Beyond Balance – Creating Emotional Wealth for High-Flying Families
- Brainz Magazine
- Aug 20
- 4 min read
Written by Lisa Skeffington, Psychotherapist
Lisa Skeffington is a psychotherapist and thought leader shaping the future of mental health. She is the founder of the Empowered Momentum Community and hosts coastal escapes empowering high-functioning mid-life women to authentically remove the mask they wear in their outwardly successful life; author of the book From Anxious to Empowered.
Work-life balance. It’s a phrase so often repeated that it has almost lost its meaning. For senior leaders, balance can feel like a fantasy one more demand on an already impossible list. Meetings stretch late into the night, the phone rarely stops, and even holidays can be interrupted by work emergencies. On paper, everything looks successful. The financial rewards are there. The status is secure. Yet at home, something far more precious can quietly slip away: emotional connection with those who matter most.
Psychotherapist and mentor Lisa Skeffington knows the pain this creates behind closed doors. Families outwardly living the “dream life” may feel hollow inside. Teenagers withdraw, anxious and unheard. Partners become resentful or resigned, feeling they no longer have a place of priority. Conversations at the kitchen table turn transactional, who’s driving the children, who’s paying the bill, instead of relational. “When emotional safety is missing, families lose their heartbeat,” Lisa explains.
The myth of balance
For leaders, balance is often seen as dividing time evenly between office and home. But this narrow view places impossible pressure on everyone. Time alone does not equal connection. Lisa explains how families don’t crave perfectly scheduled hours. They crave presence. “Children and partners don’t remember how many hours you worked,” she says. “They remember how you made them feel when you were with them.”
When leaders chase balance as a goal, guilt often follows: guilt for missing a family event, for snapping under stress, or for not being fully present. But guilt rarely heals relationships. In fact, it can drive more withdrawal, creating greater distance at home.
What emotional wealth really means
Lisa reframes the conversation. Instead of striving for balance, she invites leaders to invest in emotional wealth. This is the invisible foundation of a strong family, one built on trust, safety, respect, and connection. Emotional wealth looks like:
Teenagers who feel safe enough to share their struggles without fear of dismissal.
Partners who feel valued as equals, not sidelined by work demands.
A home atmosphere that feels steady, calm, and welcoming, no matter what the outside world brings.
When families experience emotional wealth, they are better able to weather the storms of modern life together.
The patterns that hold families back
Lisa’s psychodynamic approach reveals why even the most well-intentioned leaders struggle to create this wealth. Many grew up in households where achievement was celebrated more than emotional expression. As adults, they replicate what they know, providing materially while unknowingly neglecting emotional needs.
Teenagers in particular feel the impact. They sense the mismatch between words and actions. A parent insists, “I’m fine,” while showing clear signs of stress. This unspoken mismatch often feeds their own anxiety. Naming and addressing these patterns is the first step to building a healthier family dynamic.
Simple shifts that change everything
Lisa encourages leaders to start with small but intentional changes:
Be fully present, even briefly. Ten undistracted minutes of eye contact and listening can outweigh hours spent distracted in the same room.
Create micro-rituals. A shared walk after dinner, a morning check-in, or a weekly “family moment” becomes a thread of stability.
Model vulnerability. Showing that it’s okay to struggle sometimes teaches children that it’s safe to be imperfect.
Celebrate kindness, not just achievement. Families thrive when effort, empathy, and resilience are noticed.
Protect safe zones. Whether it’s dinnertime or Sunday morning, agree as a family that these are times free from conflict or criticism.
Stepping away to heal together
For families already caught in cycles of strain, stepping outside the daily grind can be transformative. Lisa hosts intimate coastal escapes designed to help families slow down, breathe, and rebuild connection against the soothing backdrop of the sea. Away from devices and deadlines, parents and children alike rediscover how to communicate, listen, and simply be with one another.
Lisa also extends her guidance through her books. Anxious to Empowered speaks directly to women ready to break free from anxiety and rebuild self-worth, while Anxiety We Need to Break Up offers teenagers practical strategies to navigate stress and overwhelm. Together, they provide tools that support long-lasting change for the whole family.
A different kind of legacy
High-flying families may never achieve perfect balance, but they can create something much more enduring: a home filled with trust, kindness, and safety. Emotional wealth outlasts promotions, accolades, and even financial success. It is the legacy children carry forward into their own relationships and lives.
As Lisa summarises, “True leadership isn’t only about what you achieve out there. It’s about the safety, love, and connection you nurture at home. That’s what lasts.”
If your family dynamic could do with a reset, Lisa’s coastal escapes might be just what you’ve been looking for. Start the application by clicking here.
Read more from Lisa Skeffington
Lisa Skeffington, Psychotherapist
Lisa Skeffington, Psychotherapist of the Year 2024/25 & 26, is the leading light for wounded women worldwide. Her own personal story, from trauma to triumph, led her to dedicate her support to mid-life women and their families to heal their emotional wounds so that they feel enough as they are, break free from anxiety, and communicate confidently in healthy relationships. Over her 25 years in mental health, she has developed a unique psychological approach with a seamless blend of psychological therapies, which she calls psychodynamic mentoring. Based on the UK Dorset coast, Lisa runs exclusive coastal escapes and one-day events helping women to remove the mask and thrive in their lives today, without excuse or apology.
