In-person appointments in Hampstead and Marylebone, plus online therapy across the UK and internationally
Call for further information
Parenting Support and Therapy
Parenting can be one of the most meaningful roles in life, and also one of the most emotionally demanding. Even when you love your child deeply, you might feel overwhelmed, stretched, or unsure of yourself. Many parents carry a quiet sense of guilt — that they’re not doing enough, not coping well enough, or that they’re getting it wrong.
Sometimes the difficulty is the day-to-day: tantrums, routines, sleep, screens, school stress, sibling conflict. Sometimes it’s the emotional load: exhaustion, anxiety, anger, conflict with a co-parent, or the way your own past is getting stirred up in ways you didn’t expect. For many people it’s both at once.
At Hampstead Psychology, we offer evidence-based therapy to support parents in London and online across the UK. We help you understand what’s happening, reduce overwhelm and self-criticism, and build a steadier, more confident way of parenting and coping.
This page is for information and does not replace a clinical assessment, diagnosis, or medical advice.
When parenting starts to take over
You might recognise some of these experiences:
-
You feel constantly on edge and find it hard to switch off, even when the day is “fine.”
-
You feel exhausted and depleted, and small things tip you into overwhelm.
-
You find yourself shouting or snapping, then feeling guilty afterwards.
-
You feel anxious about your child, their wellbeing, their future, or whether you’re doing it right.
-
You and your partner or co-parent are arguing more, often about parenting differences.
-
You feel trapped in power struggles and don’t know how to reset the pattern.
-
You dread certain times of day because they’ve become battlegrounds.
-
You feel lonely in parenting, even when you’re not alone.
-
You feel like you’ve lost yourself, your patience, or your sense of stability.
-
You feel triggered in ways you don’t understand — as if something old is being activated.
If this fits, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad parent. It often means you’re parenting under strain, with a nervous system that is overloaded. Therapy helps you reduce that load and respond with more steadiness and choice.
How parenting difficulties can show up
Overwhelm, burnout, and carrying too much
Many parents are managing relentless demands with too little recovery. When the system is depleted, patience drops and reactivity increases. Therapy helps you build pacing, boundaries, and recovery so you’re not parenting from the edge all the time.
Anger, shouting, and regret
Anger is often a sign of overload, fear, helplessness, or unmet needs. Many parents feel ashamed about how they respond in the moment. Therapy helps you understand what’s driving the reaction and build emotional regulation strategies that work in real life, not just in theory.
Anxiety about your child and “getting it right”
Parenting anxiety can look like constant worry, mental checking, reassurance seeking, second-guessing, or trying to control outcomes. Therapy helps you work with uncertainty, reduce self-criticism, and parent with more confidence and flexibility.
Conflict with a partner or co-parent
Differences in parenting values and styles can become flashpoints, especially under stress. Therapy helps you understand the cycle you’re stuck in and find ways to communicate and collaborate more effectively, with less blame and escalation.
When your own history gets triggered
Parenting can activate old patterns: fear of being judged, feeling unseen, a need to be perfect, or sensitivity to rejection. It can also bring up your own experiences of being parented. Therapy helps you notice what belongs to the present and what belongs to the past, so you can respond more freely.
Related difficulties we often see alongside parenting stress
Parenting difficulties often overlap with anxiety, low mood, stress and burnout, insomnia, relationship strain, perfectionism, and intense self-criticism. Some parents also experience health anxiety, panic symptoms, or trauma responses, particularly if parenting has included medical stress, loss, or high uncertainty.
Therapy takes the whole picture into account while staying focused and practical.
What keeps parenting stress going?
Parenting difficulties are often maintained by loops that make sense in the moment.
You become stressed, depleted, or anxious.
Your tolerance drops, and your reactions become sharper or more controlling.
Your child reacts to your stress, often with more dysregulation or resistance.
You feel more helpless, guilty, or frustrated, and you try harder to fix it in the moment.
The cycle escalates, and everyone ends up more activated.
Therapy helps you step out of this loop by reducing overload, building emotional regulation, and creating clearer, calmer responses that shift the dynamic over time.
How therapy helps with parenting
At Hampstead Psychology, we use approaches that are widely used in evidence-based psychological practice. Depending on your needs, this may include CBT, ACT, compassion-focused work, psychodynamic therapy, and schema-informed therapy.
In practice, parenting-focused therapy often involves helping you understand your stress and reactivity patterns, strengthening your ability to regulate in the moment, and building a more compassionate internal voice so you’re not parenting under constant self-attack. We also support you to clarify boundaries, reduce power struggles, and respond to difficult behaviour in a way that is steadier and more aligned with your values.
Where relationship dynamics are part of the difficulty, we can also help you work with communication patterns so the parenting load doesn’t become a fault line between you.
What to expect from sessions
We start by understanding what’s been happening in your family: the challenges, the stressors, what tends to trigger difficulty, and what happens next. We’ll explore your goals and what you want to feel different — in your home, your relationships, and in yourself.
Sessions are collaborative and practical. You’ll leave with insight you can use and realistic steps to try between sessions, reviewed and refined over time. We work at a pace that feels supportive, because the aim is steady change, not more pressure.
How long does therapy take?
This varies. Some parents want focused work around anxiety, anger, guilt, or a specific pattern that keeps repeating at home. Others choose longer support, particularly when parenting has activated deeper themes around identity, self-worth, trauma, or longstanding coping patterns.
We review progress together so therapy stays purposeful and aligned with what you need.
Parenting therapy in Hampstead and online
We offer parenting support and therapy in person in London and online across the UK. Many parents prefer online sessions for convenience and because it’s easier to fit into family life, and it can be very effective when you have a confidential space.
Take the next step
If parenting has started to feel overwhelming, reactive, or lonely, you don’t have to manage it alone. With the right support, you can feel steadier in yourself, clearer in your boundaries, and more confident in how you respond — even in the hard moments.
Contact Hampstead Psychology to enquire about OCD therapy in London or online.
Useful links: Stress and Burnout, Anxiety Therapy, Couples Counselling, Insomnia and Sleep Problems, Therapy for Men, Fees, Meet the Team, Contact.
Urgent Help
If you are worried about immediate risk to your safety, call 999 or go to A&E. If you need urgent support but it isn’t an emergency, contact NHS 111 or your GP. You can also contact Samaritans on 116 123 (24/7).
Meet The Team
At Hampstead Psychology, all of our psychologists have extensive training to doctoral level and decades of experience in their field of expertise. You will be matched with a psychologist that has the knowledge and skill to help you understand and overcome your problem - not just in the short term but for good.
Frequently asked questions
Related Posts
