Parentline NI - Your Guide to Parenting

In this deeply insightful episode of the Parentline podcast, host Kerry McLean is joined by Tanya Strowger, a mother of three and counsellor at Jigsaw Community Counselling Centre, and Rebecca McCullough from Eden Consultancy NI. Together, they explore what it’s like to support neurodiverse children—particularly autistic children—through life’s big transitions, including school changes, holidays, family events, and everyday routine...

In this special episode, Kerry chats to three of the Parentline NI team - Kathy, Roisin and Julie. This episode focuses on the core ethos of the Parentline service.

They discuss the importance of connection with callers, and the teams' aim to provide a listening ear, and non judgemental support to parents and carers.

Callers can use the service for any stage of parenting, from babies and toddlers, teenagers a...

At Parentline, we are experiencing a large number of calls from parents and carers who are struggling with the issue of Anxiety Based School avoidance. 

Many of these parents feel like they are the only ones going through it, which is so far from the truth.

In this very special episode of the Parentline NI Podcast we share some of the stories and experiences from parents, and shine a light on this issue.

This episode, Kerry talks to two guests, Bronagh Donnelly and Mary Jordan. Bronagh's son has ADHD, and she also works for an ADHD support service. 
Mary has ADHD herself, and so do both of her children.

Our guests candidly share their stories of parenting children with ADHD and their journey through getting the right support, understanding ADHD and their overall mindset about it. Their stories are uplifting and in...

This episode, Kerry chats to two local parents, Barbara and Katrina, who share their views on how to rediscover the magic of Christmas, on a budget! 

They discuss their own, personal family traditions, and revisit what really matters at Christmas. The Cost of Living Crisis is affecting the vast majority of us, so why should we put unnecessarily pressures on ourselves and our family to keep up with everything we see others ...

Breastfeeding counsellor Katy Lynn chats to Kerry about the emotive topic of breastfeeding.  They talk about some of the amazing qualities of breastmilk, the joys of breastfeeding and discuss awareness around the difficulties experienced when starting to breastfeed. They key message here is the  lack of support for mums who are starting to breastfeed, that can often lead them to stop sooner than planned. 

We've includ...

Kerry McLean talks to Chris and Rebecca, who each have a son with a rare genetic condition, called PKU.

They courageously discuss how it affects their lives, and the wider family circle. They explain the experience of being told the diagnosis, and how they coped and moved forward from there. 

This episode focuses on the feelings and challenges around having a child with a lifelong condition, and how the support fr...

This episode shares the experience of Michaela, who lost her mother just six weeks after the birth of her first baby, all during the peak of Covid 19. 

Kerry and Michaela discuss how she coped with this tragic loss, during such a significant and intense period of her life. They share some similar experiences, and the message that despite how difficult life can be, if we reach out, it can make us feel so much less alone. 

Re...

This episode is the second of our 'Parenting through...' series. Kerry talks to Casey and Becca, the recent founders of Melted Parents NI - their aim is to share the human stories behind the childcare crisis and it's impact on our society. 

They discuss the impact of childcare costs on whether parents (mainly women) are willing and/or able to return to work after having a baby. In addition, they talk about c...

The thought of our children or our young people going through emotional pain and hurt is horrible.  As parents or carers, we want them to have a perfect, stress-free, pain-free life. But of course, that's not possible for anyone. And sometimes that pain and hurt can lead to them having thoughts of self-harm, or worse still, thoughts of suicide.
Kerry McLean talks to Connor McCafferty of Zest NI - Healing the Hurt, on how o...

In this episode, Pam Nugent, co-founder of The Laurence Trust, tells her story about the loss of her son, Laurence, to an eating disorder.

For #eatingdisorderawarenessweek2023, there is a focus on men, and how eating disorders, contrary to popular belief, affect men as well as women.

Pam shares the heartbreaking story of Laurence's eating disorder,  and her motivation for founding The Laurence Trust; a safe ...

In this episode we were delighted to have Rebecca from Eden Consultancy  back with us to chat more about autism. Kerry and Rebecca chat about next steps after diagnosis, as well as discussing stigmas and dated views. Rebecca gives some excellent tried and tested techniques as well as advice for parents and carers to try involving the whole family in using a consistent approach for their children. They also chat about normalising a ...

Lisa and Kerry chat about the impact of childhood trauma on the person we become, and in turn our own parenting styles. They discuss the vocabulary we need to talk about trauma and it's impact on our mental health. They also discuss self care, and how empathy and compassion can make such a positive difference to those carrying the weight of trauma. Lisa discusses how having those conversations about the legacy of trauma, don&a...

This episode, Kerry talks to Col Bignell, founder of DadBods - a group for dads to get together and connect through what it's like to be a dad!
Every Sunday they get together in a new outdoor location for a walk and a chat - and bring their babies and toddlers of course!
Col explains what it has done for him as a parent, as he feels he can connect with the other dads about how much of a life changing event parenthood i...