The Perinatal Podcast

Y'ALL! She is here!  Dr. Jackie Schoemaker Holmes discusses the chaotic & twirly moments of parenting, educates me on why "selfish" does not exist, and let's us know it's time we fully dump the self-sacrificial BS that has for so long been motherhood.    In this week's episode, we get into the roles women facilitate in a capitalistic society, MILF culture, and always a favorite...

Jennifer Summerfledt, MA in Counselling Psychology, Certified Canadian Counsellor, Chief Empathy Officer of ASK Therapy for Moms, student of direct entry midwifery, and all-around perinatal mental health champion, joins me for a chat this week on Let's Discuss...  Jennifer educates the team on polyvagal therapy, the wandering nerve, visualization, the importance of completing the stress respo...

"Get yourself a snack and have a great day!"    On this week's Let's Discuss, Caitlin Murray of Big Time Adulting joins me to discuss why toddlers treat people like a**holes.    We talk about other stuff, of course! We discuss how hanger is a real emotion and how it presents in children and adults like; how Caitlin and I both, if we aren't eating, we are thinking about the next...

Chelsea Conaboy has delved deep into forbidden territory with MOTHER BRAIN. With unflinching examination of her experience of parenting and of what neuroscience, tradition, and others have to share, Conaboy describes the myriad profound changes that occur in men and women in raising a child. In this week's episode, Chelsea is kind enough to sit through my fan-girling as we discuss her text about t...

Did your Spotify 2022 Wrapped consist of the soundtracks from Trolls World Tour, Brave, and Turning Red? If so, you just may be a Default Caregiver.   In this week's episode, Tara Clark of  @modernmomprobs  and I dive into what it means to be to go-to parent, the one the kids seek most often to solve their problems and to be their 'Garbage Disposal,' the one who sacrifices their Spo...

She's the one y'all have been waiting to hear from talking about the thing that's stressing us all out - Laura Anne Browning joins me to round out the Surviving the Holidays chat this week!   A must-listen, hop on over for our discussion about juggling glass balls, quiet quitting, communication, boundaries, Olympic-level non sequitur efforts, being intentional (there's that word again!) about...

Our inaugural Let's Discuss... Classic!  Dr. Pierre's book is physically in my hands, and I had to mark that occasion by re-sharing our July 2022 discussion. Welcome back, so happy y'all are here! Please run out and grab this book from this very amazing human!   ____________   Join Dr. Erroll Pierre and me as we discuss the importance of being bad to grow into your expertise, how to...

Anticipatory anxiety hits a lot of us as we approach the holiday season. In this week's episode, I go through the first part of tips, activities, and boundary setting ideas that can help us as we prepare for human interaction and the general business the time of year brings about.   Also, my daughter was home sick from school the day I recorded this and woke up before I made my way through, s...

In this week's episode, Teela and I Spill the Tea on birth trauma, Mom Brain, and the dichotomy of feeling many things at once, including gratitude for your child but not your birth story.    Spoiler Alert - We once again discuss the glamorization of the House of Dragon forced birth scene, which leads to many thoughts, including how partners of traumatic birthers are often overlooked in...

Yep, we are going there! This is the episode I've been wanting to do for a while, so I was delighted when Krystle told me she'd happily spend an hour talking about the joys of trying to use that postpartum body again.    Krystle and I discuss the gatekeeping that occurs in perinatal time periods, and how she has recognized we seem to focus more on medical practice but not really on Healt...

I'm back from Cabo! This week, I'm reflecting on a common theme in trainings, with clients, and with friends who are parents, how do we give ourselves grace? How do we know where we can loosen our reigns just a little to help invite more space for parental sanity?   In a training with my mentor a few weeks ago, she quoted Nora Roberts as saying, "Some of the balls you have in the air are made...

This week's guest, financial therapist and social worker, Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, blows my mind a little when she reveals the average cost of raising a child in the US is now up to $300k. Goodness! Lindsay encourages us, we GOTTA talk about money. By discussing finances with our partners, we help to shake off the shame that often comes along with it and can help decrease the interpersonal conflicts...

Amanda Tice is a successful curve model who has worked the past twelve years for and with well-known retail clients such as Nordstrom, Target, Saks, and Hanes. Since becoming a mom, Amanda has built on her background in Comparative Human Development to lead a mom revolution aimed at helping mothers tap into their inner wisdom and uncover hidden truths about motherhood to thrive postpartum and beyo...

Dr. Mekel Harris joins me this week to discuss how we move through grief, reminds us there's no "wrong" and certainly no linear path, and how we can sit in discomfort of our loved ones' grief in meaningful ways. And importantly, some counterproductive pitfalls to avoid.   In this episode, we discuss how the medical model doesn't align with mental wellness goals, the stress of invisible or amb...

Dr. Lisa Vawter joins me this week to discuss how to safely return to movement postpartum, being holistic in viewing food as medicine, and tangible ways to get started on a recovery journey.   We discuss how to be intentional about recognizing our daily, repetitive movements - from getting in and out of your desk chair to how you put on your clothes. We chat about Dr. Vawter's experience in o...

Emily and Morgan created KC Infant Feeding with one purpose in mind. Balance. Their paths first crossed in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) supporting babies who struggled with feeding. With their skill sets and knowledge they provided parents and caregivers with information and techniques to help dissipate feeding difficulties.    However, it wasn’t until they both experienced fe...

Jennifer Robertson is a fertility coach and has helped women all over the world transform their mindset and take back control of their life in the midst of infertility.    She is also author of The Injustice of Infertility, a deeply inspiring and raw account of her own seven-year fertility journey.  Throughout her own fertility journey, Jen discovered that her old ways of pushing an...

In this week's episode, it is my true pleasure to introduce Monique Farook of Infertility and Me chats with me about the importance of mental health in our fertility journeys. Monique tells me about her path to launching her podcast in order to be the voice she needed when she was going through her own journey and to provide a space for others to feel empowered to not suffer in silence.   We...

Happy Fall Semester to those of you learning or teaching or participating in the education process in any way! I am going to take just the tiniest little break to make sure I have my business in order to teach this lovely SW810 Clinical Practice I course over on the Lawrence campus of KU, but I will see you bright and early in September!   I won't type them here as I don't want to get read fo...

What gets us stuck? What holds us back from starting the process of making the changes we envision for ourselves?   In this week's episode, Special Guest, Alexa Shank, and I discuss finding your passion, working alongside a professional to help guide the movement toward something new, and overcoming fear to find your motivation for real, sustainable change.    We discuss the benefit...

What DON'T we talk about on this episode today, y'all? In true, you're my new best friend call me every 5 minutes, fashion, Shae and I get into a myriad of topics. From the systemic barriers that prevent people from joining our profession, to how consuming art can help lift us out of our survival mode woes, how tapping to sync electromagnetic energy of the heart and brain, and how we can work to d...

Criticism Defensiveness Contempt Stonewalling Gaslighting?  Contemptuous communication can lead to the demise of relationships, so much so that, in a study, John Gottman was able to predict partnerships likely to dissolve with 96% accuracy, just by observing the couple's communication styles. Whoa!    I have taught a pyschoeducation on this topic for years, and I realized Gaslightin...

Is anger a secondary emotion? Can you just be angry, or are you angry because you first felt something else?    In today's episode, I discuss recognizing warning signs, when anger can be healthy, healthy expressions of anger, and the importance of balancing when to Let It Go and when to be assertive.   Anger is a Secondary Emotion | Let's Discuss...   Thanks so much for joining...

Listener request! In today's episode, I go through what mindfulness means and how you can work to enact it more in your daily life, and I run through a script for progressive muscle relaxation at the end!    If you're driving in your car, maybe wait to do that until you get home! Also, please be sure to utilize progressive muscle relaxation to the extent of your abilities. No need to pus...

I was delighted to be a guest on Sharon Fekete's podcast, The Broken Road to Mental Health, recently, and Sharon and her team were kind enough to share the footage with me so I could share it with y'all!   Find Sharon!   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-broken-road-to-mental-health/id1548712186 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/feketesharon/ Website: https://t...