Supporting Parents Through Difficult Times
Joanne Lawson reflects on the use of “Mellow Parenting” on an inpatient mother and baby unit.
I have worked with mothers with mental health problems for six years and was introduced to “Mellow Parenting” by an OT colleague, Kate Testo, who also works with parents. Kate had been using Mellow Parenting for some time and invited me to visit one of the groups running in Bath. I was extremely impressed with the philosophy behind its development, the content of the course and the feedback from the mothers attending.
Mellow Parenting (Mills and Puckering 2005) as a concept and organisation has been in existence for about 10 years. It originated in Alloa, Scotland, and is a culmination of the work by Christine Puckering and Margaret Mills. It is a parenting course for hard to engage with parents, many of whom are experiencing mental health problems, have children under five with behavioural problems, or are experiencing domestic abuse.
Mellow Parenting looks as how you were parented and about your childhood experiences influencing your parenting style and skills. The course “leaders” act as facilitators – the mums being experts in their own children – and guide them to see patterns, similarities and how to make changes.
I completed my Mellow Parenting training in October 2007, but did not put it into practice until I had further completed the Mellow Babies (Puckering 2006) programme in March of this year. Armed with folders of information and group activities I was enthused and eager to start, sure that the group would benefit many of our mums and babies.
There were many obstacles to overcome and no additional budget available. The course had to be run on the unit with the babies, as we have no crèche facilities. The mums are often inpatients still receiving active treatment for severe mental health problems following the birth of their babies.