Maggie Gordon-Walker is delighted to speak to Becky Barnicoat, a mother to two boys, about her #matrescence, the juggle of motherhood with her creativity and much more.

Becky is a cartoonist and writer for The New Yorker, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Grazia, and many more. Before becoming a full-time cartoonist, she spent 10 years working as an editor and writer at The Guardian.

She is the author of the graphic memoir Cry When the Baby Cries, a darkly funny account of her first years as a parent.

Instagram @beckybarnicomics

Maggie is the founder and director of Mothers Uncovered; which runs peer-led creative groups for mothers to share experiences. She is an award-winning advocate for matrescence, having written articles and spoken at events.

www.mothersuncovered.com

Instagram: maggiegordonwalker; mothers_uncovered

Maggie speaks to the inspirational Sam Southern, who is a devoted mother of five children and a stepdaughter, navigating the complexities of life after losing her husband to suicide. As a manager of a service in Blackpool, she draws on her lived experiences to project manage initiatives that support those affected by suicide. She is a passionate advocate for suicide postvention support. Her journey has fueled her commitment to raising awareness and providing compassionate support to others facing similar challenges, and she strives to foster understanding and healing within the community. Sam will share details of her husband's suicide and references to domestic abuse, so please be mindful if that is something that you will find upsetting.

Sam can be found on Instagram @sammysuns

Ashleigh Houlton is a former beauty features editor. She’s now a mum of a 3 year old son, with a blog on motherhood. She has had many hurdles in her journey, both to motherhood and thereafter, having experienced adenomyosis, described as the ‘the evil sister of endometriosis’.

The indomitable Ashley has not let it stop her. She makes sense of her new sphere of life on Substack and Instagram as MotherVerse, where she tackles taboo topics such as birth trauma, PTSD and parenting with chronic illnesses. 

https://motherverse.substack.com/about

Kelly Thistlethwaite is a trauma informed yoga and breath work instructor and nervous system educator working with pregnant women and new mothers to aid their general health and well-being. She is a #matrescence

She has a particular interest in supporting women following birth trauma and loss. The passion for this comes from her pain of experiencing pregnancy loss and a rare ectopic pregnancy. This led her to co-founding a pioneering online support platform called FLY Mama. https://www.flymama.co.uk/

Edited by Vladimir Jaksic https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladimir-jaksic-37629640/

When I became aware of the word matrescence, meaning the process of becoming a mother, I could see immediately the importance of it. The word was coined by anthropologist Dana Raphael in 1973, but is not well known in the UK outside of medical circles, unlike the very familiar adolescence. Both are times of hormonal fluctuations and bodily changes, when a new identity emerges and

Why is this word important? What’s in a name, after all? Quite a lot, I think. Currently there is no term in common usage to describe this point in a woman’s life. The

Every single person on this planet has, or had, a mother. There are countless studies that point to the impact of upbringing in later life. It is time we took it seriously and championed matrescence.