I'm a Clinical Psychologist on a mission to help parents who love work and their families to stop apologising and start enjoying life more. Therapy. Consultancy.
I can support your mental wellbeing through pregnancy and back into work. Hypnobirthing.
26/02/2026
Ever have those days where you just don’t know how you feel? Sometimes when our kids are struggling we can feel this really confusing mix of sadness, anger, anxiety and this fierce love all at once.
It is a lot and it is completely human.
Emotions are part of our survival system. They are based on what our brain predicts we are going to need to survive the tricky situations we bump up against in life. If the brain predicts we are going to need some energy it might send sensations and bodily reactions that we interpret as anger. If it thinks we need to stay small and hide from a predator it might send sensations and boldily reactions that we interpret as sadness, panic or anxiety.
When we are faced with new tricky situations, like a child struggling at school the brain probably doesn’t have enough experience to predict what we need very accurately. So of course it is going to throw a lot of physical reactions at us, just in case. And this can be super hard to make sense of and often results in parents adding guilt into the mix because they think they “should” be feeling different to whatever they are really feeling.
Comment SUBSTACK to read my latest article on why we were built this way and how we can deal with the messy soup of feelings parenting children who need something different can bring.
23/02/2026
SEND parents!
Watch this before you engage with the SEND reform white paper
Imagine you’re standing between your child and a bear. You’re ready to fight, but suddenly, the bear becomes invisible. You can’t see the threat, you are powerless to respond to it but you know it’s there, looming and ready to hurt your child. That is exactly what this ‘leaked’ communication strategy around the SEND reforms has been doing to our nervous systems.
As a Clinical Psychologist, I’m calling this out: it is unethical. We have learned that ‘reforms’ often mean cuts and more battles. We’ve spent years squaring up to authority just to get our kids’ basic needs met.
Many of us live in a constant state of fight or flight.
No wonder our minds are jumping to worst-case scenarios when we hear reforms are coming. When you’ve fought so hard for an EHCP or a specialist school place of course your mind is going to assume those things are under threat again. Threat has been our experience.
Leaking headlines and expecting us not to get anxious is like expecting me not to be scared of a bear wearing an invisibility cloak.
To take the bear’s invisibility cloak off, we have to slow down. Journal those racing thoughts to get them out of your head. Mute the social media noise until you’ve had a cuppa and read the actual summary (theres a link in my stories if you can’t find it). And please, regulate your own system before you try to engage with the detail.
As parents, our mental health matters and we have plenty of time to engage with this. We have until the 18th May to submit our opinions.
I’ve written a full guide on surviving the anxiety around these reforms comment SUBSTACK and I’ll send you the link.
19/02/2026
As a Clincial Psychologist the thing that I notice about working with parents of neurodiverget kids (and being one myself) is that there is often a lot of guilt about what we are feeling or not feeling at any given moment.
But emotions are always a complicated melting pot and you don’t have any control over them anyway. We virtually never feel just one thing. Being human is often feeling ripped apart by conflicting emotions. We just don’t have the language to talk about it.
All parents of children who think differently know that you can have the fiercest love at the same time as feeling the sadness and sting of missed milestones and an uncertain future.
That is because our emotional experience comes from our conscious minds trying to make sense of the physiological reactions the brain/nervous system have put in place to help us survive. Because our brains are doing A LOT of work to steer us through stressful mornings and tricky afternoons the mind has a lot of input to make sense of. It would make no sense for that to fit neatly into just one word.
Feeling sad, angry, grief-stricken and anxious does not in any way detract from the love and joy your feel for your children. It can all be there at the exact same moment.
Save this post for when you need to hear it.�
17/02/2026
All parents of Autistic or ADHD children have a Douglas. He’s my inner critic and he is also a well-intentioned idiot who thinks being a “meanie” is helpful.
Critical thoughts are actually part of our mind’s “survival system.” Douglas thinks he is helping me avoid danger by telling me to shut up, stay small and generally avoid the risks of being the confident, noisy battleaxe my kids need me to be.
When we are trying to stop self-critical thoughts getting in our way, it can really help to give them a name. I actually like to give mine a whole character.
When they’ve got a name, it is so much easier to tell them politely to go away.
This week, let’s practice thanking our inner critics for their input and then confidently ignoring them.�
13/02/2026
One of the hardest aspects of being a parent to an Autistic child is having to be so demanding. Families (usually Mums) are always telling me how awful it feels to have to complain again. Often with a hefty dose of guilt and worry that they don’t seem grateful.
It can feel like it is tearing you apart. You want to be polite and respectful but you notice your child’s mental health slipping away and you have to react.
Being a “good girl” that everyone likes doesn’t get your children the support they need.
I know from my own experience that speaking up and asking for more support for our kids can bring with it huge anxiety. It feels like we are putting our heads above the parapet when we feel at our most vulnerable.
Of course learning to handle anxiety can really help but if you want to protect your mental wellbeing through this process the best thing you can do is connect with other parents going through it. You are not alone, there are thousands of us who need to demand more for our children day in and day out.
As you get to know other families you will naturally feel compassion for them and that will help you find it for yourself too.
We have strength in numbers x
�
12/02/2026
Permission to trust your instinct. Anxiety looks different for different people. Some children look excited when they are actually terrified. They might be smiling and laughing but you know that underneath, they feel out of control and completely at the mercy of their nervous system.
This can be particularly hard to handle as when our kids look gleeful it is harder for people who don’t know them (or us) to give them the compassionate response they need. They are more likely to be labelled as naughty than neurodivergent. The problem is lots of kids who think differently also struggle to understand and communicate their emotions. They can’t tell you “I’m doing this because I’m worried” and their face and body language aren’t telling you that either.
As adults we have to become experts in cracking the code to work out what is behind behaviour that might look like wilful destruction. That is a hard job and you might be trying to do it while everyone around you is just judging and calling your kid naughty.
I just want to take a moment to remind you that you aren’t alone with it because it can feel like such a lonely place.
Save this post for when you need a reminder��
05/02/2026
Mother-blame is as old as time, whether we are being accused of refrigerating our children or helicoptering them mothers of children with SEND have never been able to get it right.
We are still often told that if we just “learned to be the boss,” or “do things more consistently” our struggling kids would be fine.
Being blamed constantly takes its toll on mental health and for many of us can lead to a sort of festering anger we don’t know what to do with.
We weren’t really trained for dealing with anger so it can be really uncomfortable and scary when we feel it.
In fact some of us even turn it straight into another feeling like anxiety or sadness because we are so scared of it.
This is why Dr Caroline Boyd’s work on maternal anger is so valuable. Caroline teaches us that anger is natural, should be allowed, can even be useful and she shows us practical tips in how to manage it so we can parent in a way that we are proud of.
Comment RAGE and I’ll drop you the link to her maternal rage course and a discount code so you can save £100 before March 31st.
SAVE £100 with code DrRosie100.
30/01/2026
Hi I’m Rosie, I’m a Clinical Psychologist, but I’m also a mum to three AuDHD children.
I’ve been gaslit by professionals, I’ve fought at tribunals, and I’ve hidden under the duvet.
I started this account because I was tired of the “blame the mother” narrative. It nearly destroyed me when my kids were little and their differences started to become clear even though I used to work in learning disabilities and knew already that most of the advice parents are given is rubbish.
I fought my way through it with the help and support of many other psychologists, I’m lucky to call friends and colleagues.
Now I’m here to help you navigate the system without losing your mind or your identity.
Follow me for the truth about SEND parenting, from the rage to the ridiculous joy and some practical tips for thriving through the chaos.
20/01/2026
If I had a penny for every time I worried about my autistic kids’ diet... 🫠
I’ve officially given up trying to get them to eat the rainbow every evening. Why? Because food is complicated for our kids. It’s not just “picky eating” it’s often:
🧠 Social Anxiety: The pressure of mealtime expectations.
🤢 Sensory Issues: Flavours and textures that feel physically revolting.
😨 Fear of the Unknown: Trying something new requires a leap of faith they can’t make on a hard day.
🛑 Control: Managing diet to ease fears of choking or vomiting.
“Safe foods” are reliable. A chicken nugget never surprises you with a weird texture. A carrot might. When life feels chaotic, relying on predictable, often ultra-processed food isn’t “lazy parenting.” It is preventing starvation and allowing them to regulate.
A healthy relationship with food never starts with force-feeding a terrified child. instead, we can lower demands and understand their sensory profile.
I recommend following for tips on offering variety without pressure. But my kids can have 100 days in a row of plain pasta and I will not feel bad about it.
Release the guilt. Pass the pasta. 🍝
Save this for when you need the reminder. x
16/01/2026
To the SEND parent hovering by the slide while everyone else drinks coffee...
I remember the “shuttle run.” Running between the soft play mats and the electric doors to stop my child sprinting into the road.
I watched the other mums chatting, drinking hot tea, oblivious. I felt so lonely.
If that is you today: I see you.
You are working twice as hard.
You are doing an amazing job protecting your child.
You are not doing it wrong. Your child just needs more, and you are giving it.
07/01/2026
Real self-care for SEND parents isn’t about escaping your life (because often, we can’t). It’s about surviving the sensory onslaught of it.
After auditing my own stress, I realised I was melting down at 5pm daily. Why? Because the oven was hot, the kids were loud, and I was overstimulated .
My self-care now looks like:
🎧 Wearing Loop earplugs during the witching hour.
❄️ Having ice-cold water ready in the fridge.
💨 Opening a window when the cooking heat hits.
It’s not glamorous. But meeting your own sensory needs is the difference between a meltdown and making it to bedtime .
Save this for when you need a reminder that your sensory needs matter too.
05/01/2026
Realistic self care for SEND parents?
Professor Emily Oster shared stats recently showing working mothers spend more time with their kids now than stay-at-home mums did in the 70s .
For SEND parents? Triple that intensity.
We can’t just “pop the kids in a playpen.”
We are the emotional regulator.
We are the safety net.
We are prompting or supporting the eating, the drinking, the toileting .
So when the wellness industry tells you to spend 30 minutes with a red light mask or take a cold plunge, it feels like a sick joke .
You aren’t failing at self-care. The standard definition of self-care fails you.
I’ve created a guide for realistic wellbeing. The kind that fits into a life with zero minutes to spare.
👇 subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll send you the free guide.
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Hypnobirthing, Psychological Therapy and Mindful Parenting
My blog started after I had my daughter, Robyn, in December 2016. At first I was just blogging about my attempts to parent her mindfully through some fairly difficult times. As I met more new mums and heard their (often horrendous) birth stories I was also inspired to start writing about birth and the positive impact hypnobirthing had on my life. As a Clinical Psychologist and a friend I was upset to see the impact difficult births were having on my friend’s experiences of parenthood.
When Robyn was ten months I went back to work in the NHS as a Clinical Psychologist. I was already pregnant with Leo and my husband was deployed overseas for seven months. Robyn got sick and with no family to look after her and no partner to support me I rarely made it to work. Mindful parenting and my mental health took a nose dive. I quickly realised that something had to change.
At Christmas I had a light bulb moment! My heart was telling me that I wanted to help women like the ones I was having coffee with on a regular basis. The women who had been robbed of the empowering experience of birth. I also wanted to help those who might be struggling to enjoy parenthood for other reasons or who, like me, found themselves struggling to be the parent they want to be due to difficult circumstances.
So Mind, Body and Baby was born! I battled the beast from the East to get up to Solihull and train as a hypnobirthing teacher with the Calm Birth School and I began seeing clients for psychological therapy where we were living in North London.
Then this happened...
And we also moved to Plymouth for my husband’s work. So I went back to just blogging for awhile, this time about everything birth, parenting and mental health. Writing is therapy for me and I love it. You can read the blog here.
I wanted to get to know the pregnant ladies and other baby businesses in the area so in December I co-hosted a pregnancy pamper afternoon with Nick from Blossoming Bumps and Babies. It was amazing so we will do it again. I also had the pleasure to introduce 20 couples to hypnobirthing at a taster session and to work with three couples who have all now brought their beautiful babies into the world. It was a pretty awesome month...
And now I’m fully back! Offering psychological therapy and hypnobirthing online and in person from my consulting room in Mutley, Plymouth. I’m continuing my mission to help all new mums enjoy pregnancy, birth and parenthood and I especially want to help those who had a difficult birth the first time round.
This year I am going to I’m planning to set up a facebook community and a podcast specifically to help those who have suffered birth trauma. I’m revamping my instagram as a place to inspire women to celebrate their power (@mindful.rosie). I’m also planning big things for 2019 around mindful parenting and more events to pamper pregnant ladies and new mums. So watch this space!
