I always welcome opportunities to share my expertise with others. I particularly enjoy educating people about mental health myths and empowering them to seek the care they deserve. If you or your organization has a topic you would like to me to address, please feel free to contact me directly at 216.870.9816 or ssmith@lakefrontpsychology.com.
Motherhood Stress: Creating Compassion & Reducing Guilt
- Explore the spectrum of motherhood stress
- Internal sources of stress: high expectations, perfectionism, social comparisons, inadequacy
- External sources of stress: sleep deprivation, hormone changes, unpredictable lifestyle, financial worries, health concerns
- Social sources of stress: partner expectations, extended family pressures, conflict among family members, community culture
- Understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy guilt
- Healthy guilt can produce change in line with values
- Unhealthy guilt leads to becoming stuck and overwhelmed
- Review strategies to better manage motherhood stress and guilt
- Changing the internal sources of stress and high expectations
- Identify specific strategies to address these unhealthy habits
- Developing healthy social support and lifestyle
- The role of therapy
- Create a community approach to wellness
- Strategies to create a network of support that changes the community culture
- Encouraging each other to practice the skills that keep us healthy
Managing Stress with Mindfulness
- Understanding the scope of the problem with stress
- Review health, emotional, and relationship consequences related to unmanaged stress
- Consider the healthy benefits of stress
- Explore the role of thoughts in the experience of stress
- Explore options for managing stress
- Identify modifiable factors to reduce stress
- Review the mindfulness approach to address stress
- Identify the stress management skills that work best for you
- Understand each person’s personal style and areas for improvement
- Develop an individualized plan to begin managing stress better immediately
- Practice a guided meditation with mindfulness
Postpartum Challenges: Managing the Changes in Mood, Relationships, and Identity
- Understand the full scope of postpartum mental health challenges
- Depression, Anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Psychosis
- Learn the signs and symptoms of each condition
- Differentiate the levels of risk associated with these symptoms
- Explore the experience of postpartum challenges on partners
- Recognize the prevalence of partner depression
- Learn the unique signs and symptoms of depression in men postpartum
- Understand common relationship challenges postpartum
- Normalize the high degree of stress and frustration in the relationship postpartum
- Review basic strategies to help couples remain connected as teammates
- Explore the identity changes associated with becoming a parent
- Learn about options for better managing these challenges
- Overview of treatment strategies to assist with postpartum challenges
- Explore how to find a treatment that best meets your needs and personal style
- Instill hope
Helping Your Relationship Thrive During the Postpartum Phase
- Provide overview of the common challenges to the relationship during the postpartum period
- Stress, sleep deprivation, identity shift, loss of intimacy
- Review the research exploring these topics
- Identify key strategies to improve the relationship
- Manage stress as a team
- Cool down conflicts
- Improve communication with effective listening skills
- Encourage warmth and playfulness
- Create opportunities for healthy intimacy
- Explore options for relationship improvement
- Identify available support systems
- Consider couples workshop weekends
- Review couples therapy options, benefits, and timing
- How to find the option that’s right for you