Despite its inherent joys, the challenges of parenting can produce considerable stress. These challenges multiply- and the quality of parenting may suffer- when a parent or child has mental or chronic somatic health issues, when there are partner-, co-parenting- or family conflicts, and environmental stressors such as climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic also may add parental stress. Even under optimal circumstances, the constant changes as children develop can tax parents’ inner resources. As parental stress is the primary predictor of child stress, stressed parents may negatively affect the mental and physical health of their offspring.
Mindful Parenting (Bögels & Restifo, 2014; Bögels, 2020) is an evidence-based structured mindfulness training program, directed to the sources of parental stress and how to reduce it. It was originally designed for face to face group use in mental health care contexts, for parents who have mental health problems that interfere with parenting, or whose children have mental health problems. The program’s eight sessions focus on mindfulness-oriented skills for parents, such as parenting with beginner’s mind, awareness and acceptance of strong emotions in parent and child, mindfully responding to (as opposed to reacting to) parenting stress, fostering compassion, and taking care of one’s inner child. The program is now also adapted for other settings such as prevention, parents of children with chronic somatic problems, and for online use.
In this 3-hours online workshop the rationale, and the build-up of the program, are outlined, and the research on the effectiveness presented. Most of the workshop however will be practice, so that participants can have a direct experience of mindful parenting. As the workshop is online, participants can also get a taste of what it’s like to participate in an online mindful parenting training program.
Implication for everyday clinical practice of CBT
Mindful parenting can be used while guiding parents with children with mental disorders but is also relevant as a general attitude for professionals working with clients.
Key learning objectives:
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
1. Insight in theories, working mechanisms and effects of mindful parenting
2. Overview of the 8-week mindful parenting program
3. Experiencing the key practices of mindful parenting
Susan Bögels is a psychotherapist, specialized in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for children and their families, and in mindfulness. She works as a professor in Family Mental Health and Mindfulness at the University of Amsterdam. Her main research themes are the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology and mindfulness for parents and children. She provides teacher training in Mindful Parenting and family mindfulness (MYmind) and retreats in Parenting our Selves in Amsterdam and around the world.
Key references
Bögels, S. (2020). Mindful Parenting: Finding space to be-in a world of to do. Sussex: Pavilion Publishing.
Bögels, S., & Restifo, K. (2013). Mindful parenting: A guide for mental health practitioners. New York: Springer or Norton.
Bögels, S. M., Hellemans, J., van Deursen, S., Römer, M., & van der Meulen, R. (2014). Mindful parenting in mental health care: effects on parental and child psychopathology, parental stress, parenting, coparenting, and marital functioning. Mindfulness, 5(5), 536-551.
http://www.susanbogels.com
http://uva.nl/s.m.bogels
http://linkedin.com/susanbogels
http://instagram.com/susanmbogels/
Registration: https://eyas.formstack.com/forms/eabctga