Dear Moms, Dads, grandparents and anyone who knows or loves a mom or future mom!
I want to share a cause with you that is near and dear to my heart. On June 23rd, 2018, I have the pleasure of leading a team of moms, dads, and families in this years Climb Out of the Darkness® (COTD) event. Climb Out of the Darkness® is the world’s largest awareness and fundraising event focused specifically on maternal mental health issues like postpartum depression and anxiety. It is held on or around June 23rd (the summer solstice – the longest day of the year), in an effort to shed as much light as possible on this important topic.
As a survivor of postpartum anxiety myself, this cause and the desire to spread awareness around it, is incredibly important to me. Postpartum depression/anxiety/OCD is actually the #1 complication after childbirth for women, and 1 in 7 mothers are affected. Of those 1 in 7 – many go undiagnosed and untreated for months or even years. It can be incredibly challenging to diagnose because it presents in so many different ways.
My personal story was one of the unique situations where most people (including professionals in the field!) were unsure of what was happening. The first six months following the birth of my son were utter magic – I felt beyond lucky and even a bit in awe of how well everything was going. When my son turned six months old, I started to experience small feelings of anxiety – some days were tough, others were fine. I knew about postpartum depression (but not postpartum anxiety) so I started doing some reading. Since my son was already six months old though, nothing seemed to fit my description, so I shrugged it off. Things got worse, much worse. People close to me knew something was wrong and some encouraged me to talk to a doctor, but others suggested I make more time for myself, do mindfulness routines, other stress relieving activities, personal journaling or do therapy. While these things can often help moms with minor cases of postpartum depression/anxiety – I was well beyond this stage and did need the help of medical professionals. Luckily, my amazing husband did an incredible amount of research and discovered Postpartum Support International(PSI). The volunteers there connected him with a maternal health specialist in Atlanta who then connected us with an amazing team of doctors at a program at UNC. AND now I am thriving and get to be the mom I always dreamt of being for my son - and hopefully some future siblings????
My team and I will be walking around the Grange Lake at Serenbe in Chattahoochee Hills, GA on Saturday, June 23rd at 10:00am. After enjoying coffee, breakfast treats, and some fun games for the kids, there will be several prize giveaways for moms, dads, family members and kids. Then, we will walk around Grange Lake – you can do one loop or 10!
I hope you can join us on this walk. If you cannot attend (or in addition to walking!), please consider a donation to this amazing cause. Since this is my first year hosting a climb – I set a simple goal of $500. Please know that no amount is too small and the PSI GA State Chapter (of which I am a volunteer), gets to keep 100% of the funds my team raises. These funds will allow our chapter to continue educating mothers and families, as well as training providers about maternal mental health issues like postpartum depression and anxiety.
You can visit this link to join my team and walk with us or to make a donation https://climb-out-2018.causevox.com/team/serenbe. You can also learn more about the PSI GA Chapter and the incredible work they do by visiting: www.psiga.org or www.facebook.com/psigachapter. All donations are tax deductible and checks can be made out to Postpartum Support International. Thank you so much for your consideration.
Kara
