Parenting a child with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), or parenting through adoption, can bring so many conflicting feelings. A deep love and protectiveness of your child or children, alongside exhaustion, uncertainty, grief, advocacy and relentless responsibility. You may spend so much time understanding your child, managing appointments, navigating education or services, and holding everything together that there is very little space left for you. At Northlight Therapy, I offer a compassionate space, and therapy for parents and carers who need somewhere to put down what they are carrying.

You may be feeling overwhelmed, isolated, burnt out or guilty for finding things difficult. If you're a parent of an adopted child you may be struggling to find a bond, create attachment or feel connected to your child. This can bring up so many feelings when you've worked so hard and waited so long to create a family, and the trauma a child experiences can impact so much upon family life it can be hard to know how to find space for yourself.

You might be navigating your child’s diagnosis, school refusal, distressed, challenging or violent behaviours, sensory needs, trauma, attachment difficulties or conflict with professionals. You may also be grieving the parenting experience you imagined you'd have, questioning your own responses, or feeling that other people do not understand the complexity of your family life. You may be struggling to get support within heteronormative services, where you feel isolated and othered. 

It can feel incredibly isolating parenting a child with these needs, especially surrounded by other parents who don't get it. Therapy gives you space to speak honestly without judgement, without having to minimise your experience, and without being told simply to try harder, go on yet another parenting course or be more positive.

My approach is to build a collaborative person-centred relationship which is trauma and attachment informed and neuroaffirming. I understand that parents of SEND and adopted children are often required to become advocates, researchers, coordinators and emotional anchors, while their own needs remain unseen. I offer counselling in York and online across the UK, providing a space where you can feel heard, can make sense of what you are experiencing, reconnect with yourself and find ways of caring for your own wellbeing alongside caring for your child.