Postpartum Support International is all about connection.

…on finding PSI groups: But I was, as I was looking to the resources PSI was the only one that seemed to have like a group of other women cause I did not – maybe she didn’t give it to me, but I didn’t find anything else that was like PSI. So literally that same – was it that same day? I don’t remember where the following day I got on one of the meetings. And that’s how I kind of came to PSI and it’s been a journey. I’ve been on PSI groups at least one every single day and I’m not even kidding. At least one every single day. Because it’s been so helpful.

…on Latinx culture and mental health: In our culture, at least for me here, and I think for a lot of Latinx, mental health isn’t talked about enough and it’s kind of sad because I think that’s part of the reason why I feel a Latinx in a sense have been to smaller groups because I don’t know if it’s being talked about or I don’t know with our community, like it’s just – it’s just not talked about, which is why I have to find these groups because I could not find that kind of support with my family. It just I – and I hate saying it that way because my family has been supportive. But they just don’t quite grasp why, right? Like they don’t – they push back on the why instead of trying to be, you know, trying to explore as to why maybe I’m having these feelings. My mom is the only person that came around and my aunt, but that’s how I kind of went into that and because I was like, oh, there’s other Hispanics. I was like, okay, let me try. And I love that they had the Latinx group as an option, because of course I’m half Mexican I’m half Euadorian. And it was hard to be understood by my family or not even understood, validated, because all they kept saying to me is, “You have a healthy baby, like, Gen, come on. Why are you crying? Why are you sigh? Like, you know, um, you could have been in in a in the worst position, you know, I came from Mexico,” you know, they all came most of them came illegally. “I didn’t know the language. I had you guys here. I didn’t have money and, you know, it’s okay. You have money. You’re financially stable. You’re you have a partner. I didn’t have a partner.” So all these comparisons that was just upsetting me because that’s not what you want to hear. All you want to hear is it’s okay.

…on how PSI groups normalize the postpartum experience: I had to find these groups because one of the biggest things that I felt that has drew me to PSI and why I continued to come is because nowhere else do I feel like I supported as when I’m in these groups. Because in the outside, no one is very open and talking about these things. No one admits to these things. Yet when I go to my groups, all the women there are so vulnerable and are open to sharing these thoughts, obviously we can’t go to these house, but they can tell you like, hey, I have the same thoughts as you. I have the same feelings as you, so then you don’t feel alone. You feel like oh, it’s not just you. You’re not, you’re not a problem. You’re not, you know, broken. You know, it’s something that it’s by being in these groups have been more normalized for me. So, yes, I love my family and yes, I do feel supported in their own way, but nothing like PSI because the women there again, are open to admitting that we don’t like this job all the time as a new mom. Or as a three four-time mom.

…on how PSI groups are different: I felt so alone the first two weeks up until I started these groups and that’s why I kept coming back because I was in deep depression so I felt like I had to. Therapy helped, it does, but it’s one-on-one, it’s more of listening, at least in my experience with my therapist. I do get here and there like some feedback, but it’s not the same as someone else telling you, oh my God, me too. Me too. I’m like I’m right there. So that makes the difference to me.

…on feeling understood: I’m just going to go to one of my groups and talk about this anxiety I’m having because that’s where I’m going to be understood, that’s where I feel more welcome.