Parent Therapy Is The New Couples Therapy

Becoming A Parent Is A Major Transition, And It Becomes More Complex As The Years Pass. It’s No Wonder More And More Parents Are Seeking Professional Help.

- Caitlin Geng

Becoming a parent is life-changing and can make you feel and experience parts of yourself you didn’t even know existed. No matter how many books and websites you consult, nothing can truly prepare you for the rollercoaster to come, and each new phase and development brings fresh challenges. People don’t often talk about the exponential effects of being a parent on their mental and emotional health, but the pressures involved are huge. The job of raising a baby to become a functioning, happy and good person as you’re pushed to your limits isn’t easy. It’s not surprising there’s been a surge in counselling and therapy services for parents.

What is parent therapy?

The coaching and counselling involved with parent therapy goes beyond ‘workshopping’ – once-off seminars that might teach you things like ‘alternatives to nagging’. Rather, parent therapy encompasses specialised and intensive counselling, family sessions, goal-oriented cognitive behavioural therapy for parents, and life coaching for specific parenting issues, like matrescence – the transition to motherhood. Matrescence, like puberty, is a turbulent transformation involving hormonal, physical and emotional changes that result in a new and confusing identity shift for mothers. This can be especially distressing as people around new moms often expect them to feel happy and fulfilled at a time when they’re losing all control of how they look and feel.