BellTime Magazine Autumn 2018 BellTime 10 lr | Page 34

PARENTAL
PATHWAYS
“Resilience seems like a buzzword of the
moment, but we’ve all been conscious of
our mental health and building resilience
since we learned how to read, write and
communicate with one another,” says Linda
Hanlon and Maria McGrane, joint directors
of Parental Pathways, a psychotherapeutic
education training centre based in the
Dublin area which works with parents and
children in responding to the complexities
of 21st century life. ‘Building resilience’ is
a core element of their approach and they
use the medium of books and storytelling to
demonstrate this, through group
workshops, public events, a blog and social
media.
From cave painting to podcasting,
throughout human history we’ve found
ways to connect and communicate
through storytelling and shared
experiences in a very human way.
Storytelling offers emotional distance from
which we can experience and process a
variety of feelings, from those that fill us
with joy to those that truly terrify us. We
get lost in the magic and mystery of a
story, but we also viscerally relate to the
themes and subject matter on a personal
level – “I felt that too! I understand that
character,” we see ourselves in the story. storytelling is a facet of survival by
allowing us to connect with others and
ultimately ourselves”. Maria and Linda
combine 35 years of shared experience
working with children, parents and
families of all forms. With Parental
Pathways, which was created in 2016,
the pair facilitate and run one-on-one
private sessions for parents, individual
reflective practice courses for teachers
and both local and national events as well
as appearing frequently in media
appearances and online via social media,
their blog and an upcoming podcast.
“Finding your tribe and exploring and
connecting with your true identity are
central tasks to being a teen, which takes
psychological resilience,” Maria explains,
“and at Parental Pathways we zone in on
this – reading books and the process of “As parents ourselves and through our
professional work, we’ve come to realize
that literature can be a bridge between
development and the ability to relate,
build resilience and be a building block of
positive mental health,” Linda adds. Every
66
year, Parental Pathways bring together
the worlds of psychotherapy and
literature, as well as aspects of the art,
illustration and neuroscience, in a sell-out
national event that aims to educate, equip
and empower parents and professionals
with a unique coming together of worlds
and fresh perspectives on modern
parenting.
“There is nothing more undermining for
people than feeling powerless and
isolated” say the pair, the remedy to
which they recognize as building
emotional resilience, it’s why Maria and
Linda believe in sharing their knowledge
and experience by investing in building
resilient minds for all our tomorrows.
To know more about the work they
do, contact them on
www.parentalpathways.ie
67