Being a working parent looks different for every career, every family, and every parent. In today’s episode, Robin Smith, licensed marriage and family therapist shares his experience as a working dad in the mental health field. He shares wise insights, including the self-inflected pressure that can occur as a parent from having heightened awareness as a mental health professional, the shifts happening due to COVID-19, what it looks like to have grace and compassion for yourself and your children, and the many elements of being self-employed. Join Tom Spiggle and Lori Mihalich-Levin in this interview for incredible insight and advice from Robin Smith.

Show Highlights:

1. Robin shares his working parent story and how he navigated parental leave
2. Robin talks about how COVID has impacted his profession and how he’s used positive reinforcement to make a better environment to work at home
3. There’s great diversity in the experiences mental health professionals have
4. How being a mental health professional impacts work-life balance
5. Being a mental health professional can increase the strive for perfectionism and the feelings of shame when it isn’t met
6. Being self-employed can allow for flexibility but also means there are no professional supports
7. Why Robin wishes he would’ve had working dad groups to talk with during transitioning into parenthood
8. Transitioning into a digital space has been a major shift and has been difficult for many therapists
9. How will COVID change the future of therapy
10. Why intentionality is more important now than ever before
11. Why we should start with having self-compassion as a working-parent
12. Robin shares books and technology that have helped him on his working-parent journey

Links:

https://www.spigglelaw.com

https://www.mindfulreturn.com

Contact Lori:

Lori@mindfulreturn.com

Resources:

The Expectant Father

And Baby Makes Three