2024 Postpartum Support International Conference Recap!

I had the BEST time at the Postpartum Support International annual conference in Washington, D.C.! This was my first in-person conference since having my daughter almost six years ago. I’m not gonna lie - it was really hard to leave my family! I had a lot of mixed emotions the 48 hrs before departure and found myself trying to find excuses to stay home. Being a working mom is tough! Of course, as soon as I stepped off the train in D.C., my husband called saying both kids were sick and I was this close to turning right back around. I’m so happy I didn’t because the learning and networking was unbelievable. Also - shout out to my husband who doesn’t subscribe to this newsletter for holding down the fort. There’s no way I could do what I do (or have come this far) without his support.

I had no idea what to expect and definitely felt pangs of social anxiety walking into a HUGE conference room on the first day. But after my nerves settled down, I was able to really soak up how amazing it felt to be surrounded by 1,300 attendees who are as passionate as me about maternal mental health. Being the only reproductive psychiatrist in private practice in my state, it felt like I was finally with “my people.”

I enjoyed every single session I attended, and I was impressed that there was so much variety! I attended talks on managing perinatal sleep issues, political advocacy, the effects of abortion and new restrictive laws on mental health, and affirming neurodiversity in the perinatal time period. Two of my FAVORITE talks were the panel about perinatal psychosis by six survivors (all of whom have various advanced degrees, btw) and a truly amazing discussion about racism by therapist and full spectrum doula Taylor Bass of @tbwellnesscenter. I learned so much and was so inspired to be in rooms full of providers with various degrees of lived experience. It really proved that so many (all?) of us have some skin in the game, and that’s why we keep advocating the way we do. (I also cried quite a bit from inspiration, in case you’re wondering!)

I also met SO many interesting people, and finally met some long-distance colleagues like Dr. Lucia Cheng and social media friends like Dr. Kat Kaeni and Dr. Sulman Mirza. It was so cool to finally meet my friends IRL! HUGE thank you to Carol Ann Murphy from Postpartum Support International’s Connecticut Chapter for sending me a message on Instagram to connect. This allowed me to meet so many amazing folks from our state chapter, some of whom subscribe to this little newsletter! Heeeeeeeeey, Natasha & Carolyn!!

I can’t wait for next year’s conference in NOLA and have already started thinking about topics for presentation! Not gonna lie - it was also pretty awesome to have so much time to myself to work on Repro Psych Academy while watching reruns of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” alone in my hotel room. I also learned how to make funny (I hope?!) reels!! Check out my Instagram to see it!