Recently the U.S. Surgeon General issued a special advisory on Parents Under Pressure: The Mental Health and Well-Being of Parents. In the advisory he shared, “The well-being of parents and caregivers is a critical and underappreciated public health priority.” He highlighted specific stressors and aspects of parenting that often go overlooked, saying, “…it’s time to value and respect time spent parenting on par with time spent working at a paying job, recognizing the critical importance to society of raising children.”
Megan Bergfeld, LCSW, ACM-SW at Work/Life Connections-EAP said, “Parenthood has so many layers and includes a wide range of emotions. All of the positives cohabitate with things like stress, worry, self-doubt. Add to that the daily exposure we have in healthcare to things like illness, crisis, worst-case-scenarios, systemic barriers…goodness, of course we’re exhausted.”
On the Healthier You Podcast, in observance of the advisory, Health & Wellness will be releasing a four-part mini-series on navigating parenthood. Listen to each episode to hear a different story about parenting and discover tips and encouragements for parenting through a variety of different seasons and stages of parenthood.
