Everyone talks of “Father issues” but how was Mothers’ Day for you this year? For some mothers, it can be a wonderful time of being appreciated ‘for once’, or there can be disappointment that there isn’t the connection there that you would long for with your offspring. Alternatively, it can be an incredibly sad time, if you’ve lost a child or not been able to have children. At times like this, the flowers the rest of the world are buying and receiving are just excruciating reminders.

As sons and daughters, we have also had good, bad or indifferent experiences of our mothers. If you’ve lost your mother, the pain of bereavement or unfinished business may still be piercing. In her article, “Why I won’t be calling my Mum on Mother’s Day”, Kathryn Flett describes her painful abandonment by her mother when she was a young teenager. Such experiences can wound us deeply and continue to cast a long shadow over our lives, even impacting how we form relationships and parent our own children. Kathryn describes being “damaged-but-mending” after having had some therapy, even describing some advantages in the difficulties she has faced.

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues, you may find it really helpful to take some time out to talk about the impact on you, both then and now. Contact me today to get on with some ‘mending’ of your own.