Holding Space for Parenthood: Laura Greenwood on Identity, Trauma, and Healing
Navigating the complex emotional terrain of parenthood is no small feat. For many new parents, the transition into this new identity can bring profound joy–but also unexpected grief, overwhelm, and disconnection from the self. Laura Greenwood, an Accredited Psychotherapist and founder of Laura Greenwood Therapy, brings a unique blend of clinical expertise and lived experience as a mother to her work supporting parental wellbeing. Through her practice, she and her team create compassionate, non-judgmental spaces where parents can begin to process the identity shifts, emotional challenges, and lingering impacts of trauma that often surface during this life stage. In this conversation, Laura shares how holding space, understanding trauma’s hidden influence, and honouring her own motherhood journey have shaped her therapeutic approach.
As a psychotherapist with a focus on parental wellbeing, how do you approach supporting new parents through the identity shifts and emotional challenges that come with parenthood?
One of the most powerful ways the Psychotherapists on my team and I support parents through the huge identity transformation that is parenthood, is holding space for it. All of it. The good, bad and the ugly!
Parents to dependents are the busiest of people. They continually walk a tightrope balancing a number of competing demands. Whilst they do this, there is little to no time given for the person behind it all. Them. Yet, this is where their true self lies including the most authentic version of that parent they were always meant to be.
So many people were never taught the importance of staying still with their internal emotional world. Most, taught to actively avoid it! So, the first and most important step of supporting parents is to help them become still enough with themselves to learn how to manage the challenges parenthood brings.
Given your expertise in trauma, what do you think is often overlooked when it comes to how trauma impacts daily life and mental health, and how can individuals begin to address these hidden patterns?
One of the most debilitating experiences and impacts of living with active symptoms of trauma, is feeling disconnected from living in the present moment of your life. Disconnected from the possible joy, love and gratitude that you could feel, if trauma was not tainting it.
Trauma leaves people feeling hypervigilant to danger, in the absence of current threat. The thing is that people know it. They know, I am not in danger here’, but the body still reacts as though they are. This is incredibly tiring and frustrating for people, as they wonder if they will ever feel present, calm, or happy, ever again.
It is actually very hard to overcome trauma by yourself. There are steps you can take, but the road is long and without professional guidance it can often leave you wondering if what you are doing is helping or hindering.
There are many options of support out there from free to paid, so I would urge people to seek the support of a service or therapist that is right for them. Please know, even if only for advice on where to look, you can reach out to me and my team, anytime.
As a mother yourself, how do you balance your own personal experiences of motherhood with the therapeutic support you offer to parents, and how has that shaped your practice?
There is something about walking the path of motherhood myself, the brutal and the beautiful, that has given me a deeper connection, empathy and drive to support my clients more than I ever could, pre-motherhood. Motherhood makes me a better therapist and leader.
The challenge with this though is I FEEL so much more. I need to MORE effectively manage my own wellbeing, to balance competing demands of raising my son, supporting my clients and community, and looking after myself. A tightrope I walk daily. Self-care comes in the micro ways I pace my energy. It comes in 5 minutes to myself, as I move from one role to another, work to mum. In recognising that my needs matter, just as much as everyone else’s.
I love my life because I have created every part of it myself. I place myself at the centre of it all. This, for mothers, is a revolutionary act. But one, that reaps so many rewards. I believe sharing my life as a mother and psychological wisdom, builds trust and connection with my community. It validates their challenges. Makes them feel less alone. It also provides hope. That from challenge, can come growth.
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