Navigating motherhood is a profound journey that can bring unexpected mental and emotional challenges. In the whirlwind of caring for a newborn, it is easy to let your own needs fall to the bottom of the list. However, you cannot pour from an empty cup, and self-care is essential for yourself and your family. Advocating for your mental health postpartum empowers you to navigate this new chapter in your life.

Everybody knows the holidays aren’t really about all the errands, all the stuff, or all the money spent. And yet, we find ourselves in this spot every year, battling holiday burnout with the connection we really crave.

When our lives feel overloaded, it can seem like we don’t have much room to be flexible. We can feel like we don’t have much choice.

It’s almost instinctive for parents--mothers especially--to put their children first.  

For some of us, something happens after we cross the threshold into motherhood.  

Becoming a new mom is one of the happiest times in a woman’s lives. The love and joy that comes from simply watching your baby is unlike any other experience, filling you with love, satisfaction and contentment.  

But what happens with those emotions are juxtaposed with feelings of worry, anxiety, and even sadness? The love and joy are welcomed, but the others are not, and the combination of feelings can be overwhelming.

Motherhood is a rite of passage. It’s a kind of life (and a kind of love) that you can only truly understand if you’re also a mom yourself. So, what about our friends that haven’t birthed babies or otherwise become parents to little humans?

A recent Facebook post went viral about a mother who was seeking help for Postpartum Depression, but instead of her being able to get the help she was seeking, it resulted in the cops being called, the mother feeling “more broken”, and with still no services in place to help her. This is not OK.

When you’re a mom, the unsolicited advice and passing criticisms from others can come out of nowhere sometimes.

Because the holidays tend to bring about more family gatherings and social events, this can set us up for a lot of opportunities to be on the receiving end of those comments.

Up to 20% of pregnant and new moms will experience some form of anxiety or mood disorder.

The recent coverage of celebrity mothers, like Chrissy Teigen, discussing how they came to discover that the unsettling feelings they experienced after giving birth was called postpartum depression sheds light on an interesting dialogue we need to have with women: becoming a mother is not always going to be a beautifully exciting time in a mother’s life; and that’s okay. The idea that a mother should love her new baby - or even the more seemingly inclusive sentiment that every woman has the baby blues - perpetuates the myth that women are supposed to be emotionally ready to be a mother by the time the baby comes into the world.

Now, honestly, I mean that in the nicest way. Because if you’ve met me before you know that saying something direct and possibly hurtful is not my style. But I feel like if I don’t tell you, then I can’t continue to sit back and watch you be miserable and continue to let you commiserate.  

Of those five ways--aromatics, breath, nature, nervous system and energy work--the fastest way to invoke calm in the limbic part of our brain is by literally following our noses.

There is nothing quite like motherhood to make you feel like you’ve lost control or that you’ve met your limit, right? Often times, motherhood can feel joyful, meaningful, boring, stressful, exhausting….all in one day.  

In case you are in the dark about this, let me let you in on a little secret:  moms are busy people.

What is it like to feel like you don't belong? Or, to feel like everyone else makes friends so much easier than you do?

Let's face it:  We moms are all guilty of....well, feeling guilty. At least a little bit, at least once in a while. We all do it and we all know it's futile. It's time to let ourselves off the hook a little

Catherine O'Brien, LMFT has once again been featured in an article on PsychCentral.com, this time discussing specifically how social media influences self-confidence, mental health, and choice as mothers. 

As Maternal Mental Health Awareness month ends we are reminded of the toll pregnancy and childbirth can take on a woman and her family.