BYU-Idaho Radio · 'There’s Some Loss Involved In Having a Baby but There’s also a Lot of Joy'
Rachel Ostermiller and Jocelyn Hobbs, sisters in law and licensed masters in social work, lead a free postpartum depression therapy group for local mothers.
Postpartum depression is severe depression that can occur in a mother anytime between right after the birth of the baby to 12 months later.
“Almost every female if they have a baby, they go through some emotional change or mood change because all of their levels are dropping, but about 15% to 20% of women experience more than just baby blues,” said Hobbs. “They actually experience some sort of severe depression, severe anxiety, sometimes we see psychosis.”
The therapy group is an eight-week long course designed to help women learn, but also make friendships.
“This group is for us to teach, but it’s also for women to find each other and know, ‘Hey, I’m not alone,’ and lean on each other, support each other, validate each other.” Ostermiller said.
Arjeta Braha attended their first therapy group course when her son was 1-year-old. She had already gone through a lot of the struggles of postpartum depression, but she still needed to talk about it.
“The fact that I was no longer going through that, didn’t mean that I could just brush it off in my past. It still needed some attention.” Braha said.
Ostermiller and Hobbs conduct postpartum depression and anxiety screenings at the start and end of the course. They see more than a 53% increase in positivity by the end of the course.
To sign up for the next course or to learn more, call or text Rachel Ostermiller at 208-800-2310 or email her at zey12001@gmail.com.