You’re here because you’re a provider who works with moms who’s sick of feeling like society is letting moms down. You have a busy caseload and know your clients who are at risk for postpartum depression and anxiety deserve better but you’re too busy putting out fires (with clients in crisis) or getting bogged down with paperwork and notes.
You know your mom clients deserve better but by the time they come to you they’re really seriously struggling and you feel like you’re trekking an uphill battle with them from the start.
You’re tired of feeling like you’re not sure where to start, or what would be the best way to handle your client’s multitudes of problems. And you hear them say the same things over and over again like…
“My husband doesn’ t get it”OR “it’s not that bad, I should just be grateful I have a healthy baby”
You’ve resigned to the fact that there’s nothing that you can do to really make things better. You’re just one person.
And I know, I know – you’re thinking “She’s gonna tell me to help moms focus on self-care or practice mindfulness” But we’ve heard that before, right? It’s one more ‘to-do’ on a never-ending list of things you’re trying to incorporate but suck at.
Don’t worry, I feel you. Heck, WE ARE you. And what we want to share with you today is simple enough that it’s actually doable.
So here’s a disclaimer:
What we’re going to share with you here is SIMPLE. It might even be TOO simple.
What we’re going to share with you here is SIMPLE. It might even be TOO simple.
Because we gotta tell you, following a step-by-step protocol gives us more focus and clarity with our clients, something excellent providers sometimes get goosebumps about because they’re so passionate about this work.
So really, this is for YOU if you want to get REALLY freaking good at the basics. The human stuff that lies UNDERNEATH all the shiny diagnostic, manualized stuff that’s constantly changing. And in fact, what we’re going to get into today is going to help any treatment modality that you ARE currently implementing with your clients who are moms work that much better.
CBT? Yes!
Motivational Interviewing – Absolutely!
DBT – of course!
Mindfulness – yep!
What we’re going to share with you is so simple, takes so little time and is so freaking doable that you’re gonna be tempted to think, “Nah, that can’t possibly work.”
Yeah, we see you.
You’ve gotten into a pattern of overcomplicating things and overloading yourself for so long that it’s gonna feel weird to just… go back to the basics of why you were drawn to this work in the first place and trust the process.
To do LESS.
To allow instead of chase.
To be present instead of one step ahead.
To take the pressure off of you to perform and always be digging a new skill out of your toolkit.
To let it be EASY.
Are you ready to feel confident in your work again?
And are you willing to do LESS to have it?
Let’s start by taking a simple assessment
Answer either Yes or No to the following questions
Grab a piece of paper and just write down a Y or an N. We’ll tally your score at the end.
- Do you feel spread too thin, constantly distracted and overwhelmed? Like you’re working ALL the hours but none of the work is paying off? (Yes or No)
- Do you find yourself unsure of how to properly intervene with a client who is developing symptoms of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders?
- Do you sometimes wonder if you have ‘just the right’ expert-level training on PMAD
- Do you worry your clients aren’t telling you their full story and are holding back for some reason?
- Is it scary to think that you may miss something important about your client and they won’t get the help they need and deserve?
- You keep waiting for that perfect comprehensive community organization to pop up so you can refer all of your clients there and they’ll get better faster.
- “Deep down, are you beginning to feel… like you’ve been focused on ‘fixing the problem’ instead of just being present with your client and listening to their story?
If you’ve got more than 2 Yeses on your paper, we’ve got good news and better news.
The good news is that none of the problems we just shared with you are the REAL issue and therefore, you don’t need to fix each one individually.
The BETTER news is that we’re going to help you get back in touch with your “why” which will allow you to release what has not been serving you or your clients, paving the way for you to a more rewarding and effective professional life!
By the way, I’m Elizabeth Stallone-Lowder.
I’m a licensed clinical social worker and co-Founder of Heartland PMAD Consultants. I founded and run one of the first group psychotherapy practices specializing in perinatal mental health in my state, Sage Tree Therapy, and I’ve been working with moms with significant postpartum mental health issues as well as birth and pregnancy trauma for over 15 years. I’m an Adjunct Professor at The Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis and I serve on the Executive Board of the Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation. I’m also a proud 2-time survivor of Postpartum PTSD.
And I’m Kim Martino-Sexton.
I’ve been serving perinatal women for 23 years as a childbirth educator, birth and postpartum doula, and perinatal mental health peer specialist. Besides being the Co-Founder/Co-Owner of Heartland PMAD Consultants I’m also the Senior Community Outreach Coordinator at SSM St. Mary’s. In this position, I’m responsible for The MOMS Line Programs which includes recruiting, training, and managing over seventy volunteers that provide peer telephone support and peer led group support for perinatal women in the St. Louis Metro Area.
What we’re about to share with you is what we’ve distilled over our career of digging deep into the issues surrounding the mental health of moms before, during and after being pregnant or having a baby.
These are principles we’ve gained by our real life experiences combined with training as a trauma therapist that Elizabeth has tested in her own clinical practice and the decades of experience Kim has working with moms and families throughout their childbirth journey.
We hope you’re ready to finally have a system to rely on so you can stop feeling so overwhelmed and discouraged.
So let’s get started!
TOP 4 THINGS GETTING IN THE WAY
#1. You’re wasting time and money on too many conferences
Example: Most people THINK they know how to reach women experiencing PMAD (tell them to exercise, encourage them to bond with their baby, tell them to get sleep and be social), but there is SO.
MUCH.
MORE.
involved.
And it takes going back to the nitty gritty basics to do this work, and do it well.
I’ll give you an example. One of our trainees, Jen, came to us because she had been trying to lead a new mom’s support group. She felt like she was a duck in water, smooth and free-flowing on the surface, but paddling like hell underneath. Her clients were not experiencing the results she so desperately wanted them to achieve. I mean, she had gone through her own challenges as a new mom. So what was she missing?
She had sunk thousands of dollars in professional development and CEUs, but they all taught her the same old stuff. From countless conferences to online courses, she had done them all. The most painful thing about all of this was she got just enough results that she couldn’t totally throw it out, but it was costing her money and time and most of all, her confidence in her ability to reach the women she cared so much about.
You have to know this about Jen – she’s a classic ‘type A’. Smart as a whip – is the clinical director of her organization – which she earned through a TON of hard work and dedication to her clients. So the fact that she couldn’t reach the clients she was most passionate in working with based on her expertise was… maddening.
After the first day of her training experience with Heartland PMAD, it became obvious that she was connecting with her clients in the WRONG way. Instead of leading her groups with tips and skills, she needed to be leading her groups with deep EMPATHY.
Now I know you may be saying, “well duh”, but this depth of empathy is not something that is taught in graduate school. It is a muscle in which needs to be strengthened, and in a VERY specific way when working with women experiencing PMAD.
Literally, from her very first day of training, the path was clearer.
Jen completed her Heartland PMAD training and within 4 weeks of implementing our proven step-by-step strategies, she had generated an over 90% successful graduation rate for her new mom’s group.
And the part that blew her mind was how effortless it was now that she had clarity on how to truly connect with her clients with PMAD and what they most needed from her.
Your takeaway here is that you’re probably CLOSE to where you need to be in being able to BEST support your clients with PMAD…
…but because you’re not clear, you’re not able to effectively reach your clients the way you truly need to.
Either you’ve “done all the trainings” and are willing to pay for the one that will ACTUALLY help you…
…or you’re burnt out doing too many things that aren’t really helping and you’re always gonna feel overwhelmed by all the things you COULD do.
Heartland PMAD University’s e-courses help you know EXACTLY what to do, who you do it for and the only pieces you need to focus on to get your clients results almost immediately, so they feel fantastic having trusted you with their mental health.
#2. You’re too busy putting out fires at work that you are missing something VITALLY important with your clients.
You have a lot to do at work. All day , every day. You’re MORE than busy and have so many clients and so little time. You understand the significance of having severe PMAD, or at least you think you do, but because your day-to-day is filled up with so many little fires to put out, you sometimes miss vitally important things that are going on with your clients.
You mean well, you WANT to fully assess what’s going on with your clients, but you also have so much responsibility at work! You’re simultaneously dealing with colleagues who have called in sick or quit, clients who need immediate assistance with turning utilities back on or filing an order of protection, folks calling and leaving messages all day long. You can only do so much!
So why does it feel like you’re working harder than ever but also like you’re not really having as big as an impact? You’re only one person!
But you also know that missing something with an at-risk population for PMAD can be fatal. Both for the mom AND the baby.
You’ve seen the news stories, you’ve heard the heartbreaking tales from supervisors about moms who couldn’t get help in time. You don’t want that to be your clients’ story – to be your story. To be the person that missed the VITAL information that could have saved a life.
What if you had a simple plan to follow with every client you see every day?
What if no matter what, you confidently knew in your bones that you were touching all of the important bases with each mom? And that it didn’t take all day to do so? That no matter how busy or frantic your To-Do List was that day, that if you had the support of an expertly designed framework – you’d be able to see those subtle cues that your clients were flailing. Even though they were saying ‘everything’s fine, I’ll be ok’.
What if you were in-tune with the secrets moms keep when they’re overwhelmed with a new baby at home?
Well, you can be! You can rely on the Heartland Protocol so you can quickly and easily identify who is at risk and what they need now, WITHOUT missing vital information that could save a life.
You feel relieved because you know in your heart that you’re providing evidence-based best practices with your perinatal clients. You’re so much more comfortable going through the 5-step process that is the Heartland Protocol. Whether you’re working with a teen mom, a 30-something woman who is struggling to conceive or an experienced mom of four you can rely on what you’ve already been successfully doing, and just make a few crucial tweaks so your clients don’t fall through the cracks anymore!
#3. You feel like you should have a crystal ball … but are hitting a brick wall.
What do we mean by that?
Well if you’ve been in the perinatal field as long as we have, you get used to seeing the same type of issues come up with your clients time and time again. The same set of problems and journeys many of our clients face.
lack of resources,
lack of access to those resources,
uncaring professionals who do a poor job with your client,
unhealthy relationships,
low self-esteem,
addiction problems…. the list goes on.
You’ve seen the same story play out again and again and you start to get jaded. After your initial appointment with someone you feel like you could just whip out your crystal ball and tell your client exactly how the rest of her story goes. And a lot of the time it’s not a good story unfortunately.
Are we suggesting this is a good thing to do?
Heck no!
But you’re tempted to just jump to the intervention part so you can save your client time and trouble. And also, wouldn’t that be a huge relief for you too!? You find yourself wanting to say stuff like
“Don’t go to that doctor!”
“You need to kick him out!”
“Stop fighting getting on medication!”
You know exactly how this is going to go down. And you’re dreading it.
OR…
You feel like you’re repeatedly hitting a brick wall.
Your client keeps making what you feel are the ‘same mistakes’ over and over again and nothing you do or say convinces them to stop. You find yourself repeating yourself over and over again. It’s painful right? Not pretty one bit.
One of our trainees, Jamie, knew she was doing all the right things with her perinatal clients. But each week they would show up and have the same conversation with her, like the movie Groundhog Day! No progress, no movement towards goals, just rinse and repeat! Jamie felt so frustrated! And then felt guilty for feeling frustrated with her client, who she knew was probably doing the best she could. But Jamie admitted during a group consultation meeting with us that she felt like she was beating her head against a brick wall trying to get her client to snap out of the vicious cycle she saw over and over again. She hated to admit it, but she couldn’t stand it. She started dreading working with that client.
It wasn’t until Jamie took our course that she realized she could throw her crystal ball and her brick wall into the trash!
Not only did she feel better knowing she could rely on the Heartland Protocol and not have to search for any new or convoluted tricks or skills, her clients were responding to her in a totally different way! There was less headbanging from Jamie and more collaboration from clients. Instead of a strong desire to look into her crystal ball and tell her client their future, there was a sense of acknowledgement and readiness from her clients that allowed them to make the difficult changes they needed. All without Jamie needing to convince, urge or repeat herself.
Easy peasy!
#4. You are so burned out you’re crispy… but you don’t need to be.
The work we all do as helpers is tough. We get it. Most of the professionals we work with get sick and tired of feeling like they’re attending useless trainings, constantly responding to clients in crisis, repeating themselves over and over and feeling jaded. Those feelings add up over time. And they don’t feel good.
Maybe you’ve noticed that you’re not just burned out anymore, you’re crispy? You’ve accepted that life as a helping professional is going to come with a hefty dose of burnout. You’ve resigned to the fact that you will never feel like you’ve done enough and there will always be more to do than you have the time and energy for.
Rachel, a social worker we trained, was feeling EXTRA crispy at work as a family case manager. She definitely knew she was burned out, but didn’t have the energy to do anything about it. She knew she didn’t always have the right thing to say to her clients, or the perfect referral to make, and that left her feeling more than dissatisfied in her job. Heck – even in her profession! She often asked herself if she was cut out for social work and was she even making a difference in her client’s lives.
Rachel noticed she had gained weight, probably from stress eating, she always had headaches and GI issues along with a sense of dread when she went to work every morning. But the passion to authentically support moms led her to our Heartland Protocol course. She knew there had to be a better way.
Rachel particularly appreciated the way we discuss the importance of compassion fatigue and burnout prevention.
As a result of taking our course, Rachel was able to take small, specific, measurable steps to address her burnout appropriately and comprehensively. Within a few months of graduating from our course, she reported way fewer headaches, feeling excited about working with perinatal clients again and no more tummy troubles! She even found her own helping professionals to help her deal with the physical, emotional and mental load our work has on all of us. She’s a trusted social worker in her agency and others look to her for guidance because she’s embodied the easy to use process we will teach you in this course. She feels like an effective helper and her clients respond to her accordingly!
So what do we actually DO during our course?
Remember, what you’re going to learn in this course will be customized to your professional setting and is not one size fits all.
And isn’t that what’s been missing this whole time? An approach you can readily apply to YOUR unique population in YOUR community? This is a HUGE part of how we help you become more confident helpers. You’re going to leave Week 1 of this course with the feeling that you’re changing as a professional AND as a person.
Most programs do not have this level of realness, of calling out the BS in our current healthcare system and unabashedly screaming from the rooftops for perinatal moms and their families!
At Heartland PMAD we don’t mince words or blow smoke. No pooping rainbows here (although we literally mention that during a lesson in Week 3!)
If you can’t handle realness we’re not the experts for you.
If you don’t value vulnerability and authenticity you’ll wish you hadn’t enrolled.
We are only here to help professionals who are done with the status quo and those who recognize that what others have been doing to show up and help moms has not been working.
We’re done telling moms to have a glass of wine and quit bitching. (We’ve actually heard people tell suffering moms this very thing!)
We’re here for the real people. The helpers who get it, or who at least want to get it. They know moms deserve better and they know they want to be a part of the solution, not the problem.
But remember, this isn’t a passive program. It’s very much done WITH you. What makes us different is that we not only support you on both a deep subconscious level but combine it with strategy. This isn’t just “HOW TO” tips – though there’s that. It’s as much about WHO you need to BE to feel confident and relaxed in your job.
Once a year, we offer the Expert E-Course. Enrollment begins September 1, 2022!
In addition to all of the cutting edge content students receive in the Essential E-Course,
we’re also offering:
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And EVERYONE who completes The Heartland Protocol Expert E-course receives a Certificate of Completion, is considered a Heartland Approved Provider and is included on our national online registry!
But honestly, not everyone is ready. We’re really good at teaching a methodology that appeals to a certain type of perinatal professional and what we do isn’t for everyone.
However if what we’ve told you sparks something inside and that sounds like something you’re ready for, you should listen to your gut and Enroll right now!
This is it.
The moment of truth – are you actually as ready as you say you are?
We hope so.
Because there’s nothing subtle about the change that’s coming.
It’s time.
