St. Louis Area Child Therapist Releases Book To Help Address Stress Among Moms

In a recent survey on what moms want, the overwhelming response was rest and relaxation. Moms are bombarded by endless stress that drains their resources and threatens their health and happiness.

And the emotional, physical and relationship load of mounting stress on moms can be felt by both mother and child.

In her new book, Courageous Gratitude: Celebrate Your Journey through Motherhood, author and professional counselor, Deborah Woods offers a way to reduce some of this stress. She does so by providing a fresh perspective on the refreshing nature of gratitude.

Courageous Gratitude is a delightfully easy read with beautiful photos and writing prompts offered as a 40-day journey.  It is aimed at easing some of the burden that is often present in parenting.

In it, Woods vulnerably shares her own experiences as a mom raising a son with special needs.

But she doesn’t stop there. Woods also engages the reader in a series of questions to encourage moms to reflect on and share their own journeys – first as child and then later as parent.

Courageous Gratitude has made it to multiple #1 categories in multiple countries since it’s release on May 12, 2018.

Woods, a mom herself, writes, “I hate it when I’m hurting and someone says, ‘You just need to be grateful. You should count your blessings.’ This book is not about that kind of ‘just be grateful’ experience. I believe that gratitude can only be felt and experienced when we acknowledge the struggle and look deep inside it for the hidden treasures, the lessons, the decisions we can make to change things.”

Facing painful struggles as a mom inspired Deborah Woods, National Certified Counselor, to meet the challenges standing in the way of her son’s happy childhood. She’s spent more than 15,000 hours with kids, engaging them in structured play with techniques she now teaches outside of therapy session. With 30+ years of experience, she’s worked with hundreds of kids and their moms, dads, and grandparents.  

“I discovered that playful connection makes the biggest impact,” Deborah Woods commented.

But this isn’t any kind of random play.  Woods teaches parents a particular kind of play geared to elevate the child’s experience and to strengthen the bond between parent and child. And Woods can help parents accomplish this improved experience with the techniques she teaches in only 30 minutes of play per week.

Deborah and her husband raised a successful and brilliant son who’s now overcome the hardships of ADHD, learning disabilities, and anxiety.

“What lights me up,” Deborah says, “is knowing the things my son, my husband, and I struggled with inspired me to help moms, dads, grandparents, and kids avoid the years of pain and frustration we suffered.”

The weight of psychological research reveals that gratitude eases the damaging effects of stress and builds happiness, vitality, and life satisfaction. Gratitude boosts connectedness and deepens harmony between moms and kids.

The book, Courageous Gratitude, provides a journey for moms and in so doing, affirms their experiences, validates their feelings and engages their creativity all while reducing the stress.

Deborah Woods has seen the value in this stress reduction for both mom and child in her professional work. Moms who use the techniques Woods teaches them find a deeper level of bonding possible with their child in less time and with less stress.

Rather than keeping the researched-backed and professionally-informed play techniques to herself, Woods shares these through individual work and also through the online course she offers. 

Her book, Courageous Gratitude, adds to the parenting conversation and brings about more understanding for the journey moms experience.

Moms and dads will appreciate Woods’ acknowledgement that “sometimes the way we connect with our parents is difficult and painful, but we can look for and make room in our life for the happy memories.”

Deborah Woods has recently been asked to share her wisdom as well as her book at Missouri’s St. Charles City-County Library’s Ninth Annual Local Author Open House on Saturday, October 13, 2018.

Discover more about Deborah Woods, National Certified Counselor, and her work with moms and children at her website, magneticmoms.com. She can also be found on Facebook at facebook.com/magneticmoms. For more information, Deborah Woods can be reached by email at: Deborah@DeborahWoodsNCC.com.