Aware Parenting Stories with Joss Goulden

In this episode I speak with Hannah Mushit who is the mother of 4 children, a registered play therapist and an Aware Parenting Instructor in Fremantle in Western Australia. She shares her journey with Aware Parenting and offers some examples of using Attachment Play to support her family. We discuss how to help ourselves in the moments where we "should" ourselves about play and how to support ourselves when we don't have the capacity to play, with compassion and acceptance. We talk about how our own childhood experiences of play can come up in our parenting and make it hard to be playful with our children at times. Hannah talks about Play Therapy and Filial Therapy for healing stress and trauma. We explore how to use play to offer the Balance of Attention and how to cultivate trust.

To learn more about Hannah's work, please visit https://childhoodrising.com.au and follow her on social media at childhood.rising.

If you would like support with attachment play or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I am here for you and I invite you to get in touch https://awareparenting.com.au/contact-me/

This episode of my podcast is all about non-directive child centred play, also often known as Special Time. I describe what this kind of play is and how it is so therapeutic and helpful for our children. I explore how we can offer it, when it's particularly helpful for our children, what can happen when we offer this type of play, as well as why this can be hard for us to do. I talk about how to support ourselves to be able to offer this play regularly. I end with some words of compassion to support ourselves in the moments when it feels really hard to play and to build capacity so that our children can enjoy these powerful moments of togetherness.

If you would like support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to get in touch.

To learn more about Attachment Play I highly recommend reading the book by Aletha Solter on this topic.

This episode is the first in my new series of conversations about Attachment Play. I describe what Attachment Play is and the benefits of this for our children. I talk about how this type of play supports us in the practice of all the aspects and principles of Aware Parenting. and share how we offer it to our children. I explain the 9 different types of play and discuss why it can be hard for us as parents to be playful in these ways and how we can be more playful. I end by sharing some of my favourite attachment play games that I have played with my children over the years.

To learn more about attachment play or to get in touch for a session to support you with this aspect of aware parenting, please get in touch via my website www.awareparenting.com.au

Welcome back to another episode of the Aware Parenting Stories podcast. After having a few weeks off, I am back with the final episode for this year and the last episode in the series of conversations I have been having about Embracing Imperfection.

In this episode I share some final reflections on where perfectionism comes from, the effect of our childhood experiences and the socio-cultural factors that play into this for many mothers. I share more about how to support ourselves with compassion, acknowledgement, finding safety for ourselves, bringing more play and laughter, meeting our own needs and offering ourselves reassurance, care and love.

To get support with this or any other aspect of aware parenting, I invite you to get in touch [email protected]

This latest episode of my podcast about embracing imperfection is all about the journey of self-acceptance in fatherhood. I am really excited to be having a conversation with Mark Gee, who is a counsellor, a mental health first aid instructor, a Rites of Passage leader and an online Circle Work Facilitator. He is a father and supports other fathers through his 6 week online Dad's Journey Workshops.

In this conversation Mark shares his journey from tradesman to men's mental health specialist and counsellor. He shares how he has supported himself and other fathers to be more vulnerable and self-connected and to move from being isolated in parenting and instead find new powerful ways to role model what it is to be a man supporting himself and his family. Mark shares some of the most common struggles for fathers and describes some way that fathers can learn self-compassion, self-acceptance, presence and repair after rupture. We talk about unconditional love and cultivating resilience. Mark shares the relief and power that comes from connecting with other fathers in groups, to share and be vulnerable together.

To learn more about Mark's work or to sign up for his next 6 week workshop which starts on the 9th October 2025, please visit www.markgee.com.au or follow him on Instragram at markgeewellbeing.

To learn more about The Aware Parenting Retreat, please visit https://awareparenting.com.au/aware-parenting-retreat/