Is it normal to feel worse after your child's diagnosis?

You braced yourself for the diagnosis. Everyone warned you that would be the hard part.

Then the appointments started, and the reports, and the funding forms. And somehow you’re more exhausted now than you were before you had answers.

That’s parental burnout, and for most parents it hits later, after the diagnosis. Help arrives as a second job made of admin, stacked on everything you were already carrying.

You might recognise it:

1. You sat in a planning meeting listing everything your child can’t do, then sat and cried afterwards.
2. You go through the motions at bedtime and feel a strange distance from your own child, then feel terrible about it.
3. You have more support in place than ever, and less left in the tank than ever.

The full article walks through what actually helps, and the first steps to take.​

Nicole Robinson​ Principal and Clinical Psychologist, ProActive Psychology ​proactivepsychology.com.au​