Your Wellbeing
Parents often say that life with cerebral palsy is a marathon, not a sprint. Like athletes, parents and families need to look after their own physical and emotional wellbeing to ensure they have energy for their caring role.
Finding Balance
Having a child with a disability can take an emotional and physical toll on families. Finding balance can seem like an impossible task. The needs of parents and children compete, with little time left to enjoy the simple things in life like just being together and having fun.
The CHOOSE Model
One way of looking at finding balance in your life is with the CHOOSE model. Developed by clinical psychologist and founder of The Happiness Institute in Australia, Dr Timothy Sharp, this approach is based on six ingredients for happiness:
- C for clarity, of life goals, direction and purpose
- H for healthy living
- O for optimism, and having a positive attitude
- O for others, including all the important relationships in your life
- S for strengths, your inherent qualities and attitudes
- E for enjoy the moment
CHOOSE places emphasis on people's inherent strengths, qualities and personal attributes, rather than focusing on weakness and problems. It promotes a holistic approach to family wellbeing, an approach also supported by Cerebral Palsy Alliance.
How Others Use CHOOSE
- My Clarity - Jaye Chawick shares her way of setting goals to achieve clarity of purpose.
- My Healthy Living - Selena Short talks about her family’s commitment to healthy living
- My Optimism - Victoria Grimes’ thoughts on optimism and unexpected blessings.
- My Others - Kelly Ferguson speaks about the importance of her support network of family and friends.
- My Strengths - Gavin Ryan’s strength and determination has led to him scaling the heights.
- Enjoy the Moment - Sophia Whitfield has learnt to enjoy the moment and follow her passion.
Podcast
More insights about looking after yourself in this podcast from the ParentWise Podcast series.
Building networks of support
Liz Foy talks about how parents of newly-diagnosed children with a disability can build a strong and effective networks of support with family and friends.
