About 15 parents stood in a circle at Blacklick Woods Metro Park in Reynoldsburg, braving the heat and humidity on a July evening.
All were blindfolded. One woman had her hand on her heart and the other on her stomach.
“I am enough as I am,” said Gading Levert, leading a guided meditation. “I welcome the rest of the moment and ease into everyday life. I speak my truth and ask what I need.”
The group gathered on July 24 as part of Root to Rise, an event where the founders of the organization Black Women In Nature took members of Rise – a maternal mental health organization dedicated to Black parents – on a walk in the park.
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Rise is a branch of Perinatal Outreach and Encouragement for Moms (POEM), a program of Mental Health America of Ohio that provides peer support groups, referrals, and education about pregnancy and mood and anxiety disorders for moms and families in Ohio. This may interest you : Health workers help keep Italian festival attendees safe by inspecting food vendors.
The nature walk closes out Rise for Black Maternal Mental Health Week, which later becomes part of National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month in July. The appointment acknowledges the struggles that underrepresented groups face regarding mental illness in the United States, according to Mental Health America.
To help, Rise provides a mentor program and referrals to counselors and psychiatrists of color, among other offerings.
“They provide a wrap-around service like a support group that happens often, and then they also call you depending on your pregnancy situation or in your life,” said member Tiffany Davis Hale, 30, of the East Side. “It’s really based on what you need and I like that.”
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Rise creates safe space for Black families
When 34-year-old Hailee Childs joined POEM as senior manager of community programs in 2019, Rise was already being developed by the organization. To see also : BLACKPINK ‘Ready for Love’ in New Music Video: Watch. His job was to promote it and organize the first support group.
“We started deliberately to make sure that we are in the doctor’s office, in the OB (obstetrician’s) office, the pediatrician’s office and in the WIC office (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) where our mothers are,” said the children.
POEM and Rise program coordinator Cass Stewart, 44, said the organization realized there was a gap in the care of women of color in Greater Columbus and the need for a separate branch.
According to the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety disorders are the most common complications of pregnancy and childbirth, affecting one in five people during pregnancy or after giving birth.
Black women are twice as likely to experience a mental health condition but only half as likely to receive treatment. More than 50% of postpartum depression cases for women of color go unreported, according to the alliance.
“We noticed that our services needed to be more culturally connected and specific to that group,” Stewart said. “So, Rise became something and started to grow.”
The number of referrals from health care providers increased significantly in the early days of the pandemic, especially when shutdown orders were put in place, Stewart said.
For this year so far, the number of referrals is at 576 people, Childs said.
Most of Rise’s support group meetings have been virtual for the past two years, but they will switch to in-person meetings at the end of August, he said.
Both Childs and Stewart know firsthand about this type of service. Both said they suffered from depression and anxiety after giving birth prematurely.
“I feel like I’m just using my superpowers to help other moms activate their superpowers, and that you really can do this,” Stewart said.
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Finding a community
One of the Rise members attending the most recent nature walk was Turquoise Connelly, who noted, as the group took their first break during the 1. On the same subject : Everything We Know About The New BTS Video Game ‘BTS Island: In the SEOM’.5-mile walk, how refreshing it was to be in nature with a group of Black women.
“Usually, when I go alone, I feel very on edge just feel physically alone and then know that people have expectations and their aggression towards Black people out in the forest; like you are not supposed to be there,” Connelly said. “But I don’t feel that way now.”
Connelly, who is non-binary and uses the pronoun they, said they felt alone after having their daughter Riley in 2020, suffering from postpartum depression and anxiety. Most of that stress was due to being diagnosed with postpartum preeclampsia, a condition that occurs when a person has high blood pressure soon after giving birth.
“It was really hard to breastfeed, and I had all these people (doctors and lactation groups) who would shame me when I was struggling to breastfeed and they wouldn’t give me medical support to help me increase my supply,” Connelly said. “And emotional resources are also lacking.”
The 33-year-old Franklinton resident has been prescribed two high blood pressure medications but still has trouble pumping milk. So, they switched to formula.
Connolly joined Rise in February and says her mental health has improved greatly. Members refer them to therapists to help with anxiety and depression and they feel welcomed into the group as LGBTQ people. One-year-old Riley even joined Connelly on nature walks.
Now pregnant with her second child, Connolly feels more prepared this time around.
“Poetry is an invaluable resource. It is valued.”
