Sam Dawson-Tandy is a physical therapist and pelvic floor specialist in Utah. Sam shares reasons why someone may see a pelvic floor PT, how appointments work, and things she wishes women knew pre-pregnancy, during pregnancy, and postpartum. 

She realized as she worked over the last several years that pelvic floor physical therapy is not accessible to everyone, so she decided to start Birth, Embodied. Her goal is to provide empowering, accessible, tangible education to the perinatal community. She offers two community classes: birth preparation and postpartum recovery. Her classes are held virtually (for anyone) and in person (in Utah). 

• Free Pelvic Floor Resources. Includes information from the National Association for Continence with a free 6-week pelvic health program.
• PDFs from Sam including:
  • Exercise in pregnancy, tips by the trimester
  • Pointers for your first postpartum poo
  • Things I wish they told us: Lactation and your vagina
  • Postpartum sex: Advice from a pelvic floor PT

@birth.embodied Instagram Page

The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

Article: Wu, J. M., Vaughan, C. P., Goode, P. S., Redden, D. T., Burgio, K. L., Richter, H. E., & Markland, A. D. (2014). Prevalence and trends of symptomatic pelvic floor disorders in U.S. women. Obstetrics and gynecology, 123(1), 141–148.

Follow along on The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

I talk to Megan Johnson, CSW who is the sister of Emily and co-founder of The Emily Effect. Emily Cook Dyches was a committed mother, a caring daughter, and a loving sister who lost her life to postpartum anxiety. Megan, her sister, talks to us about Emily as well as some coping skills to help mothers regardless of a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder. We discuss managing expectations, mindfulness, and journaling.

The Emily Effect hopes to provide resources to families and support for women suffering from perinatal mood disorders through sharing the sharing of stories. They are holding an event in February to premier McKenna Rose Brown's experience with postpartum depression. If you are seeing this around the time it is released, you can get tickets here. 

• Emily's Story
• Letters of Light
• The Emily Effect Instagram Page: @the_emily_effect

The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

Articles discussed:

• Efficacy of journaling in the management of mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis
• Effects of expressive writing intervention for women's PTSD, depression, anxiety and stress related to pregnancy: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
• The Effect of Writing Therapy on Anxiety in Pregnant Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Follow along on The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

Jessica Allred owns and provides therapy at Treat Counseling in Bountiful and Layton, Utah. She shares her experience with postpartum anxiety, teaches us what happens to the postpartum brain, and gives us concrete strategies to improve mom's mental health. My Type A brain loves this kind of stuff.

• She pulls a lot of her information from this literal textbook: Women's Reproductive Mental Health
• Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts: A Healing Guide to the Secret Fears of New Mothers by Karen Kleiman
• PSI's Free Online Support Groups
• EPDS Screening Tool
• Perinatal depression: A review by Maureen Sayres Van Niel, MD and Jennifer L. Payne, MD
• ResearchPod. For pregnant women, new mothers,  and those who love them: The latest updates on postpartum depression

You can email [email protected] or call the phone number on their website to schedule an appointment. You can also learn more at their Instagram page: @treatcounseling.

The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

Follow along on The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

Jasmin Charles is a physician assistant and clinical director of the Substance Use in Pregnancy Recovery Addiction Dependence Clinic (SUPeRAD). She is a powerhouse of a human being and has a fierce love for humanity. Every single person could benefit from listening to this whether you have a substance use disorder or not.

SUPeRAD is a specialty prenatal clinic that integrates maternal fetal medicine, addiction specialist, and resource management. The SUPeRAD Clinic uses a holistic and collaborative approach with their patients by incorporating various professionals from various fields, including OB/GYN care, ultrasounds, MFMs, addiction fellows, MAT with buprenorphine, pharmacy assistance with polypharmacy, social work, recovery peer support and advocacy, Connect2Health, and more.

Here are some excellent resources she shares about during the episode:

Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness (USARA)
SUPeRAD Cell Phone: 385-881-3035 If you call or text this number, you will talk to someone who works in the SUPeRAD clinic, and they will help answer any of your questions.
Buprenorphine Practitioner Locator on SAMHSA
American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM)
ASAM Find a Physician

Follow along on The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

I talk with Ashley Henderson who is an ownership partner and clinician with Reach Counseling in South Jordan and Salt Lake City, UT (though they, like most places now, offer virtual therapy). We discuss the difference between baby blues and postpartum depression as well as what you might be experiencing if you have postpartum anxiety.

Resources:
EPDS Scale. Contact your provider if you score above 10.
Postpartum Support International
Call 1-800-944-4773 to get in touch with someone in your area (this is outside of Utah) who can help you find your local resources.
Maternal Mental Health Resources in Utah

If you want to work with a provider at Reach Counseling, you can call at (801) 446-3515 or email at [email protected].

Article:
Collardeau, F., Corbyn, B., Abramowitz, J., Janssen, P. A., Woody, S., & Fairbrother, N. (2019). Maternal unwanted and intrusive thoughts of infant-related harm, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression in the perinatal period: Study protocol. BMC psychiatry, 19(1), 94. 

Follow along on The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Alyssa Hickert about the safety of medications in pregnancy including antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotics. She educates us on intrusive thoughts and how they showed up for her when she had her own baby.

TLDR: Many psychiatric medications are safe. It's important to have a discussion with your provider about the best choice for you.

We talk about the resource MotherToBaby which you can use to search for the medication you are on and receive digestible, evidence-based information about it during pregnancy. 

Articles Referenced During Episode

Maloney, S. E., Rogers, C. E., & Constantino, J. N. (2020). Antidepressants, pregnancy, and autism: Setting the record(s) straight. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 177(6), 479–481. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20040418

Perry, A., Gordon-Smith, K., Di Florio, A., Craddock, N., Jones, L., & Jones, I. (2021). Mood episodes in pregnancy and risk of postpartum recurrence in bipolar disorder: The Bipolar Disorder Research Network Pregnancy Study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 294, 714–722. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.07.067 

Smith, S., Martin, F., Rai, D., & Forbes, H. (2022). The association between antidepressant use during pregnancy and miscarriage: A systematic review and meta-analysis. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4046664.

The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

Follow along on The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

Jamie Hales works at Huntsman Mental Health Institute as an LCSW and is the co-chair of Postpartum Support International Utah Chapter.

She shares her personal journey which includes infertility, IVF, pregnancy loss, postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, birth trauma, and her partner's postpartum anxiety. She offers hope for others who experience perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and discusses tools for mental wellness using the SUNSHINE acronym.

SUNSHINE Acronym
Utah Provider SearchThe local support groups Jamie mentions during the episode (and others) can be found on this website if you filter by Support Group in the "Search by Provider Type(s)" box.
Postpartum Support International's Online Support Groups

You can call 801-585-1212 to reach the HMHI Downtown clinic to schedule an appointment or you can call 801-213-3770 to reach the HMHI Farmington clinic.

The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

The two articles I referenced at the end of the episode are the following:

Haßdenteufel, K., Feißt, M., Brusniak, K., Lingenfelder, K., Matthies, L. M., Wallwiener, M., & Wallwiener, S. (2020). Reduction in physical activity significantly increases depression and anxiety in the perinatal period: A longitudinal study based on a self-report digital assessment tool. Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 302(1), 53–64.

Cai, C., Busch, S., Wang, R., Sivak, A., & Davenport, M. H. (2022). Physical activity before and during pregnancy and maternal mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Journal of Affective Disorders, 309, 393–403. 

Follow along on The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

In this episode, we talk to Misty DeMann, LMFT who works at The EFT Clinic. We talk about the impact a child has on a relationship and how to maintain a healthy relationship during the postpartum period.

Resources discussed:

• Connection & Attachment: Romantic Relationships Edition by Thoughts on Thoughts
• Hold Me Tight by Dr. Sue Johnson
• PSI Utah Resources for Patients
• PSI Free Online Support Groups
• Mom and Mind Podcast: Rage in Motherhood

If you want to work with Misty, she offers her email during the episode, or contact her through her Psychology Today profile. 

The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

Follow along on The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

This episode features Lyndsey Proctor, LCSW owner of Serenity Recovery & Wellness. We talk all about boundaries: what they are, why they matter, who they benefit, and a formula for how to set them (a skill called DEAR MAN). We flesh out an example of how to set a boundary with a partner.

DEAR MAN Worksheet
Postpartum Support International Website
PSI Free Online Support Groups
Local Support Groups: filter for support groups in your area.
TIPP Skill for Intense Emotions
Radical Acceptance

Call (801) 984-0184 to contact Serenity to schedule an appointment with one of their therapists in person or online. Their offices are in Riverton and Provo, Utah.

Greaves, A. E., McKenzie, H., O'Brien, R., Roberts, A., & Alexander, K. (2021). The impact of including babies on the effectiveness of dialectical behaviour therapy skills groups in a community perinatal service. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 49(2), 172–184.

The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

Follow along on The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

Laura Parry, LCSW owns Roots & Branches Wellness in Lehi, Utah. We discuss self-compassion, matrescence, and inner child work.

Resources discussed in the episode:

• Find Maternal Mental Health Providers in Utah
• Kristin Neff's Self-Compassion Website 
• 5 Minute Self-Compassion Meditation
• Alexandra Sacks, MD TED Talk on Matrescence
• The Birth of A Mother, NY Times Article by Alexandra Sacks, MD
• Pregnant Women are Endurance Specialists
• Inner Child Work
• SUNSHINE Acronym
• SHRIMP Acronym: Partner Check-In
• Read the Self-Compassion Research

If you are interested in working with her or one of the other therapists at their practice, you can call or text (385) 352-3251 or message them on their website

Note: We briefly discuss intrusive thoughts during the episode. Intrusive thoughts are common, but for some people they can be a symptom of OCD or another PMAD, so don't hesitate to seek help if you are experiencing intrusive thoughts.

The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club

Follow along on The Sad Moms Club's Instagram: @the.sad.moms.club