Pioneer in Brain-Based Connection: Conscious Connected Parenting
As a mother of three young children under eight years, the pandemic brought Dr Gauri Seth’s routine life to a complete halt. Armed with her decade long medical experience, Dr Gauri utilised the time to delve deep into the intricacies of the parent-child relationship to come up with her venture – Brain-Based Connection®, which empowers parents to implement connected conscious parenting using empirical and science backed insights.
Gauri says the concept of Brain-Based Connection has been within her for as long as she can remember. “The parent-child connection has always intrigued me – for its life-long impact on how we view ourselves and the world around us. The business itself was born after the pandemic impacted my ability to work in clinical psychiatry, due to commitments to my own children. Being a mother, I found myself leaning on many of the scientific principles from psychiatry, and decided to package my knowledge and expertise to support other parents and families with emotional connection,” she says.
She goes on to add that her Indian heritage also played a part: “I’m grateful to my parents and proud of my Indian culture, where warm and emotionally sensitive parenting can be the norm.” Born in the UK to Indian parents, Gauri grew up with her two brothers. Her father worked as a consultant psychiatrist and together with his wife, was the kids’ main emotional rock and support. There were very few people of colour in mid Wales and Shropshire where Gauri went to school. And thus it was a proud moment for the family when she was elected head girl of her school aged 17.
Gauri followed in her father’s footsteps and pursued clinical psychiatry. Having worked as a clinical doctor in adult mental health, as well as in medical psychotherapy, she saw first-hand the impact our early relational dynamics can have on our thinking style, emotions, and behaviour. The messages we receive in early years form the compass for life-long patterns in relationships with ourselves and others. The quality of our relationships in turn impact our work, health, and quality of life as a whole. An early intervention, which is easy to deliver, can have exponential impact for a growing child to become the adult they want.
For Gauri, the pandemic illuminated an existing issue: the struggle so many families have with connection, trying to balance work with childrearing. “The pandemic gave me an opportunity to share my vision at a time when people were more likely to hear it, due to the unprecedented pressure and changes of remote working and home-schooling,” she says.
As an executive parent and family wellness expert, Gauri helps parents enhance family wellbeing for sustainable emotional wellbeing in children. She explains: “Consciously connected parenting promotes a parent-child dynamic where children feel heard, understood, and are better able to express their feelings and needs. Connected parenting is the bedrock to foster lifelong resilience and self-esteem, which are key for sustainable long-term mental wellbeing.”
An important aspect here is the parents’ own wellbeing. ‘Children around the world need support from their parents right now. And parents need support from their employers’ – read UNICEF’s Covid 19 statement. Gauri’s programme promotes employee happiness too. Happy colleagues are 13% more productive, empathic, and better placed to optimise their potential. Gauri believes that organisations who offer employees family wellness support, will positively support talent retention and diversity of thought by retaining working parents.
A reputed authority in her field, ask Gauri what she considers her biggest achievement, and she’s quick to say, “Finding the perfect person to share my life with, my husband, a consultant surgeon in the UK, and being blessed with three children.”
Gauri was awarded competitive clinical training posts funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) for her medical training. She has also presented award-winning and original research at national and international conferences, and her findings in online family therapy have been disseminated by the World Health Organisation.
Today, Gauri’s sole focus is towards making a transgenerational impact on how we see the parent-child connection for sustainable emotional wellbeing. “Mental wellness starts in the early years. Given that parenting is the hardest thing I have ever done, we must support parents as this has the potential to support future generations! I want the business to grow world-wide, as connection is universal and transcends cultural and social barriers,” sums up Gauri.
