About a year after my brother, Jim, ended his life, one of his friends asked me to speak to the mother of a young woman who had attempted suicide. Jim’s friend volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House in Cleveland, which offers families housing at little or no
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My mom passed away from complications of breast cancer 29 years ago. My brother died five years ago, after a battle with severe depression. Last month my dad’s heart failed while he was out for a drive. Though he was revived and brought to the hospital, he
Read more →My first book, When Postpartum Packs a Punch: Fighting Back and Finding Joy, recently celebrated one year at market. A personal account of my encounter with postpartum depression, and revelatory of other parents’ journeys through perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, it’s gathered praise from the parents, experts,
Read more →I’ve had my dad for 44 years. Because my mom’s been gone for 29 of those years, that length of time has been important to me in unique ways. He’s not perfect. But he’s been present and available for my entire life. He’s had to be Dad
Read more →This morning I’m sipping tea from my wedding china: the sleek-and-elegant Noel Alabaster, designed by the late Kate Spade. News outlets were quick to tell us she ended her life. It’s easy, in the wake of suicide, to look for explanations and labels, to tie things up
Read more →Ernest Hemingway wrote his so-called six true sentences while living in Paris in the 1920s, and dubbed them Paris 1922. His first wife, Hadley, lost the originals, but he later recreated them. Hemingway was a journalist before he wrote fiction. If you look closely, you can see
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Read more →Coverage of maternal mental health seems to be increasing. I was surprised to find this story while flipping through the latest issue of Vogue magazine. That a publication dedicated to couture and beauty has delved into a gritty topic beyond the comfort zone of at least
Read more →A friend of mine and I recently launched a book club. We’re a small band of readers bent on sharing our perspectives on excellent literature. Our first title is Lilac Girls, Martha Hall Kelly’s debut novel. It’s a brilliant work. Bravo to Kelly for her extensive research.
Read more →*This originally appeared on Risen Motherhood on Jan. 18, 2018. **Trigger alert: This article contains references to intrusive images, and may not be suitable for some suffering with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. The birth of our babies—especially our first—is supposed to be magical. We expect a
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