Some days feel like too much. The noise, the mess, the pressure to be calm when you’re anything but. Many of the moms I work with feel like they’re walking a tightrope between who they want to be and how they actually respond in the moment.

If you're an anxious mom or a woman who grew up with emotionally immature parents, you're probably doing the hard work of trying to parent differently. You want to raise kids who feel safe, understood, and connected. You want to model emotional regulation, but your nervous system is overloaded. This blog offers reflection points and strategies to help you move from reacting out of habit into parenting in a way that feels more aligned with your values.

If you're an anxious mom who often feels overwhelmed by guilt, shame, or explosive frustration, you're not alone. Maybe you’re a woman who grew up as the “responsible one,” the fixer, the emotional anchor in your family and now, as a mother, you carry the weight of that same emotional labor into every corner of your parenting. At Sunrise Therapy Services, I work with women just like you: high-functioning, insightful, but often stuck in the exhausting loop of guilt and mom rage.

Most of the women I work with don’t need more strategies to “stay calm.” They’ve already read the books, followed the parenting accounts, tried the breathing exercises. I am not a therapist that teaches you a coping skill to practice between sessions (although that’s a great place to start when you need immediate relief). I am much more of a “the anger part of you deserves attention, little you deserves attention” kind of gal.

Most of the women I work with don’t need more strategies to “stay calm.” They’ve already read the books, followed the parenting accounts, tried the breathing exercises. I am not a therapist that teaches you a coping skill to practice between sessions (although that’s a great place to start when you need immediate relief). I am much more of a “the anger part of you deserves attention, little you deserves attention” kind of gal.

No matter what stage of the motherhood journey my clients are on, I often sit with my them in the perspective of ‘These are facts. This is information to notice. And the facts you are facing don’t  automatically equal a deep dive into what you could’ve done better or what you should have done differently to change the outcome.’

You’ve been through the newborn stage before, but now you’re balancing the needs of your older kids alongside the demands of your tiny new arrival. You love being a parent, but adding another baby can make you feel like you're constantly wondering if you’re spreading yourself too thin or if your kids are getting the attention they deserve.

You’ve been through the newborn stage before, but now you’re balancing the needs of your older kids alongside the demands of your tiny new arrival. You love being a parent, but adding another baby can make you feel like you're constantly wondering if you’re spreading yourself too thin or if your kids are getting the attention they deserve.

Juggling the demands of family, work, and personal life can leave us feeling drained, stressed, and at times, full of rage. When these feelings start to build, it’s important to catch them early.

You’re not alone in feeling like you’re navigating the hustle of life, motherhood, and work without a map. Everyone else is just as confused as you — they’re just hiding it better. And if you ever start to wonder if you’re messing it all up, I’ll say it again: You’re probably doing better than you think.

If this resonates with you (or if you just want to vent about your latest parenting mishap), I’m here to listen. Let’s figure it out together — with a little humor, a lot of compassion, and the occasional box of wine.

This client story was written with permission from the client and with all identifying information being edited.

Sara’s dad showed traits of bipolar disorder throughout her entire childhood including impulsiveness, grandiose view of self, mood and financial instability, as well as significant cycles of depression.

As a child, Sara didn’t understand why her dad had these behaviors, as it was not a child’s job to know these things. Sara was exposed to these behaviors and dynamic in her home from age 0-8 until an order of protection was filed against her dad by her mom and a divorce followed.

There are many kinds of symptoms or problems clients bring to EMDR therapy from home, work, or relationships. People tend to think that EMDR only helps people who suffer from severe experiences like auto accidents, war, sexual abuse and rape. If you have suffered from these traumas, EMDR might be very helpful for you. But other issues can also be helped with EMDR.

Parts work therapy with the Internal Family Systems (IFS) method

The goal of EMDR treatment is to eliminate disturbance and suffering, increase the ability to self soothe, increase in ability to safely feel emotions, regain a sense of self, bond appropriately with others, and remember challenging life events with less emotional distress.