12. Kristina Dulaney: Caring for Johnson City moms dealing with childbirth-related mental health issues

If you’re a mom, considering becoming a mom, are married to or in a relationship with someone who may eventually become a mom...I hope you find today’s conversation helpful. Today I’m talking with Kristina Dulaney. Kristina is a registered nurse, a mom, and founder of a Johnson City nonprofit called Cherished Mom. Cherished Mom provides education and support to moms, partners, spouses and caregivers around issues of perinatal mental health. Now if I just ran right past you with some of those words, don’t worry. I had to Google some of it, too. Perinatal just means related to, or along with, pregnancy and childbirth. Kristina has deep, first-hand experience with perinatal mental health issues, and in today’s show she’s sharing her story of the issues she experienced following the births of both of her children, and in particular, her descent into postpartum psychosis. Perinatal mental health is a huge issue, and in the interview Kristina shares a staggering statistic with me about how pervasive mental health issues are for new moms. I think we can all learn a lot from Kristina’s story. And finally, before we start, just a word of caution. While there’s nothing graphic in this episode, the last thing I would want to do is re-traumatize anyone who has experienced postpartum anxiety, depression, bipolar or psychosis in the past. If there’s a possibility today’s show might re-awaken some hard things for you, let’s just agree to meet again for our next episode. Johnson City Living is a proud member of the Market Street Media family of podcasts. Market Street Media makes starting a podcast insanely simple.