Being a parent can be a wonderful yet challenging experience. However, a high level of stress in the parenting aspect can lead to parental burnout. This podcast episode will guide parents on how to handle parental burnout.
Meet Hélène Gatland
Hélène Gatland has been passionately working with families since the turn of the century. She holds a Master of Psychology specializing in child and adolescent development and was the first Australian to be certified by the Training Institute for Parental Burnout. She also has a Diploma in Children’s Services.
Hélène’s experience with families is extremely varied, having worked internationally as a psychologist, family coach, childcare educator, and nanny, which allows her to quickly identify and understand each family’s needs and wants and help them achieve their goals.
Additionally, she has been interviewed for numerous podcasts, newspapers, and magazines. She has also received a number of industry awards, the most prestigious being Family Day Care Australia’s Educator of the Year Award for NSW/ACT. And her work was formally recognized by the Parliament of NSW in 2019 and again in 2021.
About the episode
In this podcast episode hosted by Dina Sargeant, Hélène discussed what parental burnout is. She said it is a syndrome that affects parents who are exposed to parental stress and lack the resources to deal with it. She added that there are symptoms of parental burnout, including exhaustion, overload, loss of pleasure from parenting, and emotional distancing from the children.
Also, Hélène explained that mothers and fathers perceive stress differently. And even though the mothers perceived more significant stress levels than the fathers, both parents still need balance and resources to cope.
In conclusion
Parenting can be a stressful yet rewarding journey. The signs of feeling overwhelmed, physical and emotional exhaustion, emotional distancing from one’s children, and a sense of being an ineffective parent should not be neglected since they are signs of parental burnout. And there are ways to avoid and cope with parental burnout.
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