No images? Click here PARENT NEWSLETTER | FALL 2021 'Reflecting Pool' by @lexlunastudio for PS-WA parents IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
What's New? PS-WA is doing more than ever to help perinatal families through times of transition in a global pandemic. Our Parent Resilience Program, which launched in 2021, has provided culturally-matched peer support to over 50 families in King County. Parent Resilience Specialists use their lived experience as peers and are highly trained in Perinatal Mental Health to support their participants with culturally-matched care for the Black/African American, Latinx/Spanish-Speaking and Indigenous communities of King County. This program is FREE and participant-driven. Please check our website for further information about this program! Our Clinical Therapy Program boasts its second year providing accessible, low-barrier online therapy for perinatal clients across Washington State. To learn more about the incoming providers, see more at this link. The Warm Line has been ringing off the hook and we are currently having our busiest year yet! This uptick in callers has required more leadership from our wonderful volunteers and we are always accepting applications to volunteer. We now have a more expansive list including dads, multilingual support and a varied background of perinatal experiences from our Warm Line volunteers (see below for our Warm Line volunteer highlight). If you're interested in volunteering, please see this interest form for more information. Need to talk with a peer on the Warm Line? Please call or text 888.404.7763 - we are here to support you!
This fall, we are
offering a drop-in
support group for Black/African American parents
co-facilitated by our Parent Resilience Specialist, Latonia, and one of our Clinical Externs, Marquita, called “Call and Response.”
Interested in joining our PS-WA team? We are looking for therapists in King and Pierce County as well as clinical externs, a Latinx/Spanish-Speaking Parent Resilience Specialist, and volunteers! Learn more here. Volunteer Highlight PS-WA has some phenomenal volunteers and one on them has just hit their two year anniversary volunteering on the Warm Line! To celebrate, we have included a highlight on Kim! To demonstrate just how lucky we are to have her with PS-WA for the last two years. I had a chance to chat with volunteer, Kim, to get a better understanding of what her time on the Warm Line has been like. First off, let's find out how Kim was first introduced to the Warm Line. Kim: We had a pregnancy loss at 20 weeks right before I got pregnant with my now-5 year old. Needless to say, that was a difficult experience which set me up for an anxiety-filled pregnancy and postpartum time. I was overjoyed to have my rainbow baby, but I was full of sleep deprivation-exacerbated anxiety, especially because he was having some weight-gaining issues at the beginning. I saw a flyer about PS-WA’s Warm Line in a mom and baby group I was attending. It took me awhile to muster up the courage to call, but I finally did and after that initial life-changing conversation I had with a volunteer, the seed was planted that maybe I could volunteer on the Warm Line someday. What have you gained working on the Warm Line? I have gained confidence that resources are out there and if we all work together, we CAN support families where they’re at and get them going on their healing journeys. It is so rewarding to be able to listen to others’ stories and know I can be a support person, even for a short time. Do you have any overarching advice for a person experiencing a perinatal mood and/or anxiety disorder? My advice would be to reach out sooner than later. Don’t wait. Even if you’re not sure it’s even “officially” a perinatal mood and/or anxiety disorder, ALL new moms and families need help and support. Reach out, be honest about what’s going on even if it’s hard to, and then lean on those supports that are there. What does a call on the Warm Line often look like when speaking with a parent? I’ve seen a lot of callers lately who are experiencing anxiety and mild depression. It seems the pandemic has exacerbated the anxiety (understandably!) and then the increased isolation has probably exacerbated the depression. People are struggling but at the same time, so many are bravely reaching out, knowing they deserve to feel better than they are. What role have you seen peer support play? Usually people want peer support while they’re working on getting started with a therapist. It can be hard to wait between reaching out and getting professional help. That’s where peer support comes in. Assisting getting families the help ASAP, but also being available for support during the waiting period. Interested in getting involved? PS-WA is currently recruiting peer volunteers to answer calls and texts on the Warm Line. To learn more about volunteering please follow this link. Wellness Wheels The wellness wheels (follow the link to download/print), identify 8 key areas of wellness. They help us identify areas of internal strength and resilience. They show us areas to devote time, emphasis and attention in order to support your wellness journey. Taking time to devote to our "wellness" sometimes feels vague and overwhelming, the wellness wheels give you a starting point. The wheels include Food, Movement, Sacred Space, Community, Connection to Earth/Place, Peacefulness, Sleep and Therapy/Medication. You could also add more wheels of your own! Using these wheels can provide a focus point for you to develop wellness goals. Helping you to prioritize yourself when sometimes that can feel like an overwhelming task, on top of everything else life is throwing at us. Easy Quick Meal: Black Bean Quesadillas Sometimes you need a meal that is quick, you can eat with one hand, and only needs one pan to make. The quesadilla hits all those requirements. You can fancy it up with some tofu or chicken or simplify with some cheese and beans. Either way it will give you a protein boost to get you through the day... or night! Ingredients
Directions
Thank you to our newsletter sponsor! WARM LINE: 1-888-404-7763 (PPMD), Se habla español Support, Education, Referral With your support, we can shine a light on perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and give families the care they need. |