Welcome to the sixth episode of the Wisdom for Wellbeing Podcast. On this episode I interview Tiffany De Sousa Machado, a brilliant innovator, researcher, and parental advocate.
This episode is going to resonate with all the mumma’s out there, but I think it will hit home more broadly in the discussion around the importance of community and exploration of how we can create this in our modern world. You will, no doubt, feel connected to Tiffany as she transparently shares her own losses and challenges, including her lived experience with postpartum depression, and her struggles balancing her work and family. Tiffany also shares sociological reflections, which offer a useful framework from which to understand the all-to-common experience of postpartum stress and isolation.
I just want to remind you that as this is the first week of the Wisdom for Wellbeing Podcast – I’m celebrating by releasing multiple episodes! So subscribe, and keep your eyes open for the next episodes.
We also have some really cool contests happening on social media where you can win some beautiful gifts to support your wellbeing journey, so head to @drkaitlin on Instagram or @wisdomforwellbeingpod on Facebook to connect. You will find links to the brands involved at the bottom of the show notes, as well as the T&Cs.
What is covered in this episode:
>> Motherhood challenges ranging from IVF, to expectations, and postpartum depression
>> How the transition to motherhood can be a period of grieving as well as celebration
>> The need for safe places where you can be honest about how you are feeling
>> Looking at parenthood as a skill (and anything can be learned!), rather than as an instinct
>> The struggle of when we are becoming parents later-in-life, within a culture with a strong focus on education, work, status and achievement
>> The need for individualised motherhood support and the importance of matching your lifestyle to honour your values
>> Cultivating community in parenthood, and the role of Mothers Groups, family, or an app like The Village Foundation
>> The two questions never to ask a new parent, and two more helpful alternatives
Links Discussed
Next episode:
The next episode is going to be a bonus! We will sneak it in before our regular release on #WellbeingWednesday.
So subscribe now, and you’ll get to hear all about the process of becoming mighty! Dr. Jill Stoddard discusses her new book Be Mighty – A Woman’s guide to Liberation from Anxiety, Worry & Stress Using Mindfulness & Acceptance, and how you can ‘be the fierce Me you are meant to be.’ You will find Dr. Stoddard’s wisdom empowering and practical, as she shares both strategies to connect to the ‘sweet’ moments that bring you joy in your life, as well as insights into understanding how your early experiences have contributed to unhelpful beliefs about yourself and others (your suit of amour, so to speak).
Dr. Jill Stoddard is a clinical psychologist and director of The Center for Stress and Anxiety Management, a multisite outpatient clinic offering Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for anxiety and related issues. She is an award-winning teacher, peer-reviewed ACT trainer, co-host of the Psychologists Off the Clock podcast, and blogger for Psychology Today. Dr. Stoddard is the co-author of The Big Book of ACT Metaphors: A Practitioner’s Guide to Experiential Exercises and Metaphors in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and author of Be Mighty: A Woman’s Guide to Liberation from Anxiety, Worry, and Stress Using Mindfulness and Acceptance. She received her PhD from Boston University in 2007. When she’s not writing, counseling her fierce clients, speaking, or podcasting, she’s spending time with her amazing family, friends, and dogs, feeling grateful for this mighty life.
Tiffany de Sousa Machado
Tiffany de Sousa Machado is the founder of The Village Foundation and researcher in the area of women’s health, perinatal health, postnatal depression and family and workplace wellbeing. She is currently completing her PhD in Psychology/Business, focussing on brining parents together to aid in the pressures of family and professional life. Tiffany is the mother of two girls, stepmother to five. She has lived experience with postpartum depression and the challenges that brings to personal and family health. Village was created as a tool to prevent postpartum stress and isolation, to create communities of support within corporate Australia, and the public, and to increase productivity and staff retention within the workplace. Tiffany’s vision is that every parent has support.
