What does it actually mean to say that motherhood is 'social' or 'constructed' through our culture? Why should we care about motherhood-culture and how does it impact and influence individual mothers, and our children? What is the perfect mother myth, how does it show up in our lives, and what can we do about shifting how we feel about ourselves as mothers? What's the alternative?

These are some of the questions I speak to in this episode. Find out more on the episode webpage here: https://drsophiebrock.com/podcast80

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*Please note that this episode mentions suicidality.

Redefining our careers and purpose as mothers with Amy Taylor-Kabbaz

In this episode I speak with best-Selling author, speaker, journalist, Matrescence Activist and Mama of three, Amy Taylor-Kabbaz. We examine the individual and social costs, consequences and challenges of mothers navigating and engaging in paid work and building/maintaining careers in a system that isn’t set up for mothers. Amy shares her experience of this, the development of her business, and how the way we ‘work’ shapes how we see and experience ourselves as women and mothers. We discuss some of the social and structural barriers that face mothers and what it can mean to contribute to the world through our mothering and a career. We reflect on re-valuing the role of the mother within our society, and the need for institutional and system change to better support and value women when we become mothers.

Connect with Amy further by following @amytaylorkabbaz/

Check out Amy’s Mama Rising® coaching certification training and enrol using Sophie’s link here - https://bit.ly/3SaXXIz

See full show notes and resources for the episode here - https://drsophiebrock.com/podcast79

If you leave a review of the podcast, I'll send a little 'thank you' in the mail :) Pop your postal details in here - forms.gle/uaDvhtFYnUQvG69EA

In today’s conversation I talk with perinatal clinical psychologist Dr Caroline Boyd, discussing the topics in her recent book ‘Mindful New Mum: A Mind-Body Approach to the Highs and Lows of Motherhood’.

We explore the pressures of modern motherhood and the impossible expectations mothers face. In doing so, we consider how we can reevaluate some of the patterns and beliefs that we have internalised about what it means to be a mother.

What are some ways we learn to tolerate our feelings, without self blame, without criticism, and hold both joy and grief at the same time? Can we be a gentle parent, yet also give ourselves permission to be angry?

We also discuss how the pandemic illuminated the gaps in care and the harsh reality of modern parenting without the support systems required to thrive.

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Links:

Buy a copy of Caroline’s book here - https://www.dk.com/uk/book/9780241531365-mindful-new-mum/

Follow her on Instagram @_drboyd

Explore more of Caroline’s work: https://drcarolineboyd.com

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If you leave a review of the podcast, I'll send a little 'thank you' in the mail :) Pop your postal details in here - https://forms.gle/uaDvhtFYnUQvG69EA

In this episode I’m speaking with matrescence educator Nikki McCahon about her work, journey into motherhood, and framework for understanding and navigating matrescence. Nikki shares about her postpartum and her experience of an ‘identity death’, and how she made sense of her transformation through the framework of the four seasons.

As part of our conversation Nikki speaks to how a seasonal and cyclical lens can provide a framework for navigating times of transition and challenge in our mothering journeys, helping to orient us. This approach can provide us with more space for self compassion and identity expansion, when we are able to name and challenge the limitations in place when life experiences - and the journey through mothering - are framed as linear processes.

We explore the importance of leaning on others to provide support and how to fully be in the seasons of receiving as a mother. We discuss the disjuncture that exists between this desire and an honouring of our matrescence journeys, while living within a society that glorifies bounce-back culture. The ‘endless summer’ that is placed on a pedestal of constant growth minimises the complexity and the gifts that can be within sitting in the truth of whatever season we’re currently navigating.

Nikki uses some beautiful analogies from the natural world to make sense of life’s big moments, seeing ourselves beyond what we can do for others, and to value the opportunity to meet ourselves in deeper ways as we journey through motherhood.

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BIO: Nikki McCahon is a matrescence educator, women’s life cycle guide, podcast host and mother to her six year old son.

As a matrescence educator and guide, Nikki helps mothers navigate the often unexpected changes and challenges of becoming and being a mother, whilst simultaneously supporting mothers to explore the opportunities that mothering can provide for their own personal growth and expansion.

Her model - the seasons of matrescence - applies a seasonal and cyclical lens to matrescence, providing a map for mothers to use when navigating times of change and transition and support to explore their matrescence journey within the context of their broader life cycle and rites of passage.

Nikki is passionate about creating community and normalising the physical, psychological, and emotional changes women go through during matrescence. In 2017 Nikki founded Australia's largest meet-up community for mums, which grew to 40,000 members in three years, before it was acquired by a national not for profit, the centre of perinatal excellence (COPE) in 2020.

Her work now focuses on providing matrescence guidance and education to mothers through her podcast and group programs, and supporting those who work with mothers to integrate matrescence education, guidance and support into their practice through her Seasons of Matrescence teacher training program.

Connect with Nikki - @nikkimccahon / and join the waitlist for the 2023 intake of the Seasons of Matrescence training - https://courses.nikkimccahon.com/som

In today’s podcast conversation with Kat River, we explore the question of ‘how can we disrupt our ideas of what motherhood means, to redefine it for ourselves, through our creativity?’

Kat is a retreat facilitator, former couples coach, and speaker who talks about her transition from maiden to mother, drawing on tools of creativity to honour and traverse self transformation through becoming a mother.

Kat shares her insights on how motherhood has encouraged her to deepen and change her relationship to her work, her creativity, her relationships, and her identity. This involves navigating boundaries and priorities, examining inner fears and beliefs around a loss of independence and taking 'time out', and learning how to facilitate opportunities for our life and work focusses to evolve, change and shift.

We reflect on how the postpartum period has the potential to be an invitation for deeper self knowledge, the importance of self-witnessing and honouring ourselves in a transitional time, and how it can be a training ground for our lives. We also look at relationships and codependency, fulfilment, and navigating the unexpected sides of motherhood with ‘leaps of faith’; relinquishing a sense of perceived control, while also recognising the structural and contextual challenges mothers also face.

This is a conversation that speaks to the possibilities of exploring a life of integration between mother, woman, and creator, and allowing fluidity in how we see ourselves and the world.

Kat River lives in the Noosa hinterland with her husband Tully & two year old son Rafi.

Kat is a multicreative expressionist, and hosts a slow podcast "Mother Maker" centered towards mother creatives, mother entrepreneurs, mother mystics and intuitive motherhood.

Those who are finding their own harmony (And often not harmony) between motherhood, and creative/work/career pursuits. She supports mother creatives in their magnificence through Mother Maker, as it evolves from a podcast, to events, retreats and a festival to cultivate community and reimagining the modern village of motherhood... though above all else, navigating the slow days of motherhood, and raising a little wildling.

You can find Kat on her instagram: @the.kat.river and turn on post notifications if you want to keep up with everything she shares.

Her podcast is "Mother Maker" and available on spotify, Apple Podcasts & Anchor.

Email is [email protected]

This podcast episode is an unpacking and discussion of the recent Netflix production The Lost Daughter, based on the novel of the same name by the pseudonymous Italian novelist Elena Ferrante and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. The film explores the textured, complex, nuanced, challenging parts of the mothering experience and positioning of motherhood culturally. The themes explored shine a light on the shadow side of being a mother, the boundaries of maternal ‘transgressions’, and the experience of maternal ambivalence.

To reflect on the film, I’m joined in conversation by Julianne Boutaleb, a passionate and highly experienced perinatal psychologist who has worked for over 15 years in the NHS and private practice with parents and parents-to-be and their babies. Julianne and I discuss the importance of this film in exploring the complex and raw portrayal of motherhood on our screens, something we so rarely see examined in such a demanding and articulate way.

We look at mothering and the experience of maternal violence, peacemaking and repair, and explore the gap between the idealised version of motherhood versus what is real. We ask and explore questions such as - what do we do with the loss of the imagined future we had before having our children? What are ‘maternal transgressions’ of the ‘bad mother’ and who defines these? Who decides which are acceptable and which ones aren't? What stories and rules have we internalised as mothers, and where have these come from? What standards are we holding ourselves to as mothers?

We look at the possibility of self-erasure and self-surveillance, and explore why it could be helpful to start with the basic premise that we are never going to always meet our child's emotional needs, and why perhaps that's not our job.

This is a powerful episode full of interesting discussion on the cultural, social and deeply personal experience of mothering and the sacrifice, tension and fierce love involved. Acknowledging that this film can raise challenging, fraught, and sometimes painful responses in viewers, if you find aspects of this podcast conversation raises difficult feelings for you, please reach out for support.

Support lines

Australia - https://www.panda.org.au/ - 1300 726 306

UK - https://pandasfoundation.org.uk/ - 0808 1961 776

USA - https://www.postpartum.net/ - Text “Help” to 800-944-4773 (EN)

Podcast notes:

Cultured magazine: ‘In the lost daughter mums are people too’ - Mariah Kreutter.

https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2022/01/13/in-emthe-lost-daughter-em-moms-are-people-too

The Guardian: ‘How The Lost Daughter confronts one of our most enduring cultural taboos’ - Adrian Horton https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jan/05/the-lost-daughter-elena-ferrante-maggie-gyllenhaal-motherhood

Winnicott’s theory of A Good Enough Mother

Sara Ruddick; Feminist philosopher and the author of Maternal Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace

Foucault and Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon

Melanie Klein; Austrian-British author and psychoanalyst known for her work in child analysis.

This episode is designed to be a little tonic; a moment of presence and space to breathe.

I am talking with Sophie Burch (aka The Mamma Coach).

Sophie is a mother, an author, founder and leader of the Beyond Birth Collective, an executive director and trainer for Perinatal Mental Health Training CIC, hypnobirthing practitioner, baby massage teacher, holistic and pregnancy massage therapist, and more.

Sophie is on a mission to bring mental health awareness and emotional wellbeing practices into the lives of all parents, and in this episode she gives us some amazing strategies, tools and perspectives to really support us in our everyday experience of mothering.

Sophie takes us through a beautiful process that can be used at any time which can create a sense of safety and calm. She also shares what to do when self-care feels like just another thing we have to add onto our to-do lists, and some ways we can tend to our nervous systems.

You’ll hear about what Sophie has observed in mothers within her work, and the massive load they’re carrying. We look at what modern parenting means to us, and the significant shift in consciousness she has perceived recently. Sophie shares the one wish that she has for all parents in the world right now, and the importance of fostering self-connection and agency in our lives.

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Connect with Sophie:

https://themammacoach.com/about

https://www.instagram.com/themammacoach/

Sophie's book, 'Beyond Birth: A Mindful Guide to Early Parenting':

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08VYBPNKL?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

Sophie's Mental Wellbeing Practitioner Certified Training:

https://themammacoach.com/beyond-birth-sign-up

In this episode I share 5 different ways that my understanding of the social construction of motherhood helped me to step into my power as a single mother. I wanted to share this episode as a lived-reality example of how theory, concepts, and understandings can come to unveil new possibilities for how we lead and live our lives as mothers. I talk about the nuclear family and how it is held up as an 'ideal' in our society, the pulling down of facades, how the 'family' is socially constructed and our capacity to create fluidity in what the 'family' means, and the opportunity in unpacking social scripts that we inherit about what it means to be a mother. In the episode I mention the Council for Single Mothers and their Children - https://www.csmc.org.au/ and the 3min animation of The Fish Tank of Motherhood Model - https://drsophiebrock.com/thefishtankofmotherhood

A behind the scenes insight into my creation of The Motherhood Studies course, and an insight into the 2022 round of the program. Program starts June 20th, enrolment closes June 16th. If you'd like to talk through any questions you have before joining, book a discovery call here - https://calendly.com/motherhoodstudies/certification-consult-calls If there are no times left please feel free to email your query to [email protected] To enrol head to - https://drsophiebrock.com/motherhoodstudies/

In this conversation with Fiona you’ll hear us both talk about our personal experiences of mothering our children and some of the challenges we’ve experienced (and continue to experience). Fiona shares how understanding information about temperament, sensory preferences, and connection-based, relationship-building parenting ‘tools’, can transform how we see our children - and ourselves.

You’ll hear us discuss*:

- How to contextualise and understand our experiences of parenting, to support us in trying to see the world through our children’s eyes

- What the 'goodness of fit' is and why it matters in our parenting

- How to recognise quirks in your child as temperamental tendencies, temperament traits or sensitivity traits

- Meeting our children not only where they’re at, but also as who they are

- How to understand who your children are, with all of their temperament traits and sensory preferences

- The importance of how we perceive our children and why this really matters in how we parent them

- Why separation based techniques don’t necessarily work for children

- Giving yourself permission as a parent to hold that bigger, holistic focus in parenting in mind as we navigate day-to-day challenges

- Why it’s more common than you think that parents feel resentment towards their child or baby

- What attuning to our children actually means

Founder of Mama Matters, Fiona is a Social Worker turned Infant Sleep Specialist. She provides attachment-centred, real-life parenting and sleep support to responsive parents and their renegade babies and kids. She is passionate about busting through the mistruths of the mainstream sleep industry and empowering parents to parent in alignment with their values, with evidence-based, biologically normal sleep advice and relationship-centred approaches to optimising sleep and wellbeing for families.

Connect with Fiona further -

www.mamamatters.com.au

www.instagram.com/mamamatters.au/

Podcast: Mama Chatters

Explore Fiona’s offerings: www.mamamatters.com.au/workwithme

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The Motherhood Studies Practitioner Certification 2022 begins June 20th. Enrolment is currently open, closing June 16th. Learn more and here - https://drsophiebrock.com/motherhoodstudies/

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*explicit language in this episode