It's no secret that there is a global maternal mental health crisis. One of the most challenging aspects of motherhood (maybe in addition to mothering during a global pandemic) is finding time for yourself.  While this podcast focuses a lot on the importance of human connection with others, perhaps the biggest piece of that human connection puzzle is the ability to connect with ourselves. But what happens when that piece gets lost in the shuffle of pick-ups and drop-offs, coordinating play dates, and packing school lunches? On this episode, we talk with one of the founders of Surf Moms Anna Shoemaker about why we should be focusing on creating mom groups centered around mom instead of baby, finding something you love outside your family, and building a village that not only helps raise a child but also supports maternal mental health.

"I wish I could speak to myself after having my second kid, and just say, ‘Let it go, stop trying to hold everything together, go ask for help.’ And I might even go a step further and say, ‘What do you love?’ And go try and do that. ...You're going to connect with somebody inevitably because we're hardwired for it, and you're going to slowly train your brain to normalize that for yourself, to normalize chasing that passion, that thing that you love." --Anna Shoemaker

Living with chronic illness is not just battling physical pain daily, it's also managing the mental load that comes with fighting a mind-body connection constantly on the fritz. On this episode, we talk with the hosts of The Chronic Sisters Siân Gannon and Jess Swanson about navigating life with multiple chronic illnesses, coping with the disappointment of our bodies habitually letting us down, and learning how to love something despite the pain and grief it causes because of the joy it brings us.

Sian Gannon: My body has tried to kill me many times, but it's also healed me and gotten me through. And the experiences that I've had is because of my body and I'm amazed by it and I'm trying to actively learn how to love it. And it is a process.

Jess Swanson: I have to love my body because it's the only one I've got. And unfortunately, I can't sit in the dark and think, "What if?" All the time. And if I was to do that, I would not be the nurse that I am able to be now. I would not be the dancer that I am, despite the pain. And I would not have the connections that I have with people, if I lived in that. So, I don't like my body and I have to realize that I have to love it because it's all I have, but it's acknowledging that I can still love it and not like it all the time.

Ways to connect with The Chronic Sisters:
Instagram
Apple Podcasts
Linktree

Audio Engineered By: Blaise Douros

The smart phone era has ushered in an age where everyone carries a camera in our pockets. So why aren't we happy with the pictures we take? On part two of this two-part discussion, we talk with psychotherapist and licensed clinical social worker Heather Monroe on the impact selfies and social media have on our overall mental health--especially in teens. Hear why anxiety and depression is on the rise and what habits we can change to help prevent it.

"So [teens] are no longer comparing themselves to an image of someone else who might look like them, but a little better in their mind. They're comparing themselves to a morphed version of themselves and thinking that that's what they should look like. 'If only I looked like that, then maybe I would be enough."' --Heather Monroe 

The smart phone era has ushered in an age where everyone carries a camera in our pockets. So why aren't we happy with the pictures we take? On part one of this two part discussion, we talk with photographer Blaise Douros and plastic surgeon Scott McCusker on the ways camera lenses filter our perceptions of reality and consequently the rise in plastic surgery.

Blaise Douros: "We have embraced a device that inherently distorts our images, the images that we see of ourselves every day... There are a lot of things that you can do in Photoshop that have absolutely no bearing on what reality is."

Scott McCusker: "... we are constantly bombarded with unrealistic images. Our mind's eye gets broken by it. And people's sense of what they look like is being distorted because they only see themselves in altered Snapchat images. People's ability to know what an appropriate body looks like is destroyed. It's a really big problem, and not one that I can fix by any means. This is one that really is way bigger than any of us, but I think that awareness of it is important."

Mastering Medical Photography of the Head and Neck 

Audio Engineered by: Blaise Douros

Like many things during Covid, maintaining regular diet and exercise became increasingly difficult and most of us picked up a sourdough-making habit along the way--consequently we gained a few pounds. And while we survived a global pandemic, working from home (sometimes while simultaneously running Zoom school), we've forgotten all of the hard things we overcame and have instead decided to focus in on "The Covid-15." On this episode, Justine Underhill, Chief Program Officer for Edgewood Center for Children and Families, discusses why disordered eating is on the rise post-pandemic, how we can choose to shift perspectives individually and culturally, and how we can better support each other along the way.

"Be a critical thinker of your own thoughts and beliefs, and take a look at the fact that you did just survive a global pandemic. You may have protected your family from getting sick. You may have experienced and survived the loss of loved ones in your family. You may have worked from home while parenting your kids. I mean, whatever you went through, take a look at that part, and see if you can appreciate the fact that your body took you through that.  ...is the fact that I gained 15 pounds while doing that quite at the top of the list of importance?" --Justine Underhill EDM, LCSW

Important Links: 

nationaleatingdisorders.org
haescommunity.com

Audio Engineer: Blaise Douros 

One of the most common parenting traps parents fall victim to is trying to “make” their kids happy. But happiness is only one feeling on a spectrum of colorful and complex emotions, which together make up the human experience. On this episode, Rachel Duffy, entrepreneur, author, and  Certified Conscious Parenting Coach, discusses why parents should stop focusing on making their kids happy and instead be present, while allowing their kids to experience everything.

“Nobody wants their child to go through pain, but here's the thing, pain, emotional pain, difficulty, challenge, that's pretty much a guarantee in life. You cannot have life without those things. So our choice is either to resist them. There's a whole set of emotions and suppression, and anxiety that comes with that, or we could say, 'No, let's go through it together in community, in relationship.' This is how we grow and this is how we evolve in a more conscious way in my opinion.” --Rachel Duffy 

Ways to Connect with Rachel: 
https://www.instagram.com/rachelduffyhere/
https://www.sagacitylab.com/links
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unscrew-you/id1558240208

Audio Engineered by: Blaise Douros

Self-optimization has quickly become a new fad diet we're rapidly consuming--one that is more harmful than helpful to our mental health. On this episode, writer, educator, influencer, and Toronto-based therapist Jake Ernst discusses the problem with the constant pursuit for perfectionism, the business of positivity and its impact on our self-worth, and the critical role social media plays in prioritizing self-optimization over self-love, self-compassion, and collective care.

"...self-optimization usually looks like self-care. It looks a lot like, "Oh, I'm taking care of myself." When really we're kind of engaging in a lot of really probably unhealthy patterns or a lot of unhealthy behaviors. All with maybe the goal of, "I want to perform better. I want to do better. Or I want to know more." But oftentimes self-optimization in the long run has this negative or harmful impacts. And so I'm more pro-improvement and more pro self-care than I am like self-optimization." --Jake Ernst

Ways to connect with Jake: 
https://www.mswjake.com/ 
https://www.instagram.com/mswjake/?hl=en

Audio Engineered by: Blaise Douros 

As a social species, we're wired to process our emotions collectively. Arguably, human connection is our greatest resource for processing and tolerating difficult emotions. So, what happens when a social primate is subjected to long periods of social isolation? On this episode, Dr. Maggie Stagg discusses the role human connection specifically plays in our ability to cope when life gets hard, the impact the social isolation of Covid-19 has had, and how we as a species can choose to move forward together.

“Fight or flight is supposed to happen for short duration of time, it's not supposed to happen in a chronic state. And so all of us are sitting there more in a survival state versus a nice homeostasis, baseline state. And so, of course, you're not able to do the things, tolerate the things that you once were.” --Dr. Maggie Stagg, Psy.D

There's been a lot of buzz in the media about the mental and emotional impact school shutdowns have had on parents and students, but very little attention paid to the impact on educators. Prior to Covid-19, the educational community has been struggling to retain teachers and attract new ones. Now, more than ever, classrooms are in crisis. On this episode, Cristina Buss, a principal at a continuation high school in Davis, California, discusses the mental, emotional, and financial load teachers have to carry, how the stressors of the pandemic have revealed societal breaking points, and why some teachers are leaving. 

“I have learned, in my time as an administrator and especially this year, that focusing on keeping teachers--I wouldn't even say happy; I would say sane, alive, mentally stable--keeping teachers okay is one of the most student-centered things you can do, because if teachers are not okay, the students are not okay.” --Cristina Buss 

Children in particular have proven their resiliency time and time again throughout the past 13 months. However, as the world slowly turns back towards normal and schools reopen, they're finding themselves relearning how to maneuver social interactions with peers and educators, and consequently a new series of mental and emotional stressors. On this episode, Dr. Christine Garcia of the Edgewood Center in San Francisco discusses how to navigate the return to in-person instruction, social anxieties, and how parents or guardians can help support their children.

"[Kids] are absorbing and watching you and taking their cues from you. So prepare yourself too for the level of transition that they're going to have to make and how that might be on their minds a lot. Because, kids want to do well. They want to be happy. They move towards growth. And so this is for many kids, a hopeful time of going back to what they knew, but it's also scary because they've been away from it for so long." --Dr. Christine Garcia

Additional Resources for Parents Needing Support:

Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU), Edgewood:
 https://edgewood.org/crisis-stabilization/

415-682-3278

Trevor Project:
www.thetrevorproject.org

1-866-488-7386

Crisis Text Line:

Send a text to 741741

www.crisistextline.org