s life I found myself trawling many mummy blogs, finding them both hilarious and an invaluable source of knowledge. CBT blogs however are usually very dry regurgitations of text books. This got me thinking why not combine the two?
I don’t proclaim to have all the answers, aside from being a therapist I am a 30-something-year-old woman, muddling through like everyone else. I hope by sharing my knowledge of anxiety, depression, mental health and well-being, that I can make that life changing journey into motherhood a little easier for us all.
A bit about CBT
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy proven to be effective in treating both depression and a range of anxiety disorders. In fact, it is the recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and offered across the country for free through the NHS.
CBT is based on the principle that our thoughts, emotions, physical feelings and behaviours all influence one another. It is a present focused, time limited, goal orientated therapy that helps you to notice the patterns of thinking and behaving that are maintaining your problem. The aim is to improve how you feel by making changes to the things you think and do.
What did you find the most challenging part of becoming a mother?
Why don’t you drop me a message and let me know what you have found to be the most challenging part of motherhood so far. I will try to write about a range of topics but it is always good to hear from you, about what you are interested in reading about.