I am so excited about this upcoming chat with Dr. Walker Karraa. She is quite the force to be reckoned with in the Perinatal Advocacy world. If I had to pick one word to describe her, I would probably use “firecracker.”

I met Walker in 2010 (yes, yes, there’s a repetition to that this week, I know!) at the PSI Conference in Pittsburgh. We hit it off quite well. One of the things I love about meeting other advocates is how fearless we all are in discussing the nitty gritty about the Mood Disorders we fight to help others with every day. Why are we so fearless? Because we have been there and it is something we live and breathe. Telling our stories is how we live our lives now because we know that every time we tell it, one more person may be reached.

Another thing we have realized is the transformational power of Perinatal Mood Disorders. It changes you. I am grateful for my experience because it allowed me to grow in ways I may not have grown were it not for my fall from grace. In falling to the depths of hell, I managed to touch the very height of heaven on my way back up.

Dr. Karraa has been researching this general idea for over a year now and I am thrilled she’s joining us on Monday to discuss this with our community. I sincerely hope you will stop by and share your story with us – how your journey through a Perinatal Mood Disorder transformed your life. By the way, it doesn’t have to be for the better, everyone has a different story and there is VALUE in every single one, happy ending or not.

Bio: Walker Karraa, PhD is a perinatal mental health researcher, advocate and writer. She is currently regular perinatal mental health contributor for Lamaze International’s Science and Sensibility, Giving Birth With Confidence, and the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) Midwives Connection.

Walker has interviewed leading researchers, clinicians, and advocates such as Katherine Wisner, Cheryl Beck, Michael C. Lu, Karen Kleiman, Pec Indman, Liz Friedman, and Katherine Stone. Walker was a certified birth doula (DONA), and the founding President of PATTCh, an organization founded by Penny Simkin dedicated to the prevention and treatment of traumatic childbirth.

Walker is currently the Program Co-Chair for the American Psychological Association (APA) Trauma Psychology Division 56. She is writing a book regarding her grounded theory study on the transformational dimensions of postpartum depression. Walker is an 11 year breast cancer survivor, and lives in Sherman Oaks, CA with her two children and husband.