Monthly Archives: October 2015

#PPDChat: #EndPPDMyths with @HerStoriesTales

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It’s almost here, y’all. Almost!

It has been killing me to keep this under wraps. Hold on to your hats because there’s a lot of info coming your way:

  • #PPDChat Announcement
  • Book Review
  • #EndPPDMyth Campaign
  • CONTEST (Yes, a CONTEST!)

Are you ready? Here we goooooo…..

 

PPDChat Mothering Darkness#PPDChat:

On Monday night, #PPDChat will be chatting with the fabulous Dr. Jessica Smock from @HerStoriesTales about the upcoming anthology, Mothering Through the Dark. Oh, and some of the contributors might just pop in. So you know you want to be there. Because this chat? This chat is going to be AHMAZING.

I use Twubs to keep up with chat. It makes things SO easy because it automatically adds the hashtag for you. Join our community! All you need is a Twitter account (and Internet)!

I’M SO EXCITEDfor Monday and hope to see you on Twitter at 9pm ET!!!!

MOTHERINGTHRUDARKAbout the Book

Mothering Through the Dark is a vivid and powerful anthology of essays from 35 amazing women writers who openly share their experiences as they navigated the world that is found in the dark valley of Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders. In the book, not only will you find hope and truth, but you will find candid and bold honesty. Each essay portrays the reality that is motherhood for so many who fight against the vortex of Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders. It is a book you need to have. It is a book that will make a difference in how women are heard and understood. I love that so many voices I know as well as new voices to me are in this book. I also love that so many more voices are bravely speaking up about these experiences. We will push stigma into a corner, together. I will caution, however, that if you are fragile or easily triggered, it may not be for you. Even though I am nearly a decade away from my last PMAD episode, I found myself immediately sucked back into several emotions because of the transparent and honest writing within the pages of this anthology.

In fact, there was one specific piece that hit me really hard, early in the book. It was during “A Different Shade of the Baby Blues” by Jill Robbins. On page 54, she writes about her reflection in the mirror:

“She had my hooked nose I’ve always hated and she was wearing my favorite purple sweater. But she didn’t look like me.

“She has no joy,” was the thought that rolled through my foggy mind as I studied my reflection.”

I’ve been there, after the birth of my second daughter. To look at yourself in the mirror and not recognize the reflection? Scary. Truly difficult to capture but Jill did it so well here that I immediately saw the reflection in the mirror from the first time I didn’t recognize myself (yes, it happened more than once). But in recalling this, I didn’t find a trigger, I found hope, grace, and a promise that even though I had been there, I knew my way out because here we are. And this is what is so powerful about this book. The moments it captures, albeit dark ones, reflect to us how far we have come since experiencing them. The power therein is priceless.

If you want to help promote the release of the book, you can also join the Thunderclap HerStories has set up. Go here!

Shatter the MythsAbout the #EndPPDMyths Campaign

We’ll be chatting with Jessica not only about pulling the anthology together, but also about the social media campaign they’re running next week to mark the release date of the book (which is Tuesday, November 3). According to their press release:

“The HerStories Project, a writing and publishing community for women, is organizing a week-long social media campaign during the first week of November called “Shatter The Myths.” The goal of the campaign is to end the widespread misconceptions about maternal mental health disorders that prevent mothers from speaking up about their struggles and getting help.”

How can you participate in their campaign?

Follow the hashtag. Share a photo of yourself with a quote that shatters a myth about Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders or empowers fellow fighters, being sure to post it with #EndPPDMyths.

contestCONTEST

One last thing – even though the book releases next Tuesday, you will have a chance to win it during chat on Monday night! That’s right! One lucky participant will win a copy of Mothering Through the Dark. No pre-registration required. All you need to do is attend the chat (and of course, not be included in the anthology). Winner will be announced on Twitter shortly after chat and Random.org will be used to select the winner. If you don’t want to wait, you can pre-order the book here. Did I mention that ten percent of proceeds from this book go to support Postpartum Progress, a non-profit that is making a LOT of waves and progress right now? It’s a win win!

Tessera Chat Guest Announcement

#PPDChat 10.26.15: Talking with @addyeB

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Tessera Chat Guest Announcement

I’ve known A’Driane for quite some time and am proud to count her among my friends. We’ve managed to meet in person – once – in the midst of her recent moves away from the east coast.

A’Driane is unafraid to tell it like it is and I love her for that. She and I have similar experiences yet they are also separated by different challenges. A’Driane has created this wonderful space specifically for women of color to come together and honestly share their challenges with mental health issues within their lives.

Why is this so important? Because women of color are consistently at a higher risk to experience depression and various other mental health disorders according to the APA. And yet, research is difficult to find or it is often skewed toward Caucasian women and those who have the means to access care.

Another reason Tessera Chat is so important is because it is often frowned upon to admit to any sort of mental health issue lest you dare defy the “strong black woman” persona found within the African American community specifically. (For a REALLY great personal essay which expounds upon this, go read “What It’s Like Having PPD As A Black Woman” by Tyrese Coleman at Buzzfeed.)

This coming Monday, we’re going to chat with A’Driane about the Tessera Collective and chat. We’ll be discussing how it got started, what it means to her, how it’s grown, and where she sees it going.

I truly hope you will join us for what I am sure will be a very powerful and insightful chat.

#PPDChat 10.19.15: Word Play

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ppdchat-10-19-15

Words. They are powerful. They allow us to communicate everything from the mundane to the grandiose. Sometimes, though, words are seemingly too little for situations; not enough for experiences which defy description in any language.

But words have been a form of communication for eons.

Tonight, we’re going to play with words as if we’re toddlers playing with a brand new package of blocks.

Tonight’s chat will be all about what words and phrases inspire us; about the words which keep us going when everything else has us wanting to crawl back into the dark hole from whence we came.

I hope you’ll join us for this playful and spirited chat. See you on Twitter tonight at 9pm ET!

#PPDChat 10.12.15: Gut Check with @PhilStrandwitz

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Gut Check AnnouncementHey, y’all!

First, phew! It’s Friday! Another week down. I don’t know how your week went but mine was a chaotic whirlwind from the start. It’s been nice to finally have some relaxation, even if it has been for just a little bit here and there.

I know you’re used to me announcing #PPDChat stuff on Mondays but this coming Monday, we’re going to have a guest, Phil Strandwitz. Phil emailed me the last week of September with an interesting project he’s got going on.

Phil is currently crowdfunding the research he’s working on. And no, this chat isn’t to demand that you donate (although I know Phil would appreciate if you did so), it’s to discuss the research he’ll be doing.

You see, Phil’s project (which you can read more about here) explores the connection between the microbes in our gut with our mental health. It’s a relatively new field but one which is garnering a lot of interest and has already uncovered quite a bit.

According to Phil’s email:

“…we are generally searching for connections between the gut microbiome and psychology. Two of our major focuses are on depression anxiety. If we find there is a link between out gut microbes and these conditions, it would enable us to potentially develop novel microbiome-based therapeutics. This is incredibly important, as depression affects 1:5 people in the U.S., and anxiety 1:10. Incredibly, a substantial portion of people being treated with front-line drugs do not respond to treatment — suggesting we need to understand these diseases and develop new treatments.”

I have been reading some journal articles that Phil sent me and have to say that I’m absolutely fascinated by what I’ve read so far.

I truly hope you will be able to join us on Monday night at 9pm ET to discuss this topic – dig a little deeper with us into the connection between our brains and our guts!

See you there!

You can read the chat here:

#PPDChat 10.05.15: Say NO to Stigma

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Having the Conversation SquareToday’s #PPDChat announcement is a slight departure from the norm as we are not using our standard announcement graphic. Today is National Day Without Stigma, according to Active Minds. You can read more about their movement here.

It’s also the 25th anniversary of National Mental Health Awareness week this week.

With both of these in mind, #PPDChat is following suit and will be chatting about signs and symptoms of all that is on the Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorder spectrum this evening at 9pm ET.

We encourage you to join us. Not only on Twitter, but perhaps by downloading some of the tools Active Minds has made available. By calling and checking in on a new mother. By standing with those that you love. By refusing to let stigma keep us silent any longer.

I’ll see you on Twitter at 9pm tonight.