Sometimes described as non-resident parenting, having a child who lives primarily with their other parent can bring a unique set of emotional challenges. Whether you're a mum or dad, counselling can offer space to explore your experiences of separation, co-parenting and your relationship with yourself as a parent.

Parenthood doesn't always look the way you imagined.

If your child lives primarily with their other parent, you may experience feelings that aren't always easy to talk about.

Perhaps you struggle with guilt about the time you spend apart, worry about your place in your child's life, or find yourself questioning whether you're a good enough parent.

You might feel sadness, anger, shame or uncertainty. You might also enjoy aspects of your life outside parenting, while finding it difficult to reconcile those feelings with what you believe a parent should be.

Whatever your circumstances, your feelings deserve space to be explored.

I understand some of this personally.

I'm a mum whose child lives primarily with their other parent, so I have personal experience of some of the complicated feelings that can come with this kind of parenting arrangement.

Your circumstances and experiences will be different from mine, and I won't assume that I know how you feel.

But I understand that being a parent when your child doesn't live with you full-time can bring challenges that aren't always recognised or understood by others.

You don't need to explain or justify your family arrangements to me.

You might be:

• Questioning whether you're a "good enough" parent.

• Carrying feelings of guilt, shame or self-blame.

• Worrying about how other people perceive you.

• Grieving the parenting experience you imagined having.

• Navigating difficult co-parenting or family relationships.

• Struggling with the time you spend apart from your child.

• Feeling anxious, low, overwhelmed or uncertain about your place in your child's life.

• Wondering who you are outside of being a parent.

You don't have to be experiencing all of these feelings, or even see your parenting arrangements as a problem, to benefit from having somewhere to talk.

What might we explore together?

When being a parent doesn't look the way you thought it would, it can be difficult to separate how you really feel from everything you've come to believe you should feel.

In counselling, we might explore where some of those expectations came from. What have you learnt about what a "good parent" is supposed to look like? How much of the guilt or shame you're carrying belongs to your own feelings, and how much comes from worrying about what other people might think?

We can also gently approach the parts of your story that may feel difficult to talk about, without expecting you to justify your choices or circumstances.

Over time, our work might involve finding a way of understanding your story that feels true to you, developing greater compassion for yourself, and becoming more able to tolerate the fact that not everyone will understand your life or the choices you've made.

The aim isn't to convince you that difficult feelings don't matter. It's to help you become more able to trust yourself, live alongside what you cannot change, and decide what matters to you now.

You are a parent — and you are also a whole person

Being a parent can be an incredibly important part of who you are, without being the only part.

Counselling can give you space to explore your experiences as a parent alongside your own needs, relationships, hopes, values and sense of who you are.

Together, we can make room for the difficult feelings while also reconnecting with parts of yourself that may have become harder to hear.

You don't have to explain or justify your situation before getting in touch.

If something you've read here feels familiar, you're welcome to arrange a free introductory call. You can tell me a little about what you're looking for, ask me anything you'd like to know, and get a sense of whether talking with me feels right.