I offer counseling for parents of children with Special Needs including neurodevelopmental disorders, medical conditions, mental illness and other conditions. My focus is on helping parents thrive, not just as caregivers and advocates, but as unique individuals with plenty of needs of their own. Parents typically spend a great deal of time, money and energy focusing on the kids, and are often advised by professionals whose only concern is the child. The health and happiness of the parent is my focus, and the whole family benefits from the well-being of the parents. I work with YOU to take care of YOURSELF.
As a psychologist, my goals are to help you understand yourself, and figure out how to create the positive changes you want. Change often begins with restoring a sense of hope, and a feeling of connection.
Guided Meditations and Relaxation for parents
I hope you will listen, breathe, and use these meditations to help yourself with the ABCs of special needs parenting. The ABCs are designed to help you become:
Aware of your level of stress and your self care needs. - Listen to the progressive muscle relaxation exercise.
quick stress reduction.mp3
Balanced in your daily experience. - Listen to the guided meditation that will add light-hearted themes to your day.
hot air balloon.mp3
Connected to others. - Listen to the loving-kindness meditation.
quick simple loving kindness.mp3
Please think of the ABCs as the MABCs, because it is important to have a 'maybe' attitude in special parenting. For example, "Maybe I can take on this project or that plan today -- but I have no demands, judgments, or harsh expectations for myself. I will just do my best and Maybe it will work out today."
My hope is that you can choose one of these audio files to listen to now and then, or listen to one every day. Feel free to listen while you are hiding out in the bathroom, waiting in a waiting room, or sitting in your parked car, or even while your child is nearby and safely occupied. Just DO NOT listen while you drive a car or do anything that requires full concentration for safety. Remember the idea is to relax and let yourself focus just on you for a little while.
Daily practice of deep breathing, relaxation or meditation can help to reduce the physical and emotional consequences of prolonged stress, like the stress of special-needs parenting.
I wish you all the best. Enjoy.
Here are some additional resources for parents of special kids:
In my own family, I am close with siblings and children who live with disabilities, and I relate my experiences in a blog for WorkingMother.com:
http://www.workingmother.com/blogs/mom-special-nee...
Autism Society of Connecticut:
www.autismsocietyofct.org
Connecticut Autism Resource Center
http://www.ct-asrc.org/
Farmington Valley Asperger’s Network
http://www.favan.org/support.htm
Asperger Syndrome Information and Support
http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/
Autism Help
http://www.autism-help.org/
Council for Exceptional Children
http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=H...
Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center
http://www.cpacinc.org/
Connecticut Families for Effective Autism Treatment
http://www.ctfeat.org/counselors.htm
Connecticut Association of Children with Learning Disabilities
http://www.cacld.org/
Learning Disabilities Association of Connecticut
http://www.ldact.org/
Your Special Child
http://www.yourspecialchild.com/home.html