Grieving The Child You Thought You Would Have, Making Sense Of It All - With Jean Mayer, Brittney Crabtree, Shannon Korza

Moms Talk Autism Podcast

11/08/21 • 53 min

Ever feel caregiver burnout? Ever feel like you are in a hamster wheel as a caregiver?

Listen to this convo.

Grief isn't linear; it's a wheel of adaptation.

Dr. Nancy Miller, psychologist and social worker, wrote Nobody's Perfect: Living + Growing with Children Who Have Special Needs.

In this book, she worked with four moms over five years and distilled their experiences into one book.

The model is derived from communication with the moms, experience of the working families, the writings of parents and professionals.

"Adaptation" kicks in when we feel robbed of our chance and our Child's chance for living an equal life.

There are four stages, and stick with us as we will dive into each. Think of them like four hemispheres, similar to a Venn diagram nature, constantly shape-shifting through your journey.

The 4 S's: Survival, Searching, Settling In, and Separating are very real and relevant to understanding what we may all be feeling, whether it's exclusively or simultaneously.

Advocacy is a muscle, and this is a journey about endurance.

Hot tips and takeaways from the conversation to ease the distress you as a parent would experience at any of the stages: