How Do You Know When It's Time To Seek Support?
If you're a sensory sensitive parent, a Mum in the postpartum phase, or perhaps a neurodivergent parent, then you might just be wondering...
"When exactly should I seek help from an occupational therapist?"
The answer is ultimately up to factors like your capacity, your access to either private or public health services, your trust and relationship with a therapist etc.
But if you are thinking about seeing an occupational therapist, the main thing that might indicate you could benefit is that:
Your condition is impacting on the things you WANT or NEED to do in your daily life.
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Notice the emphasis on the WANT and NEED:
This is to draw your attention to them. This might look different for everyone, for example: what a 33 year old parent WANTS or NEEDS to do in their daily life (e.g. sharing dinner duties, attend playgroups, start back at paid work, play with the kids, manage the household, grocery shop, organise the house, delegate the mental load, recover your identity.... etc. etc.) might look quite different to what a young single 22 year old builder WANTS or NEEDS to do in their daily life.
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I've used the word "condition":
This might not be a "diagnosed" condition. Some of the clients I see for nervous system regulation do have diagnosed conditions such as long covid or depression. But, some don't. (The reason for this is that maybe they haven't sought formal diagnosis yet, or don't feel they need to, but I'm also seeing a lot of women who fall into the gap of discovering their own neurodivergency and aren't yet diagnosed).
Your "condition" might be diagnosed, but maybe it's something along the lines of having a narrow window of tolerance, long term stress, the ongoing impact of holding the mental and physical load of being the default parent, your auditory sensitivity, or your touch sensitivity.
If you notice that you are:
sensitive to noise
avoiding loud gatherings/places
triggered by your children's noise
hiding away to avoid your children
struggling to experience any joy or playfulness in parenting
prone to snapping or flipping your lid often
finding it hard to relax
finding it difficult to get into a state of "flow" in life activities
overstimulated often
And you are finding that the above symptoms are making it more difficult for you to do the things you NEED or WANT to do in your role as a parent, then it might be time to seek some professional support.
Connect Occupational Therapy's packages are designed to offer you support so you can feel and do your best in your parenting role.
BASIC PACKAGE - This is for you if you want insight into your sensory nervous system, and you feel confident in your own ability to implement changes independently.
STANDARD PACKAGE - This is ideal for you if you want insight into your sensory nervous system, PLUS the ability to text/email afterwards to consult about changes you're making as a result of our assessment and recommendations.
SAFE AND SOUND PACKAGE - You are guided through a research based listening programme that helps you "reset" the nervous system. Together we get your nervous system out of "stuck" mode. You will be able to continue with your roles in life feeling more grounded, calm, less stressed or irritable.
We specialise in helping tired, overstimulated parents, just like you. You don't have to do this alone.
Book a free 15min call to see if we're right for you.
Rachel
Resources informing this blog post: