Erin & Stephen Mitchell

With Father’s Day, June Men’s Health Awareness Month, and June PTSD Awareness Month right around the bend, now is high time for dads to assess their paternal mental health, identify how stress and PTSD affects family dynamics, and discover tried-and-true ways to improve psychological well being. Available for an interview on these topics are Erin and Stephen Mitchell, the cofounders of Couples Counseling for Parents, a company focused on providing access to research-informed, psychologically sound online education for couples.

Stephen is a psychotherapist with a PhD in Medical Family Therapy and Erin has a Masters in Counseling Psychology. They have been married for 16 years, have three kids, and have a combined 23 years of experience providing counseling and education. They also authored the celebrated book, Too Tired to Fight: 13 Essential Conflicts Parents Must Have to Keep Their Relationship Strong. In this book, Erin and Stephen use their 20-plus years of counseling experience to walk couples through the 13 conflicts that are not just normal but necessary to keep a partnership strong once kids enter the picture.

Topics Erin & Stephen Mitchell Can Discuss

Father’s Day and Men’s Health Month/June

• Strategies for successful co-parenting, including clear communication, consistency, and collaboration between parents, whether they are together or separated.

• Techniques for resolving conflicts and disagreements with a co-parent in a healthy and constructive manner.

• Helping new and expectant fathers understand their role and responsibilities, and how to navigate the transition to fatherhood.

• What are common sources of parenting stress & strategies for fathers to manage stress effectively, such as time management, relaxation techniques, and seeking support

• What are signs of depression, anxiety, and other paternal mental health concerns in fathers, and how can they get the help and support they need

• How fathers can prioritize their own mental well-being through self-care practices, hobbies, and maintaining social connections

• What are the emotional and psychological adjustments that come with becoming a father, including shifts in identity, relationship dynamics, and personal goals

• How to achieve a healthy work-life balance to ensure fathers can be present and engaged with their families.

• Discuss dads and depression, dads and anxiety, and dads and stress regulation and how all of these things impact the couple relationship and overall health of the family

June is PTSD Awareness Month

• Discuss PTSD in birth experiences and how other traumatic events (shared or individual) affect couples differently

• Examine how men and women experience and respond to trauma differently and the implications of these differences on relationship dynamics and family health

• Strategies for couples to work together on healing from trauma, regardless of how recent or old the event is.

School is Out for the Summer

• The Invisible Load of Summer Parenting – explore the increased invisible load parents face during summer vacations when kids are out of school.

• Discuss how parents can cope with how the mental load of planning and organizing activities for children intensifies during the summer month

• Examine how summer break highlights and exacerbates the unequal division of household and childcare responsibilities.

• Discuss the effects of increased summer responsibilities on parents’ mental health and well-being, and ways to mitigate stress.

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