Ep.02 – Dr Laura Hutchison – Parenting in the Age of COVID-19 with Compassion & Empathy
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My guest this week is Dr. Laura Hutchison, a licensed psychologist, specializing in helping children and their families. Laura's private practice offers psychotherapy for children aged 2 - 12, teen girls, women, and families using a humanistic, client-centered approach. As a Play Therapist Supervisor (RPT/S), Laura also supervises clinicians and is the founder/director of the Michigan Play Therapy Training Academy that provides high-quality, affordable play therapy training for clinicians.
Along with being a therapist and entrepreneur, she is the proud mom to son, Henry, and daughter, Honor. Many people know Laura as Dr. H through her blog Play Dr. Mom that focuses on her experience being a play therapist and mom.
In our conversation, we talk about the critical importance of self-care for parents when it comes to having the ability to take care of our families. Communication between spouses and partners is now more crucial than ever to ensure that we are taking the time to stop, listen, and reflect on what is being said between each other.
Parents should recognize that it's okay to make mistakes and that we should be able to tell our spouse, partners, and kids that we are sorry. Laura stresses that how we handle these situations shows the behavior that we want to model to our kids.
Laura discusses the impact that stress can have upon our kids and how each kid handles stress differently, similar to how adults handle stress differently. Being in tune with how your child handles stress will help you determine what strategies you can you to best help your child.
Finally, Laura points out that the average person needs eight hugs per day. During times of stress such as COVID-19, adults and kids need even more personal attention. Laura's advice is not to be afraid to show emotion to your kids. I have a lot of hugs to give out every day.
Please enjoy this conversation with Dr. Luara Hutchison
Resources Featured In This Episode:
Back to School During a Pandemic
The Gottman Institute - Dr. John Gottman one of the Top 10 Most Influential Therapists of the past quarter-century by the Psychotherapy Networker