Helping parents to unhook, hold space, and rehook

I often see parents presenting with significant concerns about their children who struggle with ADD/ASD/anxiety/other mental health disorders. Their struggle as a family is very evident and understandable.

So we acknowledge that.

And how can we help further?

The key strategy is to…

1. Give them the emotional literacy to better understand and hold space for current context in order to better let go of the struggle.  Struggle is very energy depleting. 

2. Learn to unhook from the stuff that they cannot control.

3. Learn to hold space to get more clarity.

4. Then hook onto the stuff that matters to them and/or stuff that they can control.

5. And when they hook back onto the stuff that they cannot control, then repeat the above from step one. 

It’s certainly not easy for these families because unhooking, holding space, and “intentional rehooking” are skills that do take time to gain competence.