S1E2 - Reclaiming Part 2: Understanding Postpartum's Lasting Impact on Motherhood & Well-being (w/ Vanessa Leveille)
What you’ll hear:
00:05:00 - Mom Brain…. Feeling like you’re not yourself anymore. Experiencing forgetfulness after giving birth?
00:10:00 - Ambivalence and changes in motherhood… Conflicting feelings. How long does postpartum last?
00:15:00 - Matrescence and therapy… Vanessa explores the science of becoming a mother. Does your therapist understand the postpartum experience and the science around it?
00:20:00 - “Joy work”… Doing the things that bring you joy outside of mothering your children. What do you like to do for fun on your terms?
00:25:00 - Remembering your mom’s mothering… Vanessa reminisces about the love of her own mom, who passed when Vanessa was 10 years old. What do you remember about how your mom mothered you?
00:30:00 - Therapists who get it (or don’t)… Vanessa shares her experience as a therapist who did not always understand what her clients were experiencing. Can your therapist hear and understand what you’re saying?
00:35:00 - Honesty in your practice… Handling your mom clients with care. How can therapists better serve new moms?
In this powerful continuation of the "Reclaiming" conversation, Matrescence Expert Vanessa Leveille and I dive deeper into the often-misunderstood realities of motherhood and postpartum recovery.
We challenge the notion that postpartum is a short-lived phase, highlighting research that suggests it can span a decade or more, with continuous recalibration of a mother's body and mind. Vanessa emphasizes the critical need for "joy work" – finding personal happiness independent of roles as a mother, partner, or professional – as a vital component of healing and sustainable mothering, especially in addressing the common experience of mothers losing themselves in motherhood.
Our discussion underscores the importance of providers with lived experience and empathy when supporting postpartum mothers, and Vanessa concludes by advocating for the essential "spaciousness" mothers need to maintain their well-being. This episode offers profound insights for any mother seeking to understand and reclaim herself amidst the transformative journey of motherhood.
Key themes and insights from the conversation include:
Postpartum as a Long-Term Process: Vanessa, as a Matrescence Expert, challenges the common misconception that postpartum recovery ends at 6 weeks or 12 months, stating that research suggests it can last a decade or more. She explains how the body and brain undergo significant and continuous recalibration with each child, affecting physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Postpartum health is not just about postpartum depression.
The Importance of Joy Work and Holistic Support: Vanessa advocates for a holistic approach to supporting postpartum mothers, which goes beyond just mental health to include nutrition, nervous system regulation, and "joy work." Joy, she explains, is finding personal happiness outside of one's children, partner, or work, and is crucial for healing, recovery, and sustainable mothering… addressing the common idea that one can lose themselves in motherhood.
Provider Experience and Empathy: Vanessa stresses the importance of therapists having relevant expertise and, ideally, lived experience when working with postpartum mothers. She shares how becoming a mother herself profoundly changed her ability to provide effective support to her clients, allowing for a deeper understanding and "communal mothering" in the therapeutic space.
Need for Spaciousness: Vanessa concludes by emphasizing her personal need for "spaciousness" as a mother and individual—time and room to be all of herself, disconnected from her roles, to maintain her well-being and maternal mental health.
Up Next: Join me NEXT MONTH when my good friend, Lauren Turner, enters the chat. You’re going to want to hear Lauren’s stories about her life as an accomplished, professional opera singer, the Director of Fine Arts at a K-12 school and College, a wife, and a mom of seven children… If you ask me, Lauren should be on someone’s “Under 40” list. YEAH, you read that right. So plan to be here. (Airs September 1, 2025)
