Being a mother is the hardest job in the world
And yet, there is a lack of respect,
understanding and support
for the work mothers do.
This is the place to feel valued + visible + understood
This is the place to learn how the expectations placed on mothers alter our romantic relationships, our wellbeing and the connection we have with our children. This is the place to explore how becoming a mother changes who we are. It can be hard to know where to begin making sense of our experiences when everything around us ad within us is changing.
Perhaps some of these sentiments resonate for you…
- I don’t know who I am anymore
- I feel disconnected from my partner
- I’m carrying a lot but I don’t know how to explain it all
- Sitting alongside gratitude are feelings of guilt, anger and sadness
- I’m trying to be a good mum but it’s hard to please everyone
- I feel exhausted, bored, angry and overloaded
- I’m pulled between mothering and work commitments
- Right now, I’m not the mother I thought I was going to be or the mother I want to be
If these sentiments resonated, you might like to take a moment to explore our most popular sessions. These sessions can booked for yourself, your workplace or a group of friends. No upfront payment is required.
You can book a time that suits you and find our pricing guide here.
Identity Loss & Transformation
Maya Angelou famously said that…. We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes that it has gone through to achieve that beauty. The same is true of mothers.
We delight in a mother’s gifts. The ways in which she loves and empowers her children. But we rarely admit the life-altering transformation a woman goes through as she mothers. This transformation has a name, Matrescence.
The journey of matrescence unfolds every time we become a mother. It doesn’t matter whether we have one pregnancy or a tribe of children, and it doesn’t matter whether we embrace the title of mother, through pregnancy, adoption, surrogacy, family structures or birth – we will experience matrescence.
But, because we’ve been socialised to understand our development as complete once we reach adulthood most of us aren’t expecting our sense of self to be so dramatically altered. This uplifting session helps you recentre yourself and understand why the joy of having children exists alongside the sensation of losing yourself.
Motherhood
We can think of motherhood as a clandestine space that we enter as we become mothers. Crossing the threshold and entering this space, we are often surprised by how different motherhood is to what we had imagined.
Perhaps what is most confronting, is the realization that being a ‘good’ mother, isn’t as simple as just loving our child. Society holds a multitude of expectations about what ‘good’ mothers ‘should’ do, feel, and think.
These expectations impact our self-worth and the relationship we have with our children, but they’re are so deeply woven into the fabric of our society, that sometimes it takes years to see them and understand them. This powerful session illuminates how the unrealistic expectations placed on mothers are perpetuated, how they damage the relationship we have with our partner and kids, and erode our wellbeing. If you want to start doing things differently and find a courageous new path forward – this bold session is for you.
NDIS - Mothering Children with Disability
For parents, having a child with disability can be one of the most complex and reflective experiences of their life.
Even though it is our child who has the lived experience of a disability, this experience forms a critical part of our development. Research tells us that there are nuanced transformations, expectations and invisible loads that deeply alter our parenting journey, our identity – and the meaning of life.
As a mother of a child with a disability, I understand the importance of meeting you where you are in your journey. These sessions are a safe space for you to share your truth, to be understood and supported, as you support your child to achieve their goals.
As parents, we often shy away from support thinking ‘It won’t help, I don’t have time, I should be focused on my child’. The truth is – parental support enhances family wellbeing, because what happens to one of us deeply impacts the other.
The Invisible Loads
The invisible loads we carry as mothers, go a long way to explaining why we can feel overwhelmed and preoccupied in what is meant to be one of the most wonderful times of our life.
How well we manage these load often determines how we are judged, as mothers and as women. An increasing body of research shows that the invisible loads have a significant impact on relationship satisfaction, family dynamics and maternal wellbeing.
The invisibles loads that come neatly swaddled with our role as mothers actually extend well beyond domestic duties and the mental load. We just aren’t as familiar with the other loads because they’re seen as a normal, natural behaviours for mothers.
Until we become curious about the invisible loads they’re likely to remain weaved into the fabric of our society, surreptitiously passed down from one generation to another.
This session is a safe space to build language around the invisible loads you carry. This can feel vulnerable and exciting, because it’s where we begin creating our own liberated version of motherhood. This is how we make the invisible, visible, valued and shared.
Guilt
Have you ever wondered why, just about every mother experiences guilt?
Mum-guilt encapsulates the feelings women experience while trying to meet the expectations of everyone else and juggle it all to meet the needs of their family.
As the default parent, mums often feel responsible for a child’s behaviour and things that go ‘wrong’ – or might go ‘wrong’ – in a child’s life. This pressure underpins the enduring question mothers ask of themself…Have I done enough?
The problem is, the term ‘mum-guilt’ centers the issue and the inadequacies with the mother, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. This session offers a new perspective on our relationship with guilt and showcases how we can harness this emotion for the betterment of our children and ourselves. If you want a fresh perspective on those nagging feelings of guilt – don’t miss this session!
Anger
Anger is a common aspect of motherhood. And yet, it’s always been taboo for mothers to feel anger, let alone express it. The idea that mothers should be grateful and loving every minute doesn’t consider the reality of motherhood or the full spectrum of human emotions. When we look at the pressures mothers are under, it’s no wonder anger often sits alongside the joy our children bring.
Children witnessing our anger can be a complex experience to reconcile. We’d likely be unsettled if anyone spoke to our children venomously, handled them roughly or caused their face to lower in sadness and their body retreat in fear. And yet, there will likely be a time we find our self here, in a moment we wish we could erase, for them – and for us.
This gentle session explores our social and personal relationship with anger. It looks at the pressures mothers are under, how anger arises and how we respond to it. The magic happens when we start to flip the script and transform our future relationship with anger.
Body Image
Women have a deep psychological connection with their body.
The most observable changes women experience during matrescence are the embodied transformations of pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding. These experiences change the relationship we have with our body, adjust our sense of control, body image, and the trust we place in our body. They abruptly alter how our body is spoken about, who has access to our body and who believes they have authority or expertise over our body.
The respect shown for our body, as well as how we judge our body’s appearance and performance during these critical events impact the confidence and competence we journey forwards with as a woman and as a mother.
This workshop explores the socialisation and regulation of women’s bodies, it honours the female body and reveals why becoming a mother is the perfect opportunity to redefine the relationship we have with our body.
Does it feel uncomfortable to say… YES!
Yes, I want to invest in my own wellbeing and feel effervescent.
Yes, I deserve to explore this massive transition I’m going through?
It’s common for mums to feel this way, because we’re accustomed to putting our self last.
It’s time to change that. You’re not meant to live in the moments that exist between looking after everything and everyone else.