When I first became a parent, I sought out an absurd number of parenting books/blogs/ Instagram accounts/podcasts/etc. to help me learn how to take care of my kid. But I struggled to find resources to help me take care of myself. I was contending with the myriad emotions and stressors of parenthood—from worries about my kids’ health and safety, to changes in my relationships, to comparing myself to those seemingly “Insta-perfect” parents—with no guideposts for how to manage it all.

As the fog of new motherhood lifted, it occurred to me that many of the tricks of the trade in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and other research-supported therapies (ACT, DBT, mindfulness-based therapy) could be extremely helpful to me and the many stressed-out parents of babies, kids, and teens who were coming to my office seeking help. I started applying strategies that were initially developed to treat clinical diagnoses like Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder to treat the stressors common to parenthood, such as work-life balance challenges, social media anxiety, perfectionism, guilt, and relationship changes.