Parentline NI - Your Guide to Parenting

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...

Ed Sipler, a Health Development Specialist in the South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust, talks to Kerry McLean about building resilience in ourselves and our children.
It's been a tough few years for us all, and with the current cost of living challenges, we have all had a lot to cope with and try to overcome.

Ed talks about resilience in this episode, and how it's more effective to build our own res...

This episode, Kerry chats to Wayne Denner, an online reputation and safety expert,  who has spent decades in the digital space teaching people of all ages to protect themselves online, take control of technology and maximise the opportunities it can offer.

They discuss safeguarding in the online world; something that is becoming increasingly prevalent in our lives. As parents we know the world is a very differe...

Following our popular workshop delivered together with Elaine McCrisken from Strive NI, Elaine joins us on the podcast to chat about Anxiety Based School Avoidance.  

Listen in as Kerry chats to Elaine and explores reasons why a child or young person may be finding it difficult to attend school. As well as discussing practical strategies for parents/carers to support children to return more willingly to the school environment.

We hop...

Following our recent workshop series delivered together with Rebecca McCullough from Eden Consultancy, Rebecca is back to talk to us again about ADHD.

ADHD is one of the most common, yet most misunderstood conditions amongst children and young people. In this podcast we will look into what ADHD actually is, talk about the myths surrounding ADHD, the challenges of ADHD and how to support a child or young person with ADHD through vari...

Parenting/caring for children is both a joy and a challenge and can often have big impact on our relationships with those around us. 

Life is full of ups and downs and conflict is normal within all relationships, it is how conflict is handled which can impact our children most both now and long term. 

Listen in as Kerry chats to Kellie from Relate NI all about their new programme, ‘Sustaining Healthy Relationships’. These sessions lo...