Healing the Tigress

Many of you have heard or read about Dr. Jasmine's postpartum depression story and know that insomnia was a huge piece of the story. While "postpartum insomnia" is not a true technical diagnosis, many moms have reached out to her about feeling so lost, confused, and unseen in their insomnia struggles after having a baby too -- especially after Jasmine's recent appearance on Rachael's (@heysleepybaby) podcast No One Told Us.So to kick off Maternal Mental Health Month, Peggy will be interviewing Jasmine to dive deeper into Jasmine's insomnia story that she hasn't shared before. We go over the scary 48-hour period where Jasmine couldn't fall asleep, the medications she tried, and the treatment modalities that helped Jasmine get better, including EMDR. We also discuss other options like CBT-I and how that can be helpful for those suffering with insomnia.We hope this episode helps those moms who have felt unseen in their insomnia struggles and perhaps highlight some potential treatment options. Maybe sharing this episode with a friend can also help explain what you're going through right now too. Each person's journey will be unique, but we get it--sleep is so important and can be so hard to come by. But there is hope and you can get well again!Resources:EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)EMDR Therapist DirectoryCBT-I (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - Insomnia)CBT-I Provider DirectoryWhy We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker, PhDNo One Told Us podcast episode that Jasmine was a guest forFor those who don't know about Jasmine:Dr. Jasmine is a mom of one and a clinical pharmacist with a doctorate in Pharmacy as well as a perinatal mental health certification (PMH-C). She is a survivor of severe postpartum depression, anxiety, and insomnia and a past Peer Mentor volunteer for Postpartum Support International (PSI). As a fierce maternal mental health advocate and a second-generation Taiwanese American, she also co-hosts a podcast called Healing the Tigress, which features conversations around Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) maternal mental health. She writes on her Pearls of Jasmine newsletter, blog, and Instagram about motherhood topics, mental health de-stigmatization, and gentle parenting. Some of her writing has been featured in places like Mother.ly and Psyched Mommy, and she was interviewed for a PPD story in Women's Health magazine last fall.If you enjoy our podcast and our mission, please take a momenSend us your thoughts!Support the show✨ If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast for access to more bonus episodes, please click here for Buzzsprout Subscriptions! Once subscribed, you can use an RSS feed to listen from any of your podcast platforms. Thanks in advance for your support, as this really helps us keep the show going! ❤️ (Think of it like buying us a boba...to share! 😉🧋)

We are thrilled to have Allison Livingston on our podcast for today's episode to talk about her lived experience with perinatal obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and postpartum depression (PPD). Allison is a Korean-American adoptee and a mom of two. She has a B.A. in International Business and a M.A. in Early Childhood Education. Allison was a teacher for 5 years and then things shifted after she had her daughter.In this episode, we talk about Allison's journey of diagnosing her postpartum OCD. Perinatal OCD is the most misunderstood and misdiagnosed of the perinatal mental health disorders. It can affect as many as 3-5% of mothers and perinatal women have up to 2x greater risk of OCD than the general population. Many women also have comorbid depression, and Allison's OCD was not initially recognized in addition to her PPD. We talk about how Allison finally got the right diagnosis, some of the obsessions and compulsions she had, and most importantly how she recovered. Allison openly talks about taking medications for OCD and the Exposure and Response Prevention therapy she did. We talk about the difference between intrusive thoughts versus psychosis. And even though it was not an easy journey, Allison provides optimism for recovery--even going on to have a second child, which she was much more prepared for.Through learning more about her own condition and recovering, Allison is now a fierce advocate for maternal mental health. She co-facilitates the Perinatal OCD Support Group for Parents at Postpartum Support International (PSI), and she is also PSI's International Coordinator Manager. With her lived experience, she was also asked to be on the International OCD Foundation's Public Awareness subcommittee of the Perinatal OCD Task Force.We hope this episode will help others (including providers!) understand perinatal OCD more and normalize medications and therapy for treating OCD. We also want this episode to provide hope for those out there suffering with perinatal OCD; there is treatment and you can be well again!Find more of Allison here:LinkedInBlog: https://atwoq.blogspot.com/Resources:PSI Perinatal OCD Support Group for ParentsPSI Perinatal OCD Support Groups for MomsU.S. Dept of Human & Health Services Talking PPD Campaign--Allison's VideoNOCD: https://www.treatmyocd.com/International OCD Foundation: https://iocdf.org/If you enjoy our podcast and our mission to shine light on conversations and stories of AAPI mothers, please take a moment to leave us a review! Note: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speakers' own. This podcast is not a replacement for therapy or professional/medical advice. Send us your thoughts!Support the show✨ If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast for access to more bonus episodes, please click here for Buzzsprout Subscriptions! Once subscribed, you can use an RSS feed to listen from any of your podcast platforms. Thanks in advance for your support, as this really helps us keep the show going! ❤️ (Think of it like buying us a boba...to share! 😉🧋)

TW: Topics of miscarriage and suicide are briefly discussed in this episode. You may recognize our next guest from a New York Times story featuring real-life women's stories on postpartum depression last summer. In this episode, we talk with Shivani Hiralal about her experiences with miscarriages, an ectopic pregnancy, a traumatic birth, and then postpartum depression.Amidst the roller coaster of emotions on her road to becoming a mother, Shivani describes moving to a new state while pregnant during the pandemic and then having to perform CPR on her husband unexpectedly while she was 35 weeks along and enduring an ICU stay for him. Through listening to her story, it highlights that there are so many things that can contribute to perinatal anxiety and mood disorders, starting from the conceiving journey. Shivani describes how being a woman of color felt like another disadvantage in getting the help she desperately sought out in the healthcare system.Additionally, you may remember in Episode 2 of Healing the Tigress, we talked with Nima Bhakta's sister, Priya Bhakta, about Nima's postpartum depression story leading to a devastating suicide ending. Shivani’s husband was a close childhood friend of Nima’s. We hear about when Shivani first met Nima and then how Nima’s story further fueled Shivani’s desire to be a fierce advocate for perinatal mental health by continuing to share her story.Shivani shares some exciting work happening at PSI soon and about the power of support groups. It can be hard as AAPI folks to consider support groups and openly share our hard moments in motherhood, but Shivani also helps destigmatize support groups and highlight how they can help.Shivani Hiralal is a South Asian mother with a background as a trained yoga and mindfulness guide. She has worked with pregnant and postpartum patients on their journeys to parenthood. Her commitment and passion for advocating for perinatal mental health led her to join Postpartum Support International (PSI) as their Marketing Strategist. Additionally, she facilitates the South Asian Support Group at PSI and is currently on track to receive her PMH-C. She hopes to continue to live her life's mission of de-stigmatizing mental health, specifically, perinatal mental health in South Asian communities and around the world.Find more of Shivani at:Instagram: www.instagram.com/shiralal25NYT Article feature: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/27/well/mind/postpartum-depression-mental-health.htmlPSI Asian, Pacific Islander, Desi Moms Support Group (FREE!)And if you or someone you know is having thoughts of self-harm, please call or text:1. National Crisis and Suicide Hotline: 9882. National Maternal Mental Health Hotline: 1-833-852-6262 (1-833-TLC-MAMA)3. Postpartum Support International Hotline: 1-800-944-4773Note: The views, thoughts, and opinions expresseSend us your thoughts!Support the show✨ If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast for access to more bonus episodes, please click here for Buzzsprout Subscriptions! Once subscribed, you can use an RSS feed to listen from any of your podcast platforms. Thanks in advance for your support, as this really helps us keep the show going! ❤️ (Think of it like buying us a boba...to share! 😉🧋)

Recently we had an episode on the decision to have just one child, but there is another side to “one and done” families who may not be this way by choice. We offer a Trigger Warning before you listen that this episode does talk about miscarriage.For this episode, we sit down with Val from @thewabisabimama to talk about her motherhood story. Val is a fourth-generation Japanese American mother, who shares the beauty of imperfections and impermanence in motherhood—the meaning behind the Japanese phrase “wabi sabi.” She also shares on her Instagram account the ways she is trying to keep her family’s cultural heritage alive and how she is creating her own family traditions with her son.In this episode, we talk with Val about how she may be one and done, but not exactly by choice. During the first half of the episode, we hear about Val’s experience with her son’s colic and her experience with postpartum depression. In the second half of the episode, we dive into the feelings of grief over a miscarriage Val had a couple years ago and is still perhaps not done grieving.The topic over this miscarriage is more complex in Val’s situation because she had actually mentally prepared to be done having kids, but then she got pregnant again and had a glimmer of hope for a brief window. After the miscarriage, Val ran more tests and then learned that secondary fertility was in the picture. Val shared with us that even though she is grateful for her son, it’s hard to be in the “one and done” group especially when she does wish to have another child. But she is trying to find and come to the peace of having a single child family. We talk about the grief and gratitude around this and about normalizing the invisible grief over miscarriages in general. We hope this conversation might be helpful for anyone who is still grieving a miscarriage or hoping to expand their family know that they are not alone in these feelings.Find more of Val at:Instagram: www.instagram.com/thewabisabimamaOther resources:Jasmine's Substack Newsletter on being "One and Won"If you enjoy our podcast and our mission to shine light on conversations and stories of AAPI mothers, please take a moment to leave us a review! Reviews help us become more visible and we really want this podcast to reach more AAPI parents who may need it. You may also follow us @healingthetigress on Instagram and TikTok. Thank you for tuning in!Note: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speakers' own. This podcast is not a replacement for therapy or professional/medical advice. If you need more support or advice, please reach out to your own medical professional who can answer your questions with your individual medical history and background in context.Send us your thoughts!Support the show✨ If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast for access to more bonus episodes, please click here for Buzzsprout Subscriptions! Once subscribed, you can use an RSS feed to listen from any of your podcast platforms. Thanks in advance for your support, as this really helps us keep the show going! ❤️ (Think of it like buying us a boba...to share! 😉🧋)

The episode today is rich with a wide range of topics from public policy, to race and racism, to PPD/PPA/PPOCD. A heartwarming message we also get to highlight is how it’s never too late to change your career and chase your dreams. Divya Kumar, LICSW, ScM, PMH-C is a South Asian-American psychotherapist with a public health background who specializes in perinatal mental health, trauma, and the life transitions related to pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. She is a mom of two teenagers and especially passionate about holding space for folks of color and folks who identify as first- and second-generation immigrants as they navigate the transition to parenthood and explore how race, racial identity, and culture intersect with parenting. Before becoming a therapist, Divya's work focused on connecting clinical services with public health by addressing unmet needs in direct perinatal mental healthcare and the structure and delivery of perinatal support services. Currently, she participates in initiatives to improve perinatal mental health services and systems of care at both the state and national levels. Divya is a Co-Founder of the Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for People of Color (the Alliance), Board Member of Postpartum Support International (PSI) of Massachusetts, and a Commissioner on the Ellen Story Commission for Postpartum Depression.In this conversation, we talk about how Divya was inspired to co-found the Alliance with Jabina Coleman and Desiree Israel after a fateful PSI conference, as a way to invite more providers and mothers of color to the resources that PSI had to offer. Divya also shares about her own personal postpartum journey that was rife with PMADs (PPD, PPA, PPOCD) she never got diagnosed with and finally understood years later.Divya also returned to school after realizing the work she was doing with postpartum women after becoming a mother herself was inspiring a calling to become a therapist who could work particularly with women of color. As someone who is raising multiracial, multicultural children, Divya is also highly aware of the privilege and also the racism that her kids will have to grapple with. She talks about parenting in a new generation, often “bushwhacking” or carving out our own paths because we were never shown how to value feelings and mental health as AAPI children. This is one of the most fiery and passionate conversations we’ve had, and we hope you will enjoy it too!Find more of Divya on Instagram: www.instagram.com/bothbrownandtherapist Resources mentioned: AsAm news article: Better Luck YesterdayIf you enjoy our podcast and our mission to shine light on conversations and stories of AAPI mothers, please take a moment to leave us a review! Reviews help us become more visible and we really want this podcast to reach more AAPI parents who may need it. You may also follow us @healingthetigress on Instagram Thank you for tuning in!Note: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speakers' own. This podcast is not a replacement for therapy or professional/medical advice. Send us your thoughts!Support the show✨ If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast for access to more bonus episodes, please click here for Buzzsprout Subscriptions! Once subscribed, you can use an RSS feed to listen from any of your podcast platforms. Thanks in advance for your support, as this really helps us keep the show going! ❤️ (Think of it like buying us a boba...to share! 😉🧋)

TW: Miscarriages are briefly discussed in this episode.If you asked Shannon Eng when she was younger how many kids she wanted, she might have told you ten! She thought she wanted a lot of children, despite being an only child herself. And then she became a mother right before the world shut down for a global pandemic. The idea of having more children soon changed after Shannon went through postpartum during a time where she did not have a village for support and her mental health was often not well. Now she has decided that for her mental health's sake, one child is exactly what she wants and needs.Some of you may also know Shannon as a popular fitness nutrition specialist and Pilates instructor on social media as @caligirlgetsfit. She uses her platform now not only to share about health and wellness, but to highlight her motherhood journey and how she is an only child who is choosing to raise an only child. Shannon also recently started a newer account on Instagram called @onlynotlonelykids to focus more on single children topics.In this episode, we discuss how Shannon had 2 miscarriages before having her son, and that began to set the stage for the mental health toll motherhood would have on her. We talk about how some people don't view mental health as a "real" reason not to have more children. We talk about the mislabeled stereotypes people give to only children and some of the reasons and history behind how these unfounded assumptions came to be. Shannon is a third and fourth generation Chinese American, but despite her family being in the U.S. for awhile, she feels they still hold onto a lot of Asian values--one of which is the cultural expectation to have many children so someone will care for the elderly. We talk about how people often think only children will be "lonely," and Shannon also gives a great analogy to the argument for "double or nothing" when it comes to having children.We hope this conversation will help normalize the choice to be one and done as well as for society to stop mislabeling only children with stereotypes that have been disproven before they really get to know them. We realize that having a choice is a privilege, but also want to acknowledge that there is no perfect family size. The best one is the one that works for your family--physically and mentally.Find more of Shannon at:Instagram:1. www.instagram.com/caligirlgetsfit2. www.instagram.com/onlynotlonelykidsIf you enjoy our podcast and our mission to shine light on conversations and stories of AAPI mothers, please take a moment to leave us a review! Reviews help us become more visible and we really want this podcast to reach more AAPI parents who may need it. You may also follow us @healingthetigress on Instagram.Note: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speakers' own. This podcast is not a replacement for therapy or professional/medical advice. If you need more support or advice, please reach out to your own medical professional who can answer your questions with your individual medical history and background in context.Send us your thoughts!Support the show✨ If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast for access to more bonus episodes, please click here for Buzzsprout Subscriptions! Once subscribed, you can use an RSS feed to listen from any of your podcast platforms. Thanks in advance for your support, as this really helps us keep the show going! ❤️ (Think of it like buying us a boba...to share! 😉🧋)

Iris Chen, a recovering tiger mother and founder of the Untigering movement, explores the transformative journey of peaceful parenting. She shares her experiences as an American Born Chinese raising children in China, highlighting the effects of authoritarian parenting on mental health. Iris emphasizes the importance of 'unschooling' and adapting education to a child’s interests. She also discusses the cultural challenges AAPI mothers face while redefining their parenting identities, advocating for empathy and understanding in familial relationships.

TW: We do discuss suicidal thoughts and miscarriage in this episode.Even though Healing the Tigress is about maternal mental health, we cannot have these conversations with just moms. Men, dads, partners all play a role in the healing process as well, and they themselves also deserve the same support and care for their own mental health as they step into parenthood. Their mental health ties in closely with maternal mental health too. So we really wanted to feature a male voice on our podcast, and who better to talk with than J.S. Park —a Korean American hospital chaplain from Florida.J.S. Park has a MDiv and a BA in Psychology. He is a published author (The Voices We Carry) with another book on the way in a few months, a viral blogger/influencer, and a father to a 3-year-old daughter with a second child on the way next month! For eight years, he has been an interfaith chaplain at a 1000+ bed hospital that is designated a Level 1 Trauma Center. His role includes grief counseling, attending every death, every trauma and Code Blue, staff care, and supporting end-of-life care. He also served for three years as a chaplain at one of the largest nonprofit charities for the homeless on the east coast.Together we sit down and talk about how J.S. did not think he wanted children at first, for fear of passing down his generational traumas. Eventually he did decide to have children, and unfortunately, his wife experienced severe postpartum depression. We talk about their journey to getting her help at the beginning and height of the pandemic. J.S. also admits that he himself also ended up having depression and anxiety after burning out from being the sole caregiver of his wife and his daughter, who they were concerned had other health problems.We talk openly about taking antidepressants and going to therapy and couples’ therapy. We also discuss his views on “grief anxiety,” as a person who constantly sees death at work. There are many instances of grieving in motherhood/parenthood, and J.S. talks with us about how this grief ties in with social and cultural forces too.This conversation is rich with thought-provoking ideas that challenge our stigmas against Asian males, dads, mental health, generational trauma, grief, and more. Please take a listen to this wonderful discussion with J.S. Park, dubbed the “grief catcher” or “therapriest,” and we hope you’ll enjoy listening to our first (but not last!) male guest!Find more of J.S. Park at:Instagram: @jspark3000Website: https://jsparkblog.com/Book: The Voices We Carry Book: As Long As You NeedIf you enjoy our podcast and our mission to shine light on conversations and stories of AAPI mothers, please take a moment to leave us a review! Reviews help us become more visible and we really want this podcast to reach more AAPI mothers who may need it. You may also follow us @healingthetigress on Instagram. Thank you for tuning in!Note: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speakers' own. This podcast is not a replacement for therapy or professional/medical advice. Send us your thoughts!Support the show✨ If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast for access to more bonus episodes, please click here for Buzzsprout Subscriptions! Once subscribed, you can use an RSS feed to listen from any of your podcast platforms. Thanks in advance for your support, as this really helps us keep the show going! ❤️ (Think of it like buying us a boba...to share! 😉🧋)

Please help us welcome our first international guest! Tisha Kachhapati, MBPsS, MBACP, is a Nepalese American psychodynamic counselor now living abroad and based in the United Kingdom for the past decade. She is what we would consider an ex-pat, but as we discuss, she mentions that because she is a person of color, people often call her an “immigrant” instead.In this episode, Tisha describes her experience giving birth in the UK and the traumatic birth that followed, which left her getting an emergency C-section and barely conscious enough to realize a Code Blue had been called. Tisha tells us how it felt like the mother was forgotten after the baby was delivered and how her postpartum depression and anxiety weren’t as apparent until 8 months later because she seemed so high functioning. Even when she asked her general practitioner for antidepressants, she was dismissed and told she just needed to “go on a holiday.” Eventually, Tisha took the antidepressants and got better. But when her son was two, Tisha was trying to ask her GP if they had more help for maternal mental health to offer her. She was turned away and told there was nothing they could offer her. Tisha was shocked. But she turned that disappointment into her personal fuel to change her career completely and pursue a degree in psychodynamic counseling. Please tune in to this inspiration story from a mum across the pond. We think you’ll find it relatable, enlightening, and funny, as Tisha’s humor and wonderful British accent really shine through. And the bigger message is that perinatal mood and anxiety disorders do not discriminate; many of thesame themes and societal stigmas and shortcomings are the same in the UK as they are in the US. Find more of Tisha at:Instagram: @tmktherapyWebsite: www.tmktherapy.comIf you enjoy our podcast and our mission to shine light on conversations and stories of AAPI mothers, please take a moment to leave us a review! Reviews help us become more visible and we really want this podcast to reach more AAPI mothers who may need it. You may also follow us @healingthetigress on Instagram. Thank you for tuning in!Note: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speakers' own. This podcast is not a replacement for therapy or professional/medical advice. If you need more support or advice, please reach out to your own medical professional who can answer your questions with your individual medical history and background in context.Send us your thoughts!Support the show✨ If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast for access to more bonus episodes, please click here for Buzzsprout Subscriptions! Once subscribed, you can use an RSS feed to listen from any of your podcast platforms. Thanks in advance for your support, as this really helps us keep the show going! ❤️ (Think of it like buying us a boba...to share! 😉🧋)

We took a short break while Jasmine was studying for her PMH-C test, but now that she has taken it and passed (yay!), we wanted to throw in one last bonus episode for 2023. Pull up a chair and grab a mug of hot cocoa (or your drink of choice) to listen in on an open, completely unedited conversation between Peggy and Jasmine, reflecting on how this experience of starting Healing the Tigress has been. Find out what surprised us most after starting this podcast, what our favorite moments of the past 3 months have been, and even some confessions and realizations from our high school days! We inadvertently (briefly) recap all of the episodes from this year--what did they mean to us and what were the emotions behind some of them. Jasmine also shares a little bit about just what "PMH-C" really is and how it can be helpful for those seeking help with perinatal mental health. We end by teasing a little bit about the kinds of guests we have coming up in the next year! And then if you haven't seen our fun holiday giveaway yet, there's still a few more days to enter on our IG page! Check it out over at www.instagram.com/healingthetigress.We'll be back from the holidays around mid January, so look out for us then! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for supporting us on this journey. We can't wait to share our upcoming guests with everyone. Happy Holidays! See you in 2024!Send us your thoughts!Support the show✨ If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast for access to more bonus episodes, please click here for Buzzsprout Subscriptions! Once subscribed, you can use an RSS feed to listen from any of your podcast platforms. Thanks in advance for your support, as this really helps us keep the show going! ❤️ (Think of it like buying us a boba...to share! 😉🧋)