Mom and Mind

339: Perinatal Health Anxiety with Michelle Flynn, MA, MIACP


Listen Later

Health anxiety during pregnancy and the postpartum is a very real struggle for many people. My guest today joins us to share her experience and what she’s seeing from clients in her practice. You’ll learn how to notice perinatal health anxiety and what to do about it. Join us to learn more!

Michelle Flynn is a fully accredited perinatal psychotherapist and certified infant massage instructor based in Dublin, Ireland. She specializes in supporting parents at all stages of their parenting journey from conception through birth and postpartum. She works with a national organization providing psychotherapy to survivors of childhood sexual abuse and also teaches in a master’s program. Following her experience of perinatal anxiety and her struggle to access appropriate mental health support, Michelle turned her focus to perinatal mental health and set up her private practice, An Croi Beag Psychotherapy (“Little Heart” in Irish). Through her private psychotherapy practice and her infant massage groups, Michelle hopes to further support parents in perinatal distress, raise awareness about perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, and improve access to mental health services for birthing people. 

Show Highlights:

  • Michelle’s journey into perinatal mental health and her overwhelming anxiety during her difficult first pregnancy
  • Michelle’s experience with healthcare providers who dismissed her concerns and made her feel invalidated and unsafe
  • Even mental health professionals feel shame and stigma about asking for help!
  • Subsequent pregnancies brought Michelle two more babies for “three under three,” but those were different from her first pregnancy.
  • The conversations we need to have with young people about pregnancy, birth, and postpartum so we can normalize it and remove the shame and stigma
  • Understanding the mental health system in Ireland—and how things are beginning to improve
  • What Michelle sees in her patients and their experiences
  • The challenges in treating health anxiety
  • The narrative around motherhood—and why we don’t open up when things go wrong
  • Michelle’s advice about identifying health anxiety for yourself, and what to do next

  • Resources:

    Connect with Michelle Flynn: Website, Email, and Instagram

    Please find resources in English and Spanish at Postpartum Support International, or by phone/text at 1-800-944-4773. There are many free resources, like online support groups, peer mentors, a specialist provider directory, and perinatal mental health training for therapists, physicians, nurses, doulas, and anyone who wants to better support people for whom they provide services. 

    You can also follow PSI on social media: Instagram, Facebook, and most other platforms

    Visit www.postpartum.net/professionals/certificate-trainings/ for information on the grief course.  

    Visit my website, www.wellmindperinatal.com, for more information, resources, and courses you can take today!

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    Mom and MindBy Katayune Kaeni, Psy.D., PMH-C

    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8

    4.8

    208 ratings


    More shows like Mom and Mind

    View all
    ADHD Experts Podcast by ADDitude

    ADHD Experts Podcast

    1,327 Listeners

    The Birth Hour - A Birth Story Podcast by Bryn Huntpalmer

    The Birth Hour - A Birth Story Podcast

    2,176 Listeners

    Edit Your Life | Simplify + Declutter Your Home, Time, and Mental Space by Christine Koh

    Edit Your Life | Simplify + Declutter Your Home, Time, and Mental Space

    515 Listeners

    10% Happier with Dan Harris by 10% Happier

    10% Happier with Dan Harris

    12,722 Listeners

    Therapist Uncensored Podcast by Sue Marriott LCSW, CGP & Ann Kelley PhD

    Therapist Uncensored Podcast

    1,397 Listeners

    The Lazy Genius Podcast by Kendra, The Lazy Genius

    The Lazy Genius Podcast

    6,676 Listeners

    What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood | Parenting Tips From Funny Moms by Margaret Ables and Amy Wilson

    What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood | Parenting Tips From Funny Moms

    1,003 Listeners

    Evidence Based Birth® by Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN

    Evidence Based Birth®

    1,010 Listeners

    Light Up The Couch by Clearly Clinical

    Light Up The Couch

    337 Listeners

    Raising Good Humans by Dear Media, Aliza Pressman

    Raising Good Humans

    1,891 Listeners

    Momwell by Erica Djossa

    Momwell

    298 Listeners

    The Critical Care Obstetrics Podcast by Clinical Concepts in Obstetrics

    The Critical Care Obstetrics Podcast

    215 Listeners

    Good Inside with Dr. Becky by Dr. Becky Kennedy

    Good Inside with Dr. Becky

    4,518 Listeners

    We Can Do Hard Things by Treat Media and Glennon Doyle

    We Can Do Hard Things

    41,564 Listeners

    The Mel Robbins Podcast by Mel Robbins

    The Mel Robbins Podcast

    20,212 Listeners