With four kids under the age of six between psychologist friends, Chelsea Bodie and Caitlin Slavens bonded over the challenges of motherhood and launched an Instagram page in early 2020 called ‘Mama Psychologists’.
That online community inspired the duo to collaborate on a book published early this year.
“A lot of the books that are out there — (the reason) we called it Not your Mothers Postpartum Book — are from our mother’s generation. So the couple decades ago where it doesn’t necessarily talk about postpartum anxiety, like the mental load, like setting boundaries, body image, birth trauma — it’s really missing from that book community,” said Slavens.
Bodie’s firstborn was in the NICU around the time Slavens was experiencing postpartum anxiety.
“We really went through these experiences and found we’re trained to do this, we should know the coping strategies, we should know how to handle these things, and we felt super isolated and alone,” said Bodie. “When we were going through that, we thought we can’t be the only ones.”
Released on Jan. 17, Not Your Mother’s Postpartum Book covers topics like pregnancy loss, intimacy and returning to work post-baby.
Both women already worked in child and adolescent psychology, and added maternal mental health once they became mothers.
They emphasized it was important for them to put out a research-backed book.
“We really wanted reputable information going out there,” said Bodie.
As the old saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, and Bodie and Slavens want mother’s to know they are not alone.
“You don’t have to suffer in silence, you don’t have to just push through it. There are resources, there is support, there is education and information out there that can help ease that journey,” said Bodie.