In this episode Cath was joined by Julianne Boutaleb. We discussed fertility journeys, fantasies of ourselves and our babies, how a fertility journey can impact what we believe we are allowed to feel/think and experience in our mothering journeys and so much more. Julianne used poetry to deepen our understanding of the complexities inherent in motherhood and we discussed the importance of right brain to right brain interactions and more!

Julianne is the Clinical Director and Founder of the Parenthood In Mind practice. She is a passionate and highly experienced perinatal psychologist who has worked for over 24 years in the NHS and private practice with parents and parents-to-be and their babies (and bumps) who have needed support with a wide variety of issues including anxiety and depression during and after pregnancy, miscarriage and reproductive loss, attachment issues, re-emergence of childhood issues and couples issues.

Julianne is a member of the Birth Trauma Association and specialises in working therapeutically with birth trauma, PTSD and tokophobia (fear of giving birth) as they impact the mother, couple relationship and parent-infant attachment. In addition, she is also affiliated with BICA (British Infertility Counselling Association) and offers tailored psychological interventions for individuals and couples (including same sex couples) who are pregnant or are parenting following ART (IVF, ICSI, donor conception, surrogacy) or adoption. She also specialises in offering psychological support to parents (either individually or together) who are co-parenting in the midst of separation and divorce. She has over 15 years’ experience teaching and training psychologists and health professionals on issues of parental mental health, attachment, early years and positive mental health for babies and young children.

Julianne works from a variety of perspectives including psychodynamic and attachment models, CBT, integrative, ACT and compassion-focussed work, couples work and can also offer parent-infant sessions using the Watch, Wait & Wonder model which focusses on how you can improve your attachment relationship with your baby.

You can connect with Julianne on Instagram here. Or her website listed here.

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To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

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In this wide ranging episode Cath focuses on parental burnout and talks about how we are more vulnerable to this if we have childhood trauma and why. She references recent research into this topic discussing what it is, risk factors for parental burnout, why it matters, how we can conceive of it through a nervous system lens and how we can support ourselves.

The link to the research discussed in the podcast, is listed below. 

Ren, X., Cai, Y., Wang, J. et al. A systematic review of parental burnout and related factors among parents. BMC Public Health 24, 376 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-17829-y

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To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

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In this episode Cath shares that she received a diagnosis of ADHD and Autism in 2024 and some of the reasons she pursued this. She shared how she is integrating this and how she was tending to herself and meeting her needs ahead of the diagnosis. Cath speaks about executive functioning, what it is, how this may be a struggle and she shares specific anecdotes from her own life about needs, struggles in mothering and struggles with time blindness and how she supports and accommodates herself with these. Would you like more of this sort of content?

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

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In episode 131 of Grow Yourself Up Cath was joined by Dr. Jenny Turner. Jenny and Cath had a wide ranging and rich discussion covering the following: Jenny's path to motherhood and the birth of her son, shame, relationships, the challenges of shifting cycles in parenting, when perimenopause and postpartum collide and how we often have to dig really deep in motherhood and much more.

Jenny is a clinical psychologist and founder of 'Mind Body Soul Psychology'. She is based in North Yorkshire, and works online with people from all over the UK. Jenny is also a mum to a four year old son.

With an extensive NHS background in child and adolescent mental and physical health services. Jenny is now passionate about supporting Mothers, a central theme of the work she offers is how we can all get our own needs met, while we are caring for so many other people, Jenny believes that the care we receive, our boundaries, and our own healing are all fundamental to the care we offer as mothers, and to our enjoyment of the process of mothering.

She is also passionate about helping mothers to navigate through the emotions that society too often (wrongly!) tells us 'we're not meant to feel' as Mothers, such as resentment, ambivalence, anger, rage, trauma, shame, guilt, grief, exhaustion, and burnout.

Jenny offers integrative therapy to her clients - She draws largely on systemic, societal, psychodynamic, compassion-based and body-based, trauma-informed models (such as polyvagal theory). As well as the therapeutic model of shame-resilience developed from Brené Brown's research.

You can connect with Jenny on her website listed here: www.mindbodysoulpsychology.co.uk

Or, Instagram: @drjennypsychologist

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

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In this episode Cath was joined by Dr Jodi Pawluski, they talked about Jodi’s path to motherhood, her postpartum time, how she prepared for this time and how her own parents’ support impacted her.

Jodi shares a bit about her family history, about the partnership she has with her husband in parenting and how her own work and knowledge of the brain supports her in her mothering role. 

Dr Jodi Pawluski is a Behavioural Neuroscientist, Psychotherapist and Author. Her research is affiliated with a research unit of the INSERM institute, the University of Rennes, France.

For over fifteen years Jodi has studied the neuroscience of motherhood and the effects of perinatal mental illness and antidepressant medications on the mother and developing offspring.

In 2020 Dr. Pawluski started a podcast called "Mommy Brain Revisited" which focuses on bringing current research on the parental brain to the general public. She also recently published a book (available in French and English) titled "Mommy Brain: Discover the amazing power of the maternal brain". 

Dr Pawluski's work has appeared in the New York Times, Scientific American, CNN, The Boston Globe, Die Zeit, Elle, Marie Claire, to name a few

You can connect with Jodi on her website listed here www.jodipawluski.com

Instagram: @dr.jodi_pawluski

X (formerly twitter): @JodiPawluski

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

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In this episode Cath is joined by Occupational Therapist and Conscious Parent Coach Maggie Viers. Maggie shares her own growth and awakening in motherhood. She talks about how becoming a mother was a catalyst for her own growth and healing.

Motherhood pushed her to look into the details of her own childhood experiences and how these had impacted her. Maggie shares her wisdom, what she finds most helpful in tending to herself and how she prioritises connection with her children and family in a world that is always encouraging us to do more. You will feel hopeful and encouraged after this episode.

Maggie is now an Occupational Therapist who has evolved into a conscious parent coach. She has a passion for shifting the paradigm for how we view behavior and supporting other parents to become more connected to themselves, their children, and others. She does this by getting to the “why” and approaching life with curiosity. She helps parents to understand their own nervous system, sensory profile, and triggers so they can better understand their children as well. It wasn’t until motherhood that she discovered how her own struggles and patterns had so much to do with her own early childhood experiences and conditioning. For Maggie, becoming a parent was a challenging yet beautiful invitation to go inward and become curious about her own life story so she could show up differently for herself and her kids.

You can find Maggie on Instagram @theempoweredfamily

Maggie offers 1:1 coaching through the link in her Instagram bio or www.thrivinglittles.com

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

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Episode 128 ponders the question 'Am I failing my kids' and uses an attachment analogy to explain what that would actually look like. She uses details from her own life to explain how we all have periods of challenge, disconnection, stress and how we can reframe this. Instead of using black and white language to describe our experiences and saying we are bad/shit, Cath suggests how we might conceive of things instead.

Cath also speaks briefly about the TV show 'Adolescence' and the issues this programme has highlighted. And how secure attachment and cultivating warmth, connection and allowing vulnerability for all are a vital part of how we can protect our children from all sorts of negative outcomes. She speaks about patriarchy and modelling and how our own relationships as adults are what our children learn from.

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

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In this episode Cath is joined by Yvonne Smyth. Yvonne is a Conscious Parent Coach and a Child Advocate. She's a single mum who co-parents her boys of 12 and 13 and she lives in Northern Ireland.

Yvonne shares about how and why she shifted her parenting style and how that has been so beneficial for her family. Yvonne is passionate about supporting parents to connect deeply with their children and to move away from using coercion and control within the parent/child relationship. Yvonne discusses the challenges of parenting in the teenage years. She shares how she is approaching this time, how she maintains connection and continues to work on the parent/child relationship, despite messaging in society that says this is a time we 'lose our kids'.

Many of Yvonne's clients come to her with lots of "knowledge" about Conscious/Gentle Parenting but struggle to put it into practice. Yvonne is warm, honest and compassionate. One of the words people who work with her most often use to describe her is "relatable". She shares many stories and anecdotes from what she calls her own "living laboratory" of her relationship with her boys which brings her work to life in a way that tends to resonate deeply with other parents.

Yvonne offers sessions on zoom to parents, couples and even friends who want to be supported together. She also runs workshops on various themes related to Conscious Parenting. Yvonne has a series of workshops aimed specifically at parents of teens. She has also just launched a community/membership called The Heart of Parenting - What Really Matters. 

You can find Yvonne here:

Instagram: @thisparentingadventure 

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/thisparentingadventure 

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonne-smyth-009645a/

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

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Cath was joined by Flora Cruft for this episode. Flora Cruft is a poet, a picture book writer, an existential psychotherapist and a creativity coach. She runs her own online therapy and coaching practice, South West Therapy. Her debut poetry book I am a Spider Mother was published by The Mum Poem Press in 2022. Flora won the Books that Help 2023 picture book mentorship with Little Tiger Press, and she loves to write, sing, bake and enjoy loud kitchen discos with her twin daughters.

Flora has an instagram account @poet.therapist.baker where she explores the intersections between therapy, creativity, writing, authentic living, baking and mental health. She lives with her partner and family in East Devon.

Flora and Cath talked about Flora's path to motherhood, her fertility journey, what she learnt about creativity growing up, how she lost and regained connection to her creativity. We talked about creativity, the inner critic and motherhood and Flora shared how baking nourished her on her motherhood journey and much more! This rich episode will encourage you to access your own creativity!

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

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Cath was joined by Kendra Wilde this week. They talked all about how to keep our sanity intact in parenting when our children are struggling in some way. Kendra shared about the 'why' behind (Wild Peace for Parents) and how she was pushed to a place of burnout on her parenting journey. This conversation is loaded with self compassion and wisdom from someone who has kids in their twenties, we hope you enjoy it.

Kendra Wilde is a parent wellbeing advocate who uses illustration, podcasting, writing, and workshops to share resilience resources with parents. As a mom of three who met burnout up close, she realized the best way to help children thrive is to care for the caregivers. 

Kendra created (Wild Peace for Parents) to help parents feel less alone and more empowered as they navigate the challenges and growth pains of parenting, especially when raising children who struggle somehow.

She recently launched "A Little Easier", a 12-episode podcast series that brings together leading experts and real parents who share insights, personal stories, and practical tools to give parents a lift through challenging times. The series takes listeners on a 12-part journey, exploring everything from the complex emotions parents experience when their kids struggle, to the nervous system’s impact on parenting, and what can help us fend off burnout, find a sense of balance, and embrace what “is” with more compassion and joy. You can find (A Little Easier) on most podcast platforms. Visit alittleeasier.org for show notes, a free downloadable discussion guide, a printable poster of key takeaways from the show, and more.

Find Kendra on Instagram & FB @wildpeaceforparents and at wildpeace.org

If you're enjoying this podcast. Please leave a review and rate the podcast, this really helps others to find it.

To sign up for the journal prompts and Nurture.Heal.Grow (on Substack) please head to www.cathcounihan.com or @cathcounihan on Instagram. 

Follow Cath on social media here:

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