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MotherWoman in the News,
Press Releases, and Upcoming Events MotherWoman's own Melanie DeSilva will be participating in the Annual Reproductive Rights Conference at Hampshire College held March 30-April 1, 2007. Ms. DeSilva, the new Executive Director of MotherWoman, will serve as a panelist for the April 1 Empowering Birth Workshop (session 1 - 1:15-2:45), will moderate the April 1 workshop on the Politics of Families (session 2- 3-4pm), and will lead the April 1 breakout session on Creating A Revolution in Mothering: Strategies for Organizing Mothers from 5-6:30pm. This conference is free with free childcare. Conference and childcare pre-registration is required. The goal of this national conference is to "learn, network, and strategize for reproductive rights and social justice. Over 60 speakers from the US and abroad are offering more than 30 workshops and trainings over the weekend. Conference speakers address reproductive freedom as it relates to a broad range of social justice initiatives including economic justice, health care reform, racial equality, anti-war activism, freedom from violence, youth liberation, civil liberties, and LGBTQ rights. Over the weekend, you will learn about and share organizing experiences and strategies, broaden your understanding of reproductive rights, and make connections with other related movements and issues". Please visit http://clpp.hampshire.edu/index.ph for more information and to register for the conference. We hope to see you there! 25 mothers, fathers, partners, sisters and grandmothers attended MotherWoman's pilot Postpartum Support and Information Night for Families held on March 5, 2007 at Community Action in Northampton. The event was free and open to the public. Free snacks and quality childcare was provided. The goal of the evening was to provide information and support to families that are struggling with postpartum emotional difficulties, including baby blues, postpartum stress, depression and anxiety. This pilot event was the first in what MotherWoman hopes will be an ongoing once a monthly support service for families who want to learn more about postpartum emotional difficulties, and how help their partners, sisters, and daughters, and how to make it through this time together. MotherWoman is seeking funding to implement this program component. The event was led by Annette Cycon, LICSW and Liz Friedman, co-facilitators of the Postpartum Stress Support Group in Northampton, MA. Topics included: Understanding and normalizing postpartum emotional difficulties, understanding the spectrum of postpartum responses, risk factors for postpartum depression and anxiety, hormonal and cultural factors, strategies for what helps and how to get through this time together as a family. Guest speakers art therapist Kelly Gordan and psychologist Peter Gordan told their story about how they struggled with and made it through postpartum depression. Ms. Gordan spoke about having postpartum depression, and Mr. Gordan talked about what it was like from the partner's perspective. MotherWoman received positive feedback from the evening, with particularly strong feedback from the 8 fathers who attended who were relieved and grateful to be in the same room with other fathers and partners who were going through the same thing. MotherWoman will host a second Postpartum Support and Information Night and Families in the Fall, 2007 with the goal of holding monthly meetings sometime in the future. MotherWoman's March 11 Wine, Cheese and Chocolate Party was a huge success bringing together 30 mothers who have have been involved in MotherWoman- past, present and future. "This event was massive for MotherWoman," said Program Director and Co-Founder Annette Cycon. "In that room were women who were involved in starting MotherWoman years ago years ago, women who inspired the programs that we have now, and women who are new to MotherWoman- both as new staff, new volunteers and new board members. It was a joining of the old and the new, the past and the future. This event re-connected women to MotherWoman, re-energized many mothers to re-engage with us, and was just a really fun party." At the event, mothers created a circle and talked about how long they had been involved with MotherWoman and how it had impacted their lives. Founders Annette Cycon and Gabrielli LaChiara gave presentations, volunteer coordinator Deb Belle gave out brownie point (brownies) to all mothers who have ever volunteered for MotherWoman, and the new Executive Director, Melanie DeSilva talked about the future of the organization. "MotherWoman is like a vase of rose buds that are blossoming one by one," said Melanie DeSilva. "The organization is maturing and expanding, and is working hard to hold a powerful mission while at the same time strategically moving forward one small step at a time." |
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