This month we are hearing from Intensive Support Manager Shona

With Mother’s Day just around the corner (I rarely need an excuse to celebrate parents!) I have been thinking about what that means to us here at The Door –  An opportunity to fundraise? Of course – we are a charity and need all the financial help we can get.

An opportunity to raise awareness that we support parents too! Absolutely! 

But more than that, an opportunity for a rich conversation that acknowledges how rewarding being a parent can be but also how challenging it can be in equal measure.  I’m not sure what I thought being a Mum would look like, but it certainly has many facets and none of it came with training!  I was thrown different curve balls at different stages of growth, some of them I caught and others were spectacularly dropped and I certainly have not ‘Mummed’ alone – I couldn’t have done it without support and it’s one of the reasons I am so thankful that support is on offer here at The Door, so those rich conversations can continue and be heard, valued and considered in a way that empowers and inspires parents to be brave, to be kind, to be patient and to be real. 

So let me be one of the first to say Happy Mother’s Day! However it is that you are a ‘Mother figure’ to those around you, you will be making an immense contribution to their lives even if you can’t quite see it and in my humble opinion, that needs to be celebrated every chance we get!

Meet our new Family Support Coordinator Henrietta in this introducing article. Or Find out more about support for parents on our website. And why not pop into our shop in Stroud and pick up a charity card that includes a donation towards our family support work.