10 01, 2022

#BlackMomsMatter – Last Chance for the Online Courses

By |2022-01-10T17:23:07-08:00January 10th, 2022|Categories: Blog, Featured, Maternal Mental Health, Mental Wellness, Parenting, Practice Updates|0 Comments

In case you missed it…

Janisha Street and I recorded a video course for my online, on-demand school back in 2019. #BlackMomsMatter remains a relevant introduction into the disproportionate impact of perinatal mental illness in the Black and African-American community. More importantly, we cover practical ways to make things better.

Sadly, the door will close to new students 1/31/22

Unfortunately, I’ve made the decision to downgrade the hosting for my online school, and all of the published courses, including the cornerstone Prevent Postpartum Depression. This means:

  • I will not publish any new courses
  • No new students can join after 1/31/22
The good news:
26 11, 2020

Please Do Less

By |2020-11-26T07:52:13-08:00November 26th, 2020|Categories: Maternal Mental Health, Mental Wellness, Parenting|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

please do less

One of the more enjoyable topics of 2020 has been “silver linings.” In what unexpected ways are you benefitting from the life changes and disruptions of social distancing? (Not a rhetorical question. Drop it in the comments.)

Personally, I am grateful for being able to work from home. I can hug my family between sessions, “cowork” with my first- and third-graders while I’m doing admin work, avoid traffic, and start dinner in the Instant Pot on my lunch break.

As we head into the holiday season, I encourage all of you to take full advantage of the 2020 excuse to “do less.” The holidays are often a time of pressure to live up to traditions, visit and please extended family, and make it the “best year yet” for our kids.

Can we all […]

9 01, 2019

The Fourth Trimester and the Birth of a Mother

By |2019-11-18T14:30:28-08:00January 9th, 2019|Categories: Blog, Maternal Mental Health, Mental Wellness|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

My friends at Ergobaby have asked me back tomorrow, Thursday, at noon PST, to talk about the fourth trimester. You can catch our conversation live on Instagram, either @burdtherapy or @ergobaby. We will cover the fourth trimester, what it means to moms, mental health, and self-care.

fourth-trimester-self-care

In the meantime, you can preview our chat and learn just what exactly matrescence and the “fourth trimester” mean in a new article I wrote for them here.

Image used with permission from Ergobaby.

16 07, 2018

[Video] Postpartum Anxiety and How to Help

By |2019-11-18T14:30:28-08:00July 16th, 2018|Categories: Blog, Maternal Mental Health, Mental Wellness, Parenting|Tags: |0 Comments

In case you missed it, you can catch my conversation about Postpartum Anxiety with Christina Soletti of Ergobaby here. We broadcasted live from their downtown LA headquarters on the Ergobaby Facebook page last week.

Christina opened up about her personal experiences with anxiety after her baby was born. She never expected it. Most people don’t. Yet one in five new parents suffers from serious anxiety after a baby is born. Partners are at risk, too.

Catch the whole conversation about postpartum anxiety here:

If you have the time to watch the whole video, I share a little about how to manage anxiety and the fight or flight response with […]

21 01, 2018

Why I’m a Feminist Therapist

By |2019-11-18T14:30:29-08:00January 21st, 2018|Categories: Blog, Mental Wellness|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

I’m coming out as a feminist therapist. But it might not be what you think.

feminist therapy san diego

I do not have an agenda to push in therapy. At least not mine. I want to hear your voice. Your story. I’m here to empower you. Do you have a desire or agenda you are afraid to pursue? Let’s see how we can make it happen.

As a feminist therapist, yes, this does mean that I have a special interest in helping women overcome barriers. Have you been socialized to be “nice”? Does this now get in the way of requesting better pay at work? I can help you find a happy balance between pleasing people and meeting your own needs. In fact, having healthy boundaries honors and respects others.

But feminist […]

18 12, 2017

How a Motivational Interviewing Approach to Therapy Can Help You

By |2019-11-18T14:30:30-08:00December 18th, 2017|Categories: Addiction, Blog, Child and Adolescent Therapy, Mental Wellness, Supervision|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Hi all! In this dispatch from the Evolution of Psychotherapy, I spent the morning hearing from the founder of Motivational Interviewing, one of my go-to approaches since 2002. I wrote this post to introduce potential clients to a great way to get unstuck and move forward. Blog readers might recognize MI from this post on Value Sort Cards.

It is human nature to try to fix others. We love to point out what they need. Bill Miller, the founder of Motivational Interviewing (MI), calls this a “righting reflex.” We naturally want to make things right.

The problem is that most people come to therapy ambivalent. That means feeling conflicted about something, seeing both the good and bad about it, or feeling stuck. Raise your hand if you already know rationally some change […]

8 12, 2017

When Holiday Stress Gets You Down, Turn It Around

By |2019-11-18T14:30:31-08:00December 8th, 2017|Categories: Blog, Mental Wellness|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

Sometimes the most wonderful time of the year is anything but. Today, writer Jennifer Scott shares a guest post on how to get through holiday stress and avoid feeling overwhelmed.

Ah, the holidays. That delightful time of year when we all put aside our differences and peace on Earth prevails. Or not. While the time between New Year’s day and Halloween is fairly uneventful, we’re expected to put on a happy face from the stroke of midnight on the 305th day of the year until the week after Santa’s annual appearance. But when you have a mental health condition, such as anxiety, depression, or PTSD, that’s not always possible.

when holiday stress gets you down

Here are a few tips on how to keep holiday stress at […]

5 11, 2017

My Concern with Wine Mom Memes

By |2019-11-18T14:30:32-08:00November 5th, 2017|Categories: Addiction, Blog, Maternal Mental Health, Mental Wellness, Parenting|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

There’s something about the “wine mom” memes and Pinterest posts that have always made me uncomfortable. As an addiction specialist and a postpartum specialist, I have been curious about the intersection for some time.

wine mom memes

In fact, a recent op-ed on CNN looks at the coinciding rise of the “wine mom” in popular culture and a rise in high-risk and problem drinking. And a recently published study in JAMA Psychiatry tracks a rise of 83.7% in problem drinking in women between 2002 and 2013. That’s a lot!

For more explanation, I recommend having a read here.

As I say this, I will fully admit that sharing a glass of wine with a baby group after my first was born brought me […]

16 06, 2017

Mothering the Mother [Video] with Maternal Mental Health Expert Abigail Burd

By |2019-11-18T14:30:32-08:00June 16th, 2017|Categories: Blog, Giveaways/Free Resources, Maternal Mental Health, Mental Wellness, Parenting|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Today I am excited to share for free the in-depth video “Mothering the Mother” I recorded as part of the More than Milestones video summit. You can watch it on YouTube or below.

Many thanks to Wendi of Move Play Grow for asking me to be a part of the online summit and for letting me share the video for free here. If you are interested in purchasing the entire series, featuring 25 experts, please check out the More than Milestones page here.

And curious about the offer at the end for the video of two free meditation tracks? It’s true! I am giving away two mp3 files of “An Introduction to Mindfulness” and “An Introduction to Abdominal Breathing” to […]

2 06, 2017

Noisey (Vice) “Asked a Smart Person” (Me) about Sad Music

By |2019-11-18T14:30:33-08:00June 2nd, 2017|Categories: Blog, Child and Adolescent Therapy, Mental Wellness, Students|Tags: , , |0 Comments

I love talking to journalists and reporters about mental health. For one, it helps get the word out that YOU ARE NOT ALONE and likely, YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE FEELING THE WAY YOU DO.

Most recently, Sammy Maine from Noisey, which is the music side of Vice media, asked me to weigh in for her article “Why Exactly Are We So Obsessed with Songs about Heartbreak?

Noisy: Why are we so obsessed with songs about heartbreak?

Fun topic, no?

Sad music, like break up songs, works on many levels. Research shows that it can help with emotion regulation. One way that we think it works is that by hearing about someone else that is sad, you can feel the catharsis of experiencing the sadness, but externalize […]

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