Women’s Emotional & Reproductive Health
Gotta face it!!! It's HARD being a woman! We are faced with a myriad of challenges to be independent, yet vulnerable; hard-working, yet devoted to the family; pillars of the community, while highlighting self-care! IT'S. A. LOT!
However, as women, we also can create opportunities to explore our thoughts/minds and develop that immense capacity to move through all of our different spaces well. We can also get in touch with what it means to have many demands, while seeking healing, hope and health - both emotional and physical.
Another area of Women's Mental Health is Perinatal Mental Health.
So, what the heck is that? It defines the health of those women who are planning to, attempting to conceive, currently pregnant, or are have recently delivered - Women's health across the entire spectrum of family development.
Identifying and treating emotional distress during this period is critical to creating that healthy home environment for all members of the family.
What is infertility?
According to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, Infertility is defined as the following:
The inability to achieve a successful pregnancy based on a patient’s medical, sexual, and reproductive history, age, physical findings, diagnostic testing, or any combination of those factors.
The need for medical intervention, including, but not limited to, the use of donor gametes or donor embryos in order to achieve a successful pregnancy either as an individual or with a partner.
In patients having regular, unprotected intercourse and without any known etiology for either partner suggestive of impaired reproductive ability, evaluation should be initiated at 12 months when the female partner is under 35 years of age and at 6 months when the female partner is 35 years of age or older.
Infertility or difficulties conceiving often add strain to the family relationship - either between partners or in other interpersonal relationships. Getting support to understand the losses, expectations, and emotional pains forges a bridge towards health within the woman and within those relationships.
Furthermore, the loss of a pregnancy or child during the perinatal period can be painful, owerwhelming and/or traumatic to the mother and family. I focus on working through grief and developing coping if such a loss occurs. In order to enhance the experience of connection and support, I received specialized training through Postpartum Support International .
In the post-pregnancy period, the introduction of a new baby to the home changes the whole family's dynamic. Mothers, their partners, and other children relate to this new addition in different ways. I help families during this adjustment period. I also work with families when the “baby blues” are just the “baby blues” and when they sometimes become more.