June Newsletter 1 – Full Articles

We are excited to reach a new membership milestone of 5,000 members! To celebrate, we asked our 5,000th member about himself:

What piqued your interest in parenting? health? Do you want to share something about your path? Since I can remember understanding what pregnancy is, I have always been fascinated by the process. Throughout college, I wondered if becoming a Nurse Midwife/Doula might be a good option for me, but with my interest in psychology, I decided against it. Then I became really interested in sexual pleasure for women, and my interest in pregnancy went on the back burner for a few years. Now, as I near graduate school, I return to this interest with renewed vigor and with clinical and research experience that I believe will enhance my work in this field. I guess the thing I want to share about my path (and paths in general) is that there is no such thing as a linear trajectory, and as humans, we are always changing and evolving. My joining this organization is a testament to that and I hope my story can show that it’s okay to explore and take turns on your journey, and in the end, you’ll get to where you’re meant to be.

Tell us about your school/career. Currently, I am a doctoral candidate in Counseling Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I completed my master’s in counseling psychology at the University of Kentucky in 2021 before moving on to my PhD, and while there, I worked with Dr. Candice Hargons and focused primarily on female masturbation and pleasure in my own research. In his research lab, I also gained experience doing sex-positive research about Black folks and research focused on liberation in healing racial trauma. As I progressed in my practice, I shifted my research interests to focus on the experiences of sexual gratification that heterosexual women have in conjunction with their reproductive agency, using a reproductive justice framework. I have about three years of clinical experience working with individuals and groups, and my clinical work was my favorite part of graduate school. Ultimately, I hope to become an AASECT-certified sex and relationship therapist, and I believe that having expertise in reproductive psychology will complement my research and clinical experiences, which led me to join PSI! My upcoming clinical practicum site is at a residential treatment center for women with substance use disorders, and I hope to implement a sexual and reproductive health therapy group and/or a perinatal/postpartum group for pregnant or recently site!

What PSI member benefits do you think you will use the most? I The educational and networking benefits of PSI are anticipated. As a psychology student, there is so much I don’t know about the physiological and hormonal pieces of reproduction and how they play out psychologically. Gaining some of this knowledge and interacting with experts in the field is what I want to experience as a PSI member! I’m also excited to know that the conference is near me, and I can’t wait to go and learn from the expertise of everyone there!

Anything you want to share with the PSI community? I think for me, it’s scary as a student and as a person in psychology to venture out to learn new things, but it’s comforting to find such an interdisciplinary organization to learn from. For professionals working in the field, just know how much it means for students to learn from you and get your mentorship! Also, I love collaborating with others, so if anyone has similar interests or useful information to send me based on these answers, I’d love to connect! PSI members can find my email in the PSI Care Providers forum group directory.

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Conference Breakout Session with Dorienna Alfred

Join my session, Trauma and Suicidality in the Perinatal Period, at the 2023 Postpartum Support International Annual Conference! We will examine the impact of adverse childhood experiences, interpersonal violence, racial trauma, birth trauma, and related experiences on the risk of suicide among pregnant and postpartum women and highlight the need for universal screening and interventions that culturally related.

Dorienna M. Alfred, Ph.D., PMH-C is a licensed psychologist in the state of Ohio and certified perinatal mental health therapist. She is the owner of Works of Faith Wellness and Consultation, LLC, a private practice focused on perinatal mental health services. Dr. Alfred is also the author of the book Pregnant with Promise: A Spiritual Journey of Pregnancy, Bed Rest and Childbirth, a memoir of her journey through pregnancy loss and complications. She has served as a guest blogger for Pregnancy After Loss Support and is a new board member with Return to Zero HOPE, an organization that provides support for families who have experienced perinatal or infant loss. She has also been a guest on the Sisters in Loss and Mom and Mind podcasts. Most recently, in collaboration with the Perinatal Outreach and Encouragement for Moms and Birthing People (POEM) Program of the Mental Health American of Ohio, Dr. Alfred has served as co-facilitator for several monthly workshops on perinatal mental health screening. Dr. Alfred is certified as a birth and bereavement doula and has co-authored various publications and refereed workshops on topics related to perinatal mental health, women’s health, racial identity, justice social, and cultural competence. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and children, reading novels, scrapbooking, and Zumba. Social Media: IG@doriennemalfred and FB@worksoffaithwellness | Website

Kay Muringi is a PSI coordinator in South Africa, and with funding from generous PSI donors, Kay was able to update their website and gain more reach.

“The website with the screening tool works well, and it has given me a wider reach. I am able to set up calls and sometimes have regular video calls with mom. I decided to continue with the EPDS online because of the length. However when people fill out the form I am able to interact and ask other questions, also using other tools,” said Kay.

“95% of all recorded teenage pregnancies in the world are carried by girls in low- to middle-income countries, including South Africa. Teenagers have a significantly higher risk than adult women of experiencing physical life-threatening and life-changing complications in childbirth. Fortunately, this is something many hospitals in South Africa consider during antenatal check-ups, however the psycho-social well-being of this vulnerable group is rarely addressed despite PMADs being number one. on the list of childbirth-related complications. Instead, teenagers are stigmatized and shamed when they become pregnant, making it almost impossible for their mental well-being to be considered.

In the first quarter of 2021, in South Africa, 36 262 pregnancies were recorded for girls between the ages of 10 -19. Of this number, 1053 are in the 10-14 age bracket. This measure was set for Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape, a province in South Africa with the second highest rate of teenage pregnancies on record, accounting for 17% of all teenage pregnancies, in South Africa. The structure of the program is however accessible to girls from all over South Africa.