The Double Shift

While we are on hiatus, check out a show we think you’ll love. It’s called Home. Made. Today we are sharing the full episode of the series, called  “Is There A Doctor In The Dollhouse?” It’s about Dr. Kwandaa Roberts, who on the surface appeared to “have it all:” a thriving medical practice, a big house in the suburbs, two kids. But she harbored a secret dream to be an interior designer. Her chance to live this dream came about when she renovated a dollhouse that went viral on social media.... but then the pandemic happened, and Kwandaa was forced to make some difficult life decisions.

Katherine and Angela have built their careers thinking about motherhood, career and identity. Today, we hear from the Double Shifters who have influenced them most — their own mothers.  

Angela interviews Kay Goldstein about her trailblazing careers (plural!) as a second wave feminist, how she looks back at her life as a mom in the workforce now, and the lessons she shared with Katherine about not leaving anything on the table. Josie Garbes tells Katherine about her experiences as an immigrant who found her calling as a hospice nurse, the complexities of caring for the dying at work while raising three kids at home, and her new interest in activism during this time of targeted violence toward Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Turns out, the influence between mother and daughter is truly a two-way street.

Need a COVID-19 Vaccine? Go to vaccines.gov.  https://www.vaccines.gov/

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Consider joining The Double Shift member community, which is a social change laboratory for moms. Learn more here at thedoubleshift.com/join.

A year and a half ago, Shana Thomas was a mom of three who earned a good salary. She’d worked her way up at a company she loved and was telling younger women they could "have it all.” The pandemic changed everything. She's now one of the 4.5 million women who has left employment behind since the start of 2020, and is now an in-home services caregiver for her youngest daughter who’s a wheelchair user, and an unpaid virtual teaching assistant for her older two kids. But nearly a year after leaving her career, she’s finding her footing and increasing moments of peace with her path.

This is a story about sacrifice and unexpected hope. 

Check out The Center for American Progress’ Calculator https://interactives.americanprogress.org/childcarecosts/ for the long term costs of leaving the paid workforce due to childcare needs.

This is part three of our series on the true cost of the pandemic for moms, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/24/covid-toll-working-mothers a partnership between us, The Guardian, and The Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

Need a COVID-19 Vaccine? Go to vaccines.gov. 

Also check out: Slate’s The Waves, wherever you get your podcasts. https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/07/the-waves.html

If you love the Double Shift Podcast, sign up for our newsletter, thedoubleshift.com/newsletter. 

Consider joining The Double Shift member community, which is a social change laboratory for moms. Learn more here at thedoubleshift.com/join.

In Part 1 of this series, hosts Katherine Goldstein and Angela Garbes shared their own mental health challenges over the past year. They definitely aren’t the only ones who have struggled -- and in this episode we hear directly from some listeners who’ve sent us voice memos about how they are also not OK. We share some of the most pressing issues we are hearing about with Dr. Amber Thornton, a clinical psychologist and a motherhood wellness consultant. We discuss moms’ needs coming last, challenges in accessing care, additional obstacles for women of color in getting mental health support, some realities around self medicating, and more. 

You can find out more about Dr Amber at Balanced Working Mama, and her podcast The Balanced Working Mama Podcast.

https://www.balancedworkingmama.com/ & https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-balanced-working-mama-podcast/id1520168735

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Resources:

If you are needing mental health support, please check out the following organizations:

Postpartum Progress https://postpartumprogress.com/

Postpartum Support International Hotline: 1-800-944-4773 (1-Spanish, 2- English)

Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (In English and Spanish) https://med.stanford.edu/content/dam/sm/ppc/documents/DBP/EDPS_text_added.pdf

Motherhood Understood, https://www.motherhood-understood.com/resources which includes Mother’s Manual for Postpartum Mental Health, Cheat sheet to Medications, Cheat sheet to Partners, and other resources.

SAMHSA’s (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) National Helpline is 1-800-662-HELP (4357). They also have a treatment locator. https://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255

Membership:

Consider joining The Double Shift member community, which is a social change laboratory for moms. Learn more here at thedoubleshift.com/join.

The mental health impact, especially on mothers, in the last year has been enormous. But the realities are something that's rarely talked about openly, and still carries a stigma. Hosts Katherine and Angela share their own personal stories of mental health diagnoses and experiences with antidepressants during the pandemic.

Resources:

If you are needing mental health support, please check out the following organizations:

Postpartum Progress 

Postpartum Support International Hotline: 1-800-944-4773 (1-Spanish, 2- English)

Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (In English and Spanish)

Motherhood Understood, which includes Mother’s Manual for Postpartum Mental Health, Cheat sheet to Medications, Cheat sheet to Partners, and other resources.

SAMHSA’s (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) National Helpline is 1-800-662-HELP (4357). They also have a treatment locator. 

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255

Also check out: 

Listen to Under The Influence with Jo Piazza, an 8 episode deep dive into the “momfluencer” industrial complex, wherever you get your pods. 

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If you love the Double Shift Podcast, sign up for our newsletter, thedoubleshift.com/newsletter. 

Consider joining The Double Shift member community, which is a social change laboratory for moms. Learn more here at thedoubleshift.com/join.

Right now, all many mothers can think about is just wanting a break from the unrelenting domestic work that last year has heaped on us. In this special Mother’s Day episode, Katherine and Angela explore some fascinating, little-known history that has led our society to expect that mothers’ care work should be a largely uncompensated “labor of love.” We’ll also explore some forgotten moments in the 20th century with journalist and author Sarah Jaffe that gives vital context to how today’s society came to vastly undervalued caregiving.

Then, taking inspiration from Black activists like Johnnie Tillmon and Angela Davis, Katherine and Angela lay out why we are at a pivotal moment for meaningful change and share some hopeful visions for a world where mothers’ invisible labor is collectivized, seen and valued. 

Resources:

Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone by Sarah Jaffe

Women, Race & Class by Angela Davis 

The Invisible Labor Calculator, created by Amy Westervelt, author of “Forget ‘Having It All’: How America Messed Up Motherhood--and How to Fix It”

If you love the Double Shift Podcast, sign up for our newsletter, thedoubleshift.com/newsletter. 

Consider joining The Double Shift member community, which is a social change laboratory for moms. Learn more here at thedoubleshift.com/join.

Things may get better this year, but that doesn't erase what we've all gone through. In this episode we explore, how do we grieve during this time when so many have lost loved ones, and even more have experienced personal, professional, and emotional loss? And for mothers, is allowing ourselves to feel our feelings an act of political liberation? We talk to indigenous activist Andrea Landry on how to unwind some of our most backward ideas about motherhood that are rooted in colonialism and how we begin to heal, personally and collectively, from the traumas of the last year.  

If you’d like to follow Andrea Landry and learn more about her work, go to Instagram @indigenousmotherhood or Twitter,  @andrealandry1.

If you love the Double Shift Podcast, sign up for our newsletter, thedoubleshift.com/newsletter. 

Consider joining The Double Shift member community, which is a social change laboratory for moms. Learn more here at thedoubleshift.com/join.

After all that talk about other people's finances, Angela and Katherine open up about their own -- and what's uncomfortable for them to admit about being mothers, creatives... and business ladies. They discuss some unvarnished truths about the podcasting industry and running The Double Shift as a business, and also share about the complexities of being a mission-driven enterprise during a time of massive economic uncertainty.

If you love the Double Shift Podcast, sign up for our newsletter, thedoubleshift.com/newsletter. 

Consider joining The Double Shift member community, which is a social change laboratory for moms. Learn more here at thedoubleshift.com/join.

Want to be a part of our membership community but can't afford it right now? email us [email protected] and will hook you up as people donate.

Want to gift a Double Shift Membership? Go tothedoubleshift.com/gifts.

When we think about what's happening to moms in America right now, it can feel like a series of anonymous statistics--not millions of life-altering stories. Angela and Katherine talk to a pregnant flight attendant in Indianapolis, a teacher and congressional candidate in Texas, and a performance venue host in New Orleans on what the last year has been like for them. We hear about what the pandemic has cost them -- in dollars, but also in other intangibles. All three women share how they are doing their best to hang on -- and find a new path forward.

This episode is a collaboration with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Guardian. To read a print version of this story, go here.

If you love the Double Shift Podcast, sign up for our newsletter, thedoubleshift.com/newsletter. 

Consider joining The Double Shift member community, which is a social change laboratory for moms. Learn more here at thedoubleshift.com/join.

In the Before Times, Jenna Mason had been cobbling together enough money as a freelance writer and restaurant server to support herself and her two kids -- she has shared custody with her ex-husband. When the world ground to a halt in her town of Oxford, Mississippi, the life she’d built for her family -- and the confidence she felt in herself -- came apart … not in one big crash, but in a cascading series of crises, one leading to another leading to another.

On the one year anniversary of the pandemic shutdown in the US, Jenna talks about financial precarity, her mental health struggles, navigating unemployment and how she’s found a way to keep going.

This episode is a collaboration with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Guardian. To read a print version of this story, go here.

If you love the Double Shift Podcast, sign up for our newsletter, thedoubleshift.com/newsletter. 

Consider joining The Double Shift member community, which is a social change laboratory for moms. Learn more here at thedoubleshift.com/join.

We want to hear from you: we know a lot of moms who are dealing with existing and new mental health issues. So we want to hear from you about what you are experiencing right now. What does it look like when you are not “holding it all together?” How has the pandemic brought on a change in your relationship to medication or self-medication? Or tell us a story about a turning point when you realized you needed to take action to support your mental health....Send us a email or a voice recording using the voice memo app on your phone -- to [email protected] and we may use it in an upcoming show.