About this Group

This group is designed to empower the mothers of clients to develop and adapt mental health strategies in order to increase their drive and capabilities to engage in self care. This project will target women with children who are having difficulty with their own emotional and mental wellness. It is anticipated that teaching mothers these skills will strengthen relationships with their children, increase their self-esteem, and help their stress levels.
Self-care for Mothers (8 weeks)

• The Importance of Self Care and Physical Needs
  • Individuals with children often put their children first and thus do not make time for themselves.
  • Individuals often have difficulty caring for their physical bodies, which causes physical and emotional repercussions.
  • Therapist will address physical needs (eating, drinking, hygiene, sleep, and exercise) and discuss the pros of one taking care of their body, difficulties in taking care of these needs, and strategies that can be employed to make it easier.
  • Therapist will talk about the benefits of self-care, and how it can actually help their children and family in the long term
• The difference between self-care and indulgence- how consumerism gets in the way of true self care

• Therapist will define self-care and common myths regarding self-care.
• Therapist will highlight the differences between self-care and indulgence
• Therapist will talk about how commercialism tries to push individuals to spend money in the pursuit of self-care. 

• Hobbies as self-care

• . Hobbies are difficult for adults to pick up due to nervousness and time constraints
• Stress the importance of creative activities as adults and how these activities can also be  family activities
• Mothers will discuss hobbies and what hobbies they either do or be interested in trying
• Hobbies lead to important teaching moments with family if both good AND bad at attempting hobbies.
• Mindfulness
• Mindfulness techniques have proven to make individuals happier.
• Mindfulness will be defined and the benefits will be talked about
• Mothers will talk about the various difficulties in adopting mindfulness techniques
• Mothers will talk about the differences between having an optimistic outlook vs. a negative outlook. Therapist will talk about toxic positivity
• Therapist will talk about accepting negative emotions in your space and be comfortable
• Recognizing our internal mechanisms and realizing what our emotions feel like in our bodies.

• Meditation and Grounding Techniques

• Relate these back to mindfulness and how these can allow to lower anxiety/depression, assist with disassociation
• The consequences of multi-tasking and fast living
•  Nature and slow living as a mindfulness/grounding technique
• What meditation is and how to go about it.
• Recognizing energies that are in your body
• The similarities and differences between mindfulness techniques and grounding techniques.

• Gratefulness and Awe
  • Gratefulness as the opposite to envy and anxiety
  • The awkwardness of gratefulness and why
  • Connecting to a greater energy
• Being Kind to Ourselves
  • Loving ourselves
  • Why it’s hard to love ourselves
  • Why we tend to be so hard on ourselves.
• Caring for our Inner Child 

• The process of recognizing that adults are still children and why this is important
• The hurt of childhood and how it comes out
• Using our inner child to create empathy with our own kids.
• How to express our inner child in a healthy way.