I’m so excited to share that I am now a certified Motherhood Studies practitioner!
What a journey it’s been…
After completing my MSc in Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology with UEL I set up my coaching business for mums, with the aim of supporting mothers using coaching and evidence-based positive psychological approaches.
I soon learned that this would only get me so far.
Don’t get me wrong, coaching and positive psychology are both hugely beneficial for our well-being.
But I started to feel there was a piece of the puzzle missing.
Fortunately, that’s when I came across Dr Sophie Brock and her work, which frames the experience of being a mother within a broader societal and systemic context.
Through studying with Dr Brock, I was able to see that the origins of maternal guilt and shame lie in the very social fabric we are born into. We literally live and breathe the rules of patriarchal motherhood, often without having any cognisance of it.
What does this mean?
It means that from a young age, girls are socially conditioned into the role of ‘woman’ and ‘mother,’ taking on board a certain narrative that they must be good, and meek, and quiet, and selfless. As mothers, they must strive for the ‘perfect mother’ stereotype and continue to be selfless, often at the expense of their own wants, needs and desires. When they (inevitably) fail to be perfect they feel a clawing sense of ‘not good enough’ which pervades their whole existence and negatively impacts their well-being.
It is important to note that men are also conditioned from a young age into the role of ‘man’ and ‘father’; roles which have a very different set of rules assigned to them, and lead to a different – but no less damaging – set of ideals.
We are ALL trapped by this social conditioning, which plays out on the wider stage in so many negative and harmful ways e.g. gender bias, the gender pay gap, scores of women leaving paid employment after having children because they are not adequately supported back into the workplace, men not having the opportunity to take parental leave and bond with their babies – the list goes on…
The old narratives are outdated and do not fit modern society.
I believe the only way we can free ourselves from the tyranny of our social conditioning is to bring awareness to it and seek to challenge it.
That’s why my work with mothers now incorporates this very important element, and I am proud to be a certified practitioner of Dr Brock’s important work.
If you are interested in the work I am doing with mothers and would like to know more, get in touch. Spaces are available for my 6 week online course launching in October which combines 1:1 and group coaching with short teaching modules: https://lnkd.in/eSDpgu7f
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