Therapy for Mothers
with past childhood wounds in the Carolinas & Illinois.
Specializing in Mothers with Childhood Sexual Abuse
EXCLUSIVELY ONLINE in the Carolinas & Illinois.
We all have a childhood memory of the first time we felt nurtured and seen. Mothers have such a large responsibility to shape the memories of a child. You may think about how you want to make the best memories for your child. You want to give your child protection and your fear may take over your attempts.
Childhood may look easy but you know that childhood was hard for you. You also know deep down inside your child may be vulnerable to getting hurt like falling off of a bike or running into a situation that can leave an indelible mark on them.
You know childhood is never perfect. You want childhood memories to be idyllic, and perhaps there are parts of core memories that are. In my work with women and mothers, we examine parts of your childhood. We work on ways childhood left your feeling invisible and silenced. An example of this can begin early in childhood and how your parents responded was a core memory. Your feelings may have never been considered and talking about them was avoided. You may have been taught to be quiet rather than hear your strong intense feelings.
Every woman and mother has a story to tell.
Creating space for emotions and experiences:
01
Anxiety
This feeling can often manifest in initially in childhood when you abandoned with your own feelings. Your felt deep shame for your highly sensitive nature and confused why your family never talked about feelings.
Your coping has been mainly identified in achievements. You knew surviving meant completing tasks and you never wanted to slow down because you found yourself in being successful in meeting your career goals.
Trauma gets stuck in parts of our brain and body. It can show up as feelings of increased nervous energy, increased irritability, and difficulty sleeping. Sometimes, it can include habits of eating too much or too little. It may include panic attacks. Sometimes people with anxiety need anti-anxiety medication and they work closely with a psychiatrist to obtain this.
02
Depression
Trauma can also cause an avalanche of other feelings like depression. This includes a significant ongoing and persistent feeling of sadness. Often people with depression have a big change in their feelings: worthlessness, sadness, and possibly difficulty with their daily tasks. This can vary from person to person but sometimes antidepressant medication is necessary.
03
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Many women that are survivors may not even know they are experiencing traits of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and symptoms have been left untreated since you were a young child or adolescent.
There is so much shame interlaced in reaching out for therapy and even more for those suffering with a very specific intrusive thought that is followed by a compulsion that only a few people in your family know you do.
So many children and parents suffer silent unnecessarily because there is so much hesitation in reaching out for help. There are a variety of ways that this disorder manifests for people but know you are never alone. You no longer have to spend hours with your compulsion trying to manage what will come next. You don’t have to listen to those that don’t know how to resolve this issue. Mothers may not know how to reach out for their children but I can reassure you that so much has evolved in helping those with OCD.
Knowledge is power and you can start with taking the first step in reaching out for help.
