Professional/Personal Experience and Education

I started my journey working with families in the perinatal period like many other people, after becoming a parent myself. I could not have imagined the profound transformation that I would go through - one moment a laboring expectant person and the next, a whole new person. Myself as a parent was someone I didn’t even know. From early in my own experience, I was fascinated by everything about birth, then breastfeeding, infant development, mothering, and onwards. I started working as a birth and postpartum doula. I loved birth and thought this would be my focus - being with families during one of the most intense and important moments of their lives. However, with my background in social services and peer counseling, I felt most connected and helpful when I was sitting with people and holding space for the transformation of who they were becoming. Supporting them to integrate the rocky and unexpected experiences of birth, postpartum, and parenting became my focus working as a postpartum doula.

I started to provide postpartum check-ins for new parents, meeting once or twice, or for weeks depending on the family. I would listen to their stories - about birth, about breastfeeding, and about their emotional wellbeing. As they shared their worries, their fears, their numbness, or their scary thoughts, I would reassure them when they were having a bumpy but otherwise normal adjustment. I would connect them to trusted resources, if they were experiencing something more. Sometimes, my job was to drive a new mom to the psychiatrist and hold her baby, and remind her to breathe when the panic on the highway set in.

In 2000, there was so little information about perinatal metal health disorders - for professionals or parents. There were no trainings, no certification, very few providers or practitioners. Those of us providing these this type of support for parents were learning through sitting with parents and connecting with each other and sharing what we knew. These services. much like today, were life saving. They became the foundation and launching pad for my career as a clinical social worker, a non-profit leader, and state and national advocate for improving care for perinatal mental health.

In 2003, with my co-parent and partner, I packed up my four year old, their pet rabbit, our two cats, and their two fish and moved from Chicago to Washington state to complete my clinical social work degree at University of Washington. Soon after, I discovered a small local grassroots organization called Postpartum Support International of Washington. On the side of my clinical day job, I began volunteering on their Warm Line, became a board member, and grew with the organization. In 2014, I stepped into a leadership role and dedicated the next 10 years growing the organization into an amazing statewide non-profit that has transformed our state care systems. As the Clinical Director, I oversaw several direct service programs including a state-wide parent support line, and developed and started two innovative programs - a culturally matched peer support program providing care to BIPOC families, and an online perinatal mental health clinic and training program providing specialized telehealth services across Washington state.

In 2024, I stepped away from PS-WA to get back to clinical work and grow my training and consultation services. In addition to clinical work, I currently sit on several state wide workgroups focused on improving access to mental health care, I work with state agencies to provide consultation and training, and I continue to focus on bringing equitable access to care for all communities and families in WA state.