REAL-TIME SELF-CARE:
How to Take Care of Yourself While You Take Care of Your Child
Community of Practice Groups
What is the Real-Time Self-Care (RTSC) Course Community of Practice?
RTSC Community of Practice groups offer a supportive space for parents to explore their parenting experiences, thoughts, and emotions to enhance their understanding of themselves and their children, which leads to enhanced parenting. These groups focus on developing self-compassion, mindful and intentional parenting strategies, rewarding relationships, and the regulation (balance) of energy and emotion. Trained reflective consultants facilitate these groups.
Key aspects of RTSC Community of Practice groups:
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Creating a Safe Space:
These groups provide a confidential and non-judgmental environment where parents can openly share their experiences and feelings (read: vent).
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Self-Reflection:
Participants get the chance to examine their beliefs, values, and reactions to better understand their parenting behaviors.
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Self-Compassion:
The practice helps parents develop self-compassion, a key factor in enabling them to adopt mindful, intentional parenting practices that prevent them from reacting impulsively.
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Improved Relationships:
By fostering self-awareness and understanding, participation in these groups can lead to stronger and more positive relationships with their children, co-parents, and community of other parents and professionals who work with their children.
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Energetic and Emotional Regulation:
Participants think together about strategies to nurture healthy and fun energetic offloading and emotional expression in themselves and their children to gain skills in restoring regulation, AKA nervous-system balance.
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Skills Practice:
Participants reflect on their experiences, both challenges and wins, of practicing the techniques taught in the course.
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Resource Sharing:
Parents can also share and discuss resources that are supporting them in their parenting journey.
Benefits of participating in RTSC Community of Practice groups:
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Improved relationships: By fostering self-compassion and empathy toward others, these groups can strengthen a parent's bond with their children, co-parents, and community.
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Enhanced parenting skills: Parents develop the effective and mindful parenting strategies taught in the course.
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Increased regulation of energy and emotion: Parents gain a better understanding of their own energy levels and emotions, and develop skills to regulate (balance) them effectively.
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Reduced stress and improved well-being: Reflective practice can help parents feel more confident and capable, leading to reduced stress and improved overall well-being.
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Positive impact on child development: By fostering healthy parent-child relationships and promoting energetic and emotional regulation, these groups can have a positive impact on children's development.
