Hello and welcome to my podcast, The Wellness Project with Des. On today’s podcast episode, I speak with Ashley Fontes about being a parent to children with mental health needs while navigating her own mental health needs.
I’m Desiree, a Mental Health Therapist that is passionate about helping people improve their mental health and live a healthy and fulfilled life. One way I do this is by interviewing experts in the field of mental health and wellness as well as those that have struggled with their mental health but have gained control over it and now live fulfilling lives. In this episode, we will hear from Ashley Fontes about navigating her own mental health while parenting three children with mental health diagnoses.
Ashley is a neurodiverse mother of 3 neurodiverse children and spouse to a neurodiverse husband. Ashley’s mental health journey started when she was a teenager but she didn’t realize she had mental health issues until after her 2nd child. She explains that her mother was concerned and encouraged her to seek out professional help for her mental health.
Following her mother’s advice, Ashley did seek out professional help but it was a 2-3 year process to get an accurate diagnosis. She had many conflicting diagnoses- depression, postpartum depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, OCD, and schizophrenia.
Going between all of these different diagnoses was frustrating but Ashley was finally accurately diagnosed by another doctor with Bipolar disorder, ADHD, and OCD. Ashley explains that when she received that diagnosis of OCD, her entire childhood made sense. She was able to find relief, understanding, and effective treatment.
After receiving her diagnosis, Ashley began working toward her healing and wellness. She regularly takes medication, does yoga, meditates, goes to church, sees a therapist and a psychiatrist, journals, and writes.
While navigating her own mental health, Ashley also needed to navigate the mental health of her children. She is the mother to three children with their own mental health needs. Her children are diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety and struggle with emotional regulation. Ashley shares how she helps her children with their mental health needs while all while taking care of her own mental health.
Listen to this podcast episode to learn how you can take care of your own mental health needs while caring for the mental health of your children.
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