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It is essential to engage in self-care practices to help maintain your physical and emotional health. Self-care is like putting on a life vest when you’re on a sinking ship. Looking after your emotional health is crucial to help you on the journey ahead of you and help you connect with your child or children by keeping you well and in a healthy frame of mind.
Emotional self-care means different things to different people. The key to emotional self-care is being in tune with yourself. Think about a time when you felt happy and healthy, and consider asking yourself the following questions:
What fun or leisure activities did you enjoy? Were there events or outings that you looked forward to?
Did you write down your thoughts in a journal or personal notebook?
Were meditation or relaxation activities a part of your regular schedule?
What inspirational words were you reading? Did you have a particular author or favourite website to go to for inspiration?
Who did you spend time with? Was there someone, or a group of people, that you felt safe and supported around?
Where did you spend your time? Was there a special place, maybe outdoors or at a friend’s house, where you felt comfortable and grounded?
Good physical health can support you through this time. Think about a time when you felt physically healthy, and consider asking yourself the following questions:
How were you sleeping? Did you have a sleep ritual or nap pattern that made you feel more rested?
What types of food were you eating? What meals made you feel healthy and strong?
What types of exercise did you enjoy? Were there any particular activities that made you feel more energized?
Did you perform certain routines? Were there activities you did to start the day off right or wind down at the end of the day?
Setting healthy boundaries involves taking care of yourself and knowing what you like, need, want, and don’t want.
It also involves:
Be honest with yourself and with professionals. In high conflict separations, often both parties have contributed in some way to the current situation but on different scales. Accept responsibility for any past unhelpful behaviour.
Children are more likely to be drawn to someone who displays remorse and humility rather than someone who denies unhelpful choices, is arrogant or is defensive.
Here is a helpful link to an article "Take the Warshak Test Before Talking to Children About Your Ex" by Dr Richard A Warshak, author of Divorce Poison. Link HERE
Remember your behaviour, including your words spoken and written, which includes your texts, emails, Facebook and so on, can be used against you by the other parent and submitted as evidence in court. Always speak calmly, speak assertively and never lose your temper.
The ongoing conflict has a significant impact on children, parents and extended family. When a child sees or hears a parent harmed verbally, emotionally or physically, it is similar to children being hurt themselves.
We recommend the following book:
"Co-parenting with a Toxic Ex: What to Do When Your Ex-Spouse Tries to Turn the Kids Against You" by Amy JL. Baker and Paul R. Fine.
And the link below will take you to a beneficial article by Dr Amy JL Baker and Paul R. Fine.
"Beyond the High Road: Responding to 17 Parental Alienation Strategies without Compromising Your Morals or Harming Your Child."
The loss of a child is devastating. Alienated parents experience complex grief for the loss of their child, who is still alive. This loss is compounded by being denigrated and vilified as part of the alienation process. Alienated parents experience despair, helplessness, frustration, anger and confusion.
Many alienated parents experience significant financial and emotional costs associated with trying to find a resolution in a legal system and mental health services that do not understand parental alienation.
You must practice self-care every day. Be sure to have regular checkups with your local GP, including blood tests, to ensure everything is functioning normally. Stress can have a significant impact on the body.
You can get a referral under a mental health plan to a psychologist for additional support and tools to cope with your situation.
Alienated children display unjustified contempt for the alienated parent and an attitude of entitlement toward the alienated parent. They are taught to perceive an “all-wonderful” alienating parent and “all-bad” targeted parent. As a result of this, alienated children experience disrupted social-emotional development as a consequence of parental alienation.
Parental alienation causes emotional pain for children. Alienated children experience complex grief for the loss of a parent who is still alive. Because this loss results from emotional manipulation, alienated children experience psychological difficulties associated with this type of trauma and abuse.
The long-term outcomes of parental alienation on children include social isolation, fragile sense of self, anger, depression and anxiety.
Ask yourself these questions: Am I constructive with my time and energy today? Am I helping my situation with my actions? If my child was to look in on my life, would they be attracted to who I am?
Sometimes thoughts can carry you away or bring you down when you are grieving for your child or children. It is normal to grieve in these circumstances. Still, if you are not bouncing back, it is vital to get additional support through a support group or make an appointment to see a psychologist or counsellor.
When you feel down, try to push yourself to go for a walk, turn on some upbeat music, go and catch up with uplifting friends, or try a change of scenery.
The best thing to do is move into self-care mode. Don't feel guilty for taking time out for yourself. Your children need you to look after yourself, so you're equipped to handle the situation better.
Sleep is an essential part of our lives. It helps us to feel well, focused and happy.
Studies say that adults need between 7-9 hours of sleep a night. Sleep deprivation can affect mood, concentration, gastrointestinal systems and our ability to learn information and solve tasks, amongst other effects.
Be aware that any hurtful or negative comments your child makes about you are not necessarily an accurate reflection of their truly held feelings and thoughts.
Your child or children love you and need you to look after yourself, so you can be there for them when the time comes. They need you to understand how difficult their situation is too.
Children who get stuck in these challenging situations are not equipped with the tools to cope or stop what is happening to them. They want to love both parents and the emotional pain to go away.
The situation can change at any time. But you need to be ready and able to pick up from where you left off. You will need to create a space where your child can come into your life and think and feel for themselves, without any additional emotional pressure from you.
Although many parents want to tell their version of events to their children, it is best not to. Talk to an adult who can be there for regular support. That could be a close friend, people in a support group or a psychologist.
Parents must do their best to protect their children from further emotional and psychological harm and keep them far away from the conflict.
You are never alone. There is support out there. Below we have shared some links.
There are many other parents out there in similar situations. And there are many parents out there reuniting with their children every week. But you must take constructive steps to look after yourself first, so you are in a healthy mindset to reunite.
Call Triple Zero (000) only in life threatening emergencies. When you call:
Stay focused, stay relevant, stay on the line
24 hour
Lifeline. Crisis Support. Suicide Prevention.
24 hour
1800RESPECT is the national domestic, family and sexual violence counselling, information and support service.
Call 1800RESPECT at 1800 737 732 or chat via their website.
24 hour
Support - Advice - Action
BeyondBlue provides information and support to help everyone in Australia achieve their best possible mental health, whatever their age and wherever they live.
8am to 8pm: Mon-Fri (AEST)
Telephone support
Online forums
Support groups
24 Hour
MensLine Australia is a telephone and online counselling service for men with family and relationship concerns.
Services and Resources
An extensive list of phone number and resources for men from One in Three.
24 hour
Interrelate specialise in supporting parents and children, and strengthening family relationships.
3pm to Midnight Every Day
Free LGBTI peer support.
Telephone support
Webchat
This series of videos were created for young people (from 10 years and above) who have a parent who experiences a mental illness.
ACA is Australia's largest single registration body for Counsellors and Psychotherapists
Access thousands of psychologists who are in private practice
* Seek qualified and trusted psychologists for assistance in a range of areas
* Easily search by psychological issue and location
* Access rural and remote mental health practitioners
* Bilingual psychologists available
Parents and carers have skills, strengths and supports they use to help children thrive. But, if you experience mental health difficulties it can sometimes be challenging to draw on these capabilities. Australian research has found that up to one in four children are being raised by a parent with mental illness. The resources in this section are designed to provide practical strategies and support for parents, carers and families and most importantly, help build strong relationships, resilience and a solid foundation of support in which families can grow.
This material is produced by the AFP and is intended to provide general information in summary form on Family Law orders relating to children.
The Commonwealth Courts Portal is web-based service for people to access information about their cases that are before the courts.
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Parental Alienating Behaviours
are Child Abuse & Family Violence.
This serious form of abuse and family violence can no longer be ignored. Parental alienating behaviours must be acknowledged in Australia as it is in other parts of the world. We need legislation that not only acknowledges its existence but firmly and clearly legislates against it.