Pre-order
You can now get your pre-order in at Waterstones or on Amazon
Or from 21st Jan 2025 click to buy direct from Jessica Kingsley Publishing
Are you a parent of a neurodiverse child (with or without diagnosis), battling for an EHCP?
Or perhaps you have one in place but struggle to see how the school or provision is fulfilling it?
Or maybe you parent a school refuser or an anxious child or a deeply feeling one?
Have you lost a sense of your true self under the weight and responsibility that is parenting a complex child?
Are you in overwhelm or burn out?
If you find yourself saying yes to any of the above, then you're in good company!
This journal is a hand held out in the darkness, a path back to your self through understanding your own needs and practising the sort of comforting and energising, hits-the-spot self-care that can power you through the ups and downs of parenting in a neurodiverse family.
It provides a warm sense of community where you will feel completely held as you discover how to regulate and centre yourself and how to enliven your life beyond your role as a parent or carer through short journalling prompts and imaginative activities designed specifically for this parenting experience.
Kind, insightful and uplifting, Wide Open Spaces also unpacks how you can come to understand your child's dysregulated behaviours and communicate in a way that makes your life easier.
It leads you, cheerily, in the direction of peace and a more balanced and fulfilled family life.
Reviews
' Here is a wellbeing book for parents and carers full of warmth from a relatable author. This book will be your friend and confidant and is filled with practical tips that will help you to create personalised self-care solutions and boost your mental resources when you need them most.'
Debby Elley
Author, co-founder of AuKids Magazine and mother of twin Autistic sons
' If you parent or care for a deeply feeling child, then this is your next right thing. It supported me to think, do life and rest in a way that's helped us all.'
Lucy Gillett
Children's Occupational Therapist (BSc and MSc), Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and parent of a deeply feeling child
'An exceptionally well written, moving and informed read where the personal anecdotes were incredibly sensitively written and honest. Short chapters with opportunities for reflection, practical steps and useful resources. Ideal for a busy parent.'
Crispin Taylor
Retired Head of CAMHS
' Lou Fearn is the wise, perfectly imperfectly Mum every neurodivergent child wishes their parent could have a cup of tea and a quick chat with - and now they can!'
Emma Marlin
Psychotherapist (MBACP Accredited)
Book Trailer
About Me
I'm a mum of two neurodiverse children, a writer, a balancer, a meditation teacher, a reflexology enthusiast and a pine-cone gatherer.
Currently i'm working on creating beautiful meditations to accompany Wide Open Spaces. Meditations without the woowoo voice. Meditations that land in your body. You can check these out at on the free Insight Timer app.
Neurodiversity is amazing.
It’s essential to human evolution.
After all, it was neurodiversity that led to creating fire, farming, building dwellings, forging metal and discovering penicillin.
And today, without those people who don’t buy in to societal norms (waste energy on following the rules of culture and pleasing others) I’m sure civilisation would be stagnant because they are our creative freethinkers.
They’re our changemakers, activists, inventors and philosophers, our artists, musicians, healers, scientists and engineers.
But living within a neurodiverse family is …also challenging.
For everyone.
If you're a parent (neurodiverse or neurotypical) and you feel like you are burnt out, drowning in all that you have to do and have to hold together, you're not alone.
I believe that if I can grow my sense of self and knowledge of what brings me to life, what fuels and energises me and also have the tools to meet my own needs and stay centred and regulated amidst the chaos then everything else is immediately more manageable. I'm creating my own map out of overwhelm and into a new, peaceful and fulfilling approach to life.
