How would it feel for your own doctor to discount your postpartum anxiety? Today’s guest experienced this, along with pregnancy loss and depression. The important part of the story is how healing showed up for her and how she is using her experience to help others.
Ivy Sias earned her Master’s of Science and Mental Health Counseling from Walden University and became licensed in Louisiana in 2015. In 2017, she founded Ivy Counseling and Wellness Services, a private practice with a focus on assisting people with planting seeds of insight, growing in self-awareness, and making life changes that flourish from the inside out. After her experience with postpartum depression and anxiety and her struggle to find assistance and support in her community, the focus of her practice shifted to maternal mental health and the treatment of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. A Compton, California native, Ivy has always believed that change happens when people are loud about injustice and when those who have experienced adversity boldly stand in their truth. She’s a wife to her loving husband, Joseph, and the mother of a son, Carter, 4, and daughter, Ryan, 1. Ivy is a National Certified Counselor (NCC) and a Licensed Professional Counselor and Supervisor (LPC-S) in Louisiana. She is passionate about helping underserved populations through therapy, advocacy, and promoting total wellness as a way to heal and grow.
Show Highlights:
- Her son was born in June 2014 after an easy pregnancy, but he had breathing issues and pneumonia which landed him in the NICU for 10 days, while his parents felt helpless
- How high blood pressure put her on bed rest for 2 days after giving birth
- Her baby came home, Ivy went back to work soon after, and life returned to the “new” normal
- In 2016, they decided to have another baby, but had an early miscarriage in June
- After deciding to try again, Ivy got pregnant right away in September, even though she didn’t feel emotionally ready
- How she felt disconnected to this pregnancy and felt guilty for not processing the loss and not celebrating the coming daughter
- How her pregnancy was uncomfortable and full of guilt and worry, with Ivy being constantly upset, frustrated, and in tears
- In June 2017, her daughter was born during a difficult labor and delivery, in which Ivy had an allergic reaction to the epidural
- How she didn’t see her baby for several hours after the birth
- She went home and started feeling sadness and didn’t have much of a support system
- She had intrusive thoughts, worry, and wasn’t sleeping or eating
- She became good at hiding how she felt overwhelmed, scared, and that she wasn’t a good wife and mother
- How she talked to her doctor at her 6-week checkup, explained her issues, and was told she DIDN’T have postpartum depression
- Her symptoms got worse: she still wasn’t sleeping and had worse intrusive thoughts and job troubles
- How she found a meditation group and became empowered and connected
- How this podcast helped her break the news to her family of how she’d been feeling and how she found healing
- How Ivy re-educated herself about perinatal mood disorders and maternal mental health and focused her private practice on these issues to hep others
- How Ivy learned through meditation to quiet her mind and to sleep better, eat better, and practice yoga
- She became a spokesperson for overall mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional health
- In her practice, she focuses on perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, focusing on total wellness by connecting clients to other community resources that can be helpful
- How she went back to her Ob and talked to her about how she missed the mark and the doctor agreed to provide screenings for moms going forward and set up connections with other doctors
- Upcoming for Ivy is a way to reach out to local daycare centers who might see moms who need resources and support
- Ivy’s parting advice to moms and families: “You’re not alone. There are social media connections you can make until you find local services. Trust your instinct if you feel that something’s wrong. Share your story.”
Resources:
Find Ivy on Facebook and Instagram: Ivy Counseling and Wellness
