In western countries, when we visualize the image of a mother and her young child, we tend to see a picture of what society expects from a mother: unconditional love, tenderness, attention, tolerance, patience, care, wisdom, even friendship… the list can be endless. However, it is rarely taken into account that motherhood involves a complexity that goes beyond giving birth and raising children. Society’s expectations regarding what a “perfect mother should feel, think, act and look like” in which the mother lives is one of the greatest sources of emotional and social anxiety that a mother experiences.
Coaching for mothers can help in a number of ways:
- By developing awareness in mothers about the intrinsic message of their society that motherhood has only positive experiences, and that any deviation from that is considered unnatural, which leaves mothers alone to face their fears, uncertainties, doubts, physical, hormonal and emotional changes, which occur throughout their lives.
- By helping mothers experiencing, accepting and working through their inner conflicts, such as loving their children, while perceiving an inner emptiness of losing their identity and not being able to integrate their old selves, or maintaining the status quo prior to motherhood, at the expense of the time that they could invest in raising their offspring.
- By guiding mothers to assess and value their inner self and wisdom, empowering their identity and desires while separating themselves from external demands and achieving their personal goals.
- By assisting them to integrate their former identity, desires and aspirations with the reality of their current life, leading them to create a strong and unique identity.
How does the process of coaching for mothers look like?
A coaching program for mothers is a process of self-discovery, self-reflection, creation and raising awareness of their identity and behavior, which usually takes place in five to six sessions of one and a half hours each.
In a coaching session a mother finds a psychological safe space in which the coach provides the empathy and acceptance she needs while the coach supports her and guides her in her transformation process by understanding and acknowledging her personal struggles, challenges and desires.
And so, the mother discovers in the coach someone who supports and facilitates her journey to understanding her feelings, environment, behavior and thinking, understanding that at the end of the program will help her to achieve her personal goals.
