June Newsletter 1 – Full Articles

Meet PSI’s 5,000th member: Carrie Bohmer, MS, PLMHP, Doctoral Candidate, Counseling Psychology
Conference Breakout Session with Dorienna Alfred
Generous Donations Lead to Expanded Resources in Africa 

Meet PSI’s 5,000th member: Carrie Bohmer, MS, PLMHP, Doctoral Candidate, Counseling Psychology

We are excited to have reached a new milestone in membership at 5,000 members! To celebrate, we asked our 5,000th member a bit about herself:
What sparked your interest in parental mental health? Is there anything you’d like to share about your path? Since I can remember understanding what pregnancy is, I have always been fascinated by the process. Throughout college, I wondered if being a Nurse Midwife/Doula could be a good option for me, but with my interest in psychology, I decided against it. I then became really interested in sexual pleasure for women, and my interest in pregnancy went to the back burner for a few years. Now, as I am nearing the end of graduate school, I have returned to this interest with renewed vigor and with clinical and research experience that I think will enhance my work in this field. I think the thing I would like to share about my path (and paths in general) is that there is no such thing as a linear trajectory, and as humans, we are always changing and evolving. My joining this organization is a testament to that and I hope that my story shows it is okay to explore and meander in your journey, and ultimately, you will get to the place you are supposed to be.
Tell us about your school/career. Currently, I am a doctoral candidate in Counseling Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I completed my master’s in counseling psychology at the University of Kentucky in 2021 before moving on to my PhD, and while there, I worked with Dr. Candice Hargons and primarily focused on female masturbation and pleasure in my own research. In her research lab, I also gained experience doing sex-positive research regarding Black folks and liberation-focused research on healing racial trauma. As I have progressed through my training, I have shifted my research interests to focus on the experiences of sexual pleasure that cisgender other-gender-attracted women have in conjunction with their reproductive agency, using a reproductive justice framework. I have about three years of clinical experience working with individuals and groups, and my clinical work is by-far my favorite part of graduate school. Ultimately, I hope to be an AASECT-certified sex and relationship therapist, and I believe gaining expertise in reproductive psychology dovetails well with my research and clinical experiences, which led me to join PSI! My upcoming clinical practicum site will be at a residential treatment center for women with substance use disorders, and I hope to implement a sexual and reproductive health therapy group and/or a perinatal/postpartum group for those who are or were recently pregnant at the site!
What PSI member benefits do you think you’ll use the most? I look most forward to the educational and networking benefits of PSI. As a psychology student, there is so much that I don’t know about the physiological and hormonal pieces of reproduction and how those show up psychologically. Getting to gain some of this knowledge and make connections with experts in this field is what I am eager to experience as a member of PSI! I also am so excited to know the conference is within driving distance of me, and I can’t wait to go and learn from everyone’s expertise there!
Anything else that you’d like to share with the PSI community? I think for me, it is intimidating as a student and as someone in psychology to take the risk to learn new things, but it has been comforting to find such an interdisciplinary organization to learn from. For those who are professionals working in the field, just know how meaningful it is for students to get to learn from you and gain your mentorship! Also, I love collaborating with others, so if anyone has similar interests or helpful information to send to me based on these answers, I would love to connect! PSI members can find my email in the PSI Care Providers forum group directory.

Conference Breakout Session with Dorienna Alfred

Join my session, Trauma and Suicidality During the Perinatal Period, at the 2023 Postpartum Support International Annual Conference! We will examine the impact of adverse childhood experiences, interpersonal violence, racial trauma, birth trauma, and related experiences on the risk for suicidality in those who are pregnant and postpartum and highlight the need for universal screening and culturally relevant interventions.

Dorienna M. Alfred, Ph.D., PMH-C is a licensed psychologist in the state of Ohio and certified perinatal mental health therapist. She is the owner of Works of Faith Wellness and Consultation, LLC, a private practice centered on perinatal mental health services. Dr. Alfred is also the author of the book Pregnant with Promise: A Spiritual Journey of Pregnancy, Bed Rest and Childbirth, a memoir of her journey with loss and pregnancy complications. She has served as a guest blogger for Pregnancy After Loss Support and is a new board member with Return to Zero H.O.P.E., an organization that provides to support for families who have experienced perinatal or infant loss. She has also been a guest on the Sisters in Loss and the Mom and Mind podcasts. Most recently, in partnership with the Perinatal Outreach and Encouragement for Moms and Birthing People (POEM) Program of Mental Health American of Ohio, Dr. Alfred served as a co-facilitator for several monthly workshops on perinatal mental health screenings. Dr. Alfred is certified as a birth and bereavement doula and has co-authored various publications and refereed workshops on topics related to perinatal mental health, women’s health, racial identity, social justice, and cultural competence. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and sons, reading novels, scrapbooking, and Zumba. Social Media: IG@doriennamalfred and FB@worksoffaithwellness | Website

Generous Donations Lead to Expanded Resources in Africa

Kay Muringi is a PSI coordinator in South Africa, and with funding from generous PSI donors, Kay was able to update their website and have a greater reach.
“The website with the screening tool is up and running well, and it has given me a far wider reach. I am able to set up calls and sometimes video calls with moms regularly. I decided to continue with the EPDS online because of the length. However when people fill in the form I am then able to engage and ask other questions, making use of other tools as well,” says Kay.
Here is an excerpt from her proposal:
“95% of the recorded total of teenage pregnancies in the world are carried by girls in low to medium income countries, including South Africa. Teenagers have a notably higher risk than adult women of experiencing physical life threatening and life altering birth complications. Fortunately, this is something many hospitals in South Africa, consider during antenatal check-ups, however the psycho-social well-being of this vulnerable group is rarely catered for despite PMADs being number one on the list of birth related complications. Instead teenagers are stigmatized and shamed when they fall pregnant, making it almost impossible for their mental well-being to be considered.
During the first quarter of 2021, in South Africa, 36 262 pregnancies were recorded for girls within the ages of 10 -19. Of this number 1053 were within the 10-14 age bracket. This proposal is set for Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape, a province in South Africa with the second highest rate of teenage pregnancies recorded, accounting for 17% of the total teenage pregnancies, in South Africa. The structure of the program will however be able to reach girls from around South Africa.”