Before Emily became a mother herself, there was no way to truly understand, or even begin to imagine the unparalleled time in a womxn’s* life leading up to, and following her pregnancy.  There is a remarkable juxtaposition of this time being marked by both an overwhelming sense of strength and awe over bringing (and birthing) another person into this world; and also of delicate vulnerability, especially in part due to significant gaps in perinatal mental health services provided (or even offered) to womxn during the perinatal period.

*Not all people who experience pregnancy and birthing identify as “woman” or “mother” and may hold gender diverse identities.

“Pregnancy is no ordinary time in the life of a woman*.  At no other point in her life will so much about her change in such a brief period, or will the nature and quality of her adaptations have such far-reaching implications for her own and her child’s physical and psychological health.  On the one hand, this time of enormous transition, transformation, and reorganization is one of hope and possibility and on the other, it is a time of crisis and potential disorganization.”  (Slate, Cohen, Sadler and Miller, 2009).  

Womxn need support during this phase of their lives.  But almost more importantly, they need to know that it’s OK to ask for, seek, and receive support during this transformational time in their lives.  We were never meant to do any of this on our own.  Emily is very open with her clients about her experience of postpartum depression and anxiety, pregnancy loss, and the trauma that ensued there-in.  Drawing upon this experience, Emily offers both personal experiential context and professional clinical knowledge.

No two womxn’s experiences are the same – leading up to pregnancy, during pregnancy, during the birthing experience, or following pregnancy – but core commonalities exist.  When you become a mother*, there is a significant shift that takes place as you are called to predict, interpret and anticipate another person’s needs in a way that you never had to before.  And often, as the growing demands of your newborn baby increase or intensify, it becomes so much harder to recognize, acknowledge, and respond to our own needs.

But with support, these lost parts of ourselves can be strengthened, reinforced and built back up – undoubtedly in new and unique ways.  Support that is both “inter-personal” (relationships with others) – as well as “intra-personal” (relationship with yourself).  Emily considers it an honor to support womxn and all birthing people during this transformational time.

To note: Though Emily does not specialize in infertility, she is acutely aware of this particularly challenging time many women face.  Offering support to women during pregnancy loss(es) is also available to clients, in helping to process this emotional and physical trauma.  In both of these cases, it is important to note that Emily is herself a mother, and would be transparent about this with her clients.

Resources:

• Johnson, L., Lapolice, E., &  Nguyen-Feng, V., L (2023). A Perspective on Fostering Transgenerational Resilience: Interrupting cycles of trauma during pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Visions Journal, 18(2), pp.26-28

• Resilient Birth is a phenomenal organization that provides trauma-sensitive support to womxn during the perinatal time, including remote trauma-sensitive child-birth education classes and personalized support.