Category Archives: Mental Health

It’s Happening Again

0 comments Mental Health, Motherhood, Racism, Social Justice , , ,

At first, I didn’t even recognize it because I have tried so hard to push past the pain, to revel in spring’s sunshine instead of the doldrums of the day. I’ve turned off the TV, refused to watch the videos, tried to ignore the social media commentary, yet it still caught up with me. It’s happening again. George Floyd’s murder trial, Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo Anguish as the dread in the pit of my stomach resurfaces Unfathomable fear as I watch my black son, my literal heart outside my chest, navigate a world that views him, his innocence, his existence, […]

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Who’s Checking on Mom: The Necessity of the 4th Trimester

0 comments Mental Health, Motherhood, Women's Mental Health , , , ,

The Trimesters Expectant parents need only to google “pregnancy trimesters” and in two seconds find themselves inundated with everything from blog posts to detailed infographics chronicling the baby’s growth and development over the next 10 months of gestation. Need to know how big baby is at 24 weeks, the ins and outs of the oral glucose tolerance test, or the signs of labor – the internet has answers. Pregnant mommies see the Obstetrician 12+ times over the course pregnancy to ensure that baby is healthy and growing as expected and to reduce the risk of obstetrical complications for both mom […]

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Thick, Heavy Love

0 comments Mental Health, Motherhood, Self-Care

Thin love? “Love is or it ain’t. Thin love ain’t love at all.” These are the words Sethe uttered to Paul D in Beloved, the haunting novel written by the late Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning author Toni Morrison.   Thin love is shallow, fleeting, incapable of climbing hills or moving through valleys for it loses its energy along the journey. But thick love is that heavy love, its depth immeasurable, vast and wide. Thick love nurtures, creates space, speaks loudly even in silence, and always shows up. It wraps itself around itself and still makes room to envelop others […]

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On the Front Lines: Battling Mommy Burnout

0 comments Mental Health, Motherhood, Women's Mental Health , , , , ,

A version of this blog originally appeared on Birmingham Moms Collective Busy, Busy, Busy Let’s be honest, mamas. We were doing too much before COVID – hello the invisible workload of motherhood, all that other stuff we do to ensure our household runs smoothly like getting kids ready for school, baths and bedtime routines, scheduling doctor and dentist appointments, and registering for summer camp and such. Now, almost a year later from when life as we once knew it came to a screeching halt, we have even more tacked on to our already overflowing to-do list. Lines and roles remain […]

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Suicide While Black

0 comments Children's Mental Health, Family, Health, Health Education, Mental Health, Racism, Social Justice

Sound the alarm Black children are in danger. From trauma to poverty to educational inequality to racism, our children face very real threats to their mental health every day. I distinctly remember being taught during my psychiatric residency training that black people don’t typically die by suicide; but sadly, this just isn’t true. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States and the 2nd leading cause of death for people ages 10 – 34 years of age. For black youth, suicide is on the rise. In 2015, Jeffrey Bridge et al. discovered that suicide rates among […]

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What COVID-19 is Still Teaching Me

0 comments Faith, Family, Mental Health , , , , ,

Honestly, there are many moments when I am utterly amazed that COVID-19 is still here. Still! We are still wearing masks, we are still sheltering-in-place, we are still opting not to visit most of our family, and we are still choosing to postpone most of our travel plans. While there are still a lot of things that we are not yet comfortable doing thanks to this global pandemic, the COVID-19 experience continues to teach me some important life lessons. COVID-19 Lessons The peace that is unbusyness – Busyness is my thing. I’m always busy – hustlin’ and juggling work marriage, […]

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