Posts

PSI and Black Lives Matter

This is a pivotal moment for our country and for the cause of perinatal mental health. I have been working hard to find the words to authentically address the emotions that we are all feeling while focusing our concern for black and brown women,…

What Pediatricians Need To Know About Postpartum Depression

Postpartum depression is the most common and serious postpartum condition, affecting 10% to 20% of mothers within the first year of childbirth.  Studies have found that up to 50% of women with PPD go undiagnosed. (Earls, MF and the Committee…

EMDR Therapy

EMDR & Perinatal Mental Health Written by Shannon Kane, MSW, RSW “Trauma is perhaps the most avoided, ignored, belittled, denied, misunderstood, and untreated cause of human suffering.” -Peter LevineEye Movement Desensitization…

Cleft Lip Baby

Cleft Lip Baby by Mary Kemling These days my brain is often fried, overstimulated, sometimes underwhelmed, overworked, and unsupported for the tasks I ask it to do every day. But I think they have keyed the term #thisismotherhood for that.…

Featured PSI Member: Dr. Kendra Flores-Carter

Dr. Kendra Flores-Carter is a maternal child and pediatric clinical social worker for university-affiliated teaching hospital Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) in Colton, California. Currently teaching at California State University San…
mom and baby

Maternal Mental Health Month, Week, and Day!

World Maternal Mental Health Day Wednesday, May 2, 2018 International Maternal Mental Health Week Monday April 30 – Sunday May 6Helping Mothers, Fathers, and Babies! In many countries, as many as 1 in 5 new mothers experience some…

Freeing Myself

Freeing Myself from My Negative Perceptions in the Postpartum By MJ Golias for the PSI Blog April 6, 2018I don’t “just let go” of anything; I analyze, then analyze some more. Many, including my husband, say that the “why” doesn’t…

Climb 2018

Join Us! Climb Out of the Darkness 2018 The Climb Out of the Darkness 2018 is beginning! This is the sixth year that survivors will share their personal experiences with perinatal mental illness. Some of us have been sharing our stories for…

A Therapist’s Tool We Can All Use

A Therapist’s Tool We Can All Use by Lisa Edwards for the PSI Blog February 27, 2018My children wake up early. Very early. The only time we ever use an alarm clock is if we are traveling and have to get up for a flight. Needless to…

Undertrained and Far Too Common: An Alarming Reality

by April Gabriel-Ferretti, MS, MFT For the Postpartum Support International Blog February 20, 2018By now you’ve likely heard the story of Jessica Porten, a new mom from Sacramento, California who was devastated to learn that, after sharing…

Post-School Shooting Self-Care–How to Cope with Spiking Parental Anxiety

by Suma Karandikar for PSI Blog February 16, 2018 From the day you bring children into the world, you would probably agree that one of your greatest responsibilities is to keep them out of harm's way.Almost instinctively, you make sure…

A Letter to the OCD Momma

A Letter to the OCD Momma By Chelsea Elker for the PSI Blog February 8, 2018To the mom who suffers OCD in silence: I see you. To the mom who spends all of her "me" time crying into her pillow: I get it. To the mom whose eyes dart…

We Need to Talk About Postpartum Bipolar Disorder

by Dyane Harwood for the PSI Blog January 30 2018This blog originally appeared in Self Magazine on July 25, 2017.My manic symptoms were mistaken for a mother's joy—I needed help.Within 24 hours of giving birth to my daughter…

A Therapist’s Story (Part IV): How I Turned My Pain into my Counseling Practice

A Therapist’s Story (Part IV): How I Turned My Pain into my Counseling Practice by Thai-An Truong for the PSI Blog January 16, 2018 In my last blog, I talked about the steps I took that brought me out of the darkness and towards recovery.…

Anxiety: My Manifestation

Anxiety: My Manifestation By M. J. Golias January 5, 2018 For Postpartum Support International Blog “I’m afraid. What if the power goes out and the A/C stops working?” I said to the older woman in the hair salon as I patted my freshly…