Head Above Water: Parenting With Chronic Depression

Well, sure. Why not? Writing is good for mental health, and my goal with this space is to explore my own journey with chronic depression and motherhood while hopefully offering ideas, coping strategies, and parenting tips to other parents struggling to balance their small children and their mental health. In an age of too much information, I want to slow down, recognize what actually works, and talk about my own experience with all the advice that is out there.

I’ve thought a lot about what makes my voice different. One, I have struggled with chronic depression and anxiety for 30 years. Two, I have a unique set of qualifications: I worked in early childhood education for many years, studied human development and family science along the way, and now I teach high school special education. It’s given me a different perspective on parenthood, and my educational background has provided me with a number of tools other people may not have.

It also has allowed me to process a lot of what’s out there in terms of advice and guidance with a healthy dose of skepticism at times. There’s a lot of stuff out there — especially on social media — that is just bad information. I am hopeful that in a day and age where facts seem to matter less and less, there might be a safe haven for factual, scientific information right here.

Plus, those of us with two under two need all the help we can get!