Hey postpartum moms, welcome to episode 7 of Trauma Healing for Postpartum Moms. Trauma and anxiety symptoms often overlap, so today I'm breaking down the difference between the two and how they can both show up in this new stage of motherhood.

After listening to this episode, you will know how to spot anxiety and how to spot trauma (without diagnosing yourself, of course, get a better sense of what is going on for you as you navigate motherhood and what you can do about releasing the trauma that shows up as anxiety in your everyday life. Your baby needs you to take care of yourself in order to show up for them - I explain to you how this can happen.

In this episode, I chat about:

• The overlaps between anxiety and trauma
• The difference between anxiety and trauma
• What we can do to release the trauma that shows up as anxiety on a daily basis so that you can enjoy being a mom.

Connect with Danik:

• Instagram: @danikhelpsmoms
• Psychology Today profile: click here

Curious about working with me?

• Schedule a free call with me

DISCLAIMER

This podcast is not meant to replace psychotherapy from a licensed mental health professional, does not give medical advice, and does not provide a diagnosis. This podcast is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only. 

Welcome to this 6th episode of the Trauma Healing for Postpartum Moms podcast. This episode is all about my specialty: EMDR Intensives for Postpartum Moms. You've realized that your childhood stuff mixed with birth experience stuff and baby blues sticking longer than it should have to be addressed. But seeking therapy for 1 hour weekly seems sooo rough. We're often way too busy!

Enter EMDR Intensives. This safe and effective method of providing therapy is exactly what busy postpartum moms need. Tune in as I explain:

• What you can expect in an EMDR Intensive
• Why they work so well
• Why you're allowed and worth considering investing in your mental health by doing up to 3 months' worth of therapy in 3 days.

SCHEDULE YOUR FREE CONSULTATION TODAY!

Click here for your no obligation free virtual consultation and ask me anything: https://calendly.com/danikhelpsmoms

Connect with Danik:

• Instagram: @danikhelpsmoms
• Website: www.danikbernier.com
• Schedule a free call with me

DISCLAIMER

This podcast is not meant to replace psychotherapy from a licensed mental health professional, does not give medical advice, and does not provide a diagnosis. This podcast is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only. 

Hello and welcome to episode 5 of Trauma Healing for Postpartum Moms. This episode brings me back to my hospital social worker days where I worked with parents who received the news that their baby or toddler had Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, a genetic syndrome, Autism, and/or a Developmental Delay, to name a few. I loved my work with these incredible parents, but it was heart crushing to see the pain in their eyes. Lucky for me, I often got to see the pain turn into hope and joy as they released the trauma they experienced (with the years and a team effort, as I didn’t offer EMDR Therapy at the time).

It's important to recognize that for parents of a child with a disability, survival mode is often the only choice they have. Survival mode paired with confusion, intense emotions, and feelings of grief mixed with total helplessness can be a recipe for trauma to form into the nervous system and the brain. EMDR Therapy can help release those intense sensations so that you can be ok with the cards you were dealt.

In this episode, I chat about:

• My experience as a hospital social worker and the resilience I’ve witnessed
• How trauma can develop in parents of a child with a disability
• The painful thoughts that can come visit us as we navigate the difficult (and often confusing) world of disabilities (and how normal they are!)
• How parents of a child with a disability can release their trauma with EMDR Therapy so that they can feel confident in their role and reconnect with their strength – as well as their child’s.

SCHEDULE YOUR EMDR INTENSIVE TODAY!

Limited spots available for this summer. You could get up to 3 months' worth of therapy in 3 days. Most insurance providers will cover the fee in part or in full (confirm that social work services are covered first). Schedule a free call with me

Connect with Danik:

• Instagram: @danikhelpsmoms
• Website: www.danikbernier.com
• Schedule a free call with me

Quote:

“It doesn’t make you a horrible mother to say out loud ‘I wanted a different baby’. This is a painful thought, but it’s there for many. The sooner we can recognize it, the sooner we can release it and enjoy the baby we do have in front of us”.

DISCLAIMER

 This podcast is not meant to replace psychotherapy from a licensed mental health professional, does not give medical advice, and does not provide a diagnosis. This podcast is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only. 

Why is it important for soon-to-be moms and veteran moms to recognize sexual trauma? It all has to do with what you can do to prevent birth trauma. When we are pregnant and we go into labour and delivery, without recognizing that our body holds trauma, we are at higher risk for birth trauma. There are some physical sensations that can be really intense, which can trigger the trauma that is stored in your body as a survivor of sexual abuse. If we recognize and not minimize our story, then we know what to expect when it’s time to have this baby. You are then able to make empowered decisions about what you want and don’t want when giving birth – unapologetically.

Before you tune into the episode, I want to give you a little warning. If you're a trauma survivor, this podcast episode might be triggering for you, as I talk about trauma in detail and give real-life examples. Please feel free to skip parts of the episode or the entire episode completely if it causes you any distress.

In this episode, I chat about:

• How to make informed and empowered decisions to prevent birth trauma
• Preparing your body to give birth - on a physical and psychological level
• How EMDR therapy can help you release the trauma your body holds before giving birth
• What it looks like to process trauma with EMDR therapy (triggering memory vs sad memory)
• Important realizations that need to happen in order to let healing take place (the tampon question)
• Why it's important to let your healthcare providers know that you have a history of sexual abuse

Connect with Danik:

• Instagram: @danikhelpsmoms
• Website: www.danikbernier.com
• Schedule a free call with me

Quote:

“Trauma already took enough away from you. It doesn't have to take away the [experience of the] birth of your baby too.”

DISCLAIMER

This podcast is not meant to replace psychotherapy from a licensed mental health professional, does not give medical advice, and does not provide a diagnosis. This podcast is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only.

Have you ever felt like you're never quite measuring up to the expectations of being the perfect mom? If so, you're not alone. As mothers, we often put a huge amount of pressure on ourselves to provide our children with the best possible childhood, and it is no surprise that we struggle to live up to the ideal. But have you ever considered where this pressure of being the perfect mom comes from? In today's podcast episode, I dive deep into the link between the unrealistic expectations of motherhood that society puts on us and our childhood trauma. 

Tune in as I share the different types of trauma that can influence our lives as moms, how they can show up in our daily lives, and what happens when we finally release the pressure and let go of the need for perfectionism. Whether you're currently struggling with the demands of motherhood or simply seeking to understand the root causes of this pressure, I invite you to join me in today’s episode so together we can let go of unrealistic expectations and embrace the messy, imperfect reality of motherhood.

In this episode, I chat about:

• The different reasons why moms put a huge amount of pressure on themselves to be the perfect mom
• Why maintaining the image of the perfect mom is unrealistic
• Do you freak out at the thought of putting your child in daycare?
• Mind games you might be experiencing if you had a parent with narcissistic traits
• Why hand-me-downs might trigger some postpartum moms
• How to release the pressure of being the perfect mom
• The benefits of letting go of the pressure and perfectionism

Connect with Danik:

• Instagram: @danikhelpsmoms
• Website: www.danikbernier.com
• Schedule a free call with me

Related episodes:

• Episode 2 - Birth Trauma: What it is, How to Recognize It & How to Heal

Quote:

“As moms, we feel like we have to maintain this perfect mom image, which is totally unrealistic and it sets us up for failure.”

DISCLAIMER

This podcast is not meant to replace psychotherapy from a licensed mental health professional, does not give medical advice, and does not provide a diagnosis. This podcast is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only.

Can you experience birth trauma even if the birth went well, medically speaking? I get asked this question a lot. If you've given birth or witnessed someone giving birth, you know that no matter how prepared you are, things might go sideways — and not only in the medical sense (such as fearing for the mom's or child's life). That's why in today's podcast episode, I want to dive deeper into the topic of birth trauma, demystify the reasons why you can experience birth trauma even if the birth went well, explain the symptoms of birth trauma, and much more.

Before you tune into the episode, I want to give you a little warning. If you're a trauma survivor, this podcast episode might be triggering for you, as I talk about trauma in detail and give real-life examples. Please feel free to skip parts of the episode or the entire episode completely if it causes you any distress.

In this episode, I chat about:

• What trauma means in the context of mom's mental health
• What birth trauma means in medical terms
• Common symptoms of birth trauma
• Why your brain may link birth trauma with previous sexual abuse if you're a survivor of sexual abuse
• How to change the negative emotional charge in your body
• How you will view your birth trauma after resolving the experience

Connect with Danik:

• Instagram: @danikhelpsmoms
• Website: www.danikbernier.com
• Schedule a free call with me

Quote:

“Trauma is not just one big event that left you with PTSD symptoms.”

DISCLAIMER

This podcast is not meant to replace psychotherapy from a licensed mental health professional, does not give medical advice, and does not provide a diagnosis. This podcast is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only.

Hello and welcome to the very first episode of Trauma Healing for Postpartum Moms. My name is Danik Bernier, and I'm a mom of two littles, a social worker, and a psychotherapist. I can't tell you how excited I am to bring this podcast to life because I've experienced postpartum anxiety and depression symptoms during pregnancy myself. Like most moms, I believed that feeling mentally drained was a normal part of motherhood and that I should just get over it or else I'd be failing my son.

But after going through the experience and talking to hundreds of postpartum moms, I know that's not true. That's why it's become my mission to help other postpartum moms heal their trauma. Tune in to today's episode as I tell you more about myself, my great-grandmother's and my own postpartum experience, how I help moms heal their intergenerational trauma, and so much more.

In this episode, I chat about:

• My postpartum experience
• What postpartum psychosis is and why it's important to understand
• Why my great-grandmother was placed in an asylum
• What intergenerational trauma is
• What EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is and what the process looks like
• Why talk therapy alone may not be effective for healing intergenerational trauma

Connect with Danik:

• Instagram: @danikhelpsmoms
• Website: www.danikbernier.com
• Schedule a free call with me

Resources from this episode:

• Mental hygiene: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2408392/
• Postpartum Psychosis: https://www.postpartum.net/learn-more/postpartum-psychosis/
• Regulation 17 in Ontario: https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/35963/ontario-apologizes-for-1912-law-on-french-in-schools
• Information about EMDR therapy in the perinatal period, from pregnancy to postpartum: https://www.emdria.org/public-resources/emdr-therapy-for-perinatal-mental-health/ 

Quote:

“Like most moms, I was made to believe that feeling like you were hit by a truck, physically and mentally, was just a normal part of motherhood and that I should just suck it up because if I don't, that means I already failed my son.”

DISCLAIMER

This podcast is not meant to replace psychotherapy from a licensed mental health professional, does not give medical advice, and does not provide a diagnosis. This podcast is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only.