12. 9 Steps to Wellness for Physician Moms

Welcome back to *Stethoscopes and Strollers*. In this episode, I share my journey toward obtaining my Perinatal Mental Health Certification (PMH-C) and discuss the Nine Steps to Wellness from Postpartum Support International. These steps are integral to my coaching practice for physician moms in the early years of motherhood.

Episode Highlights:

- Pursuing PMH-C: I’m preparing for my Perinatal Mental Health Certification to enhance my coaching services, despite vowing never to take another exam after my boards.

- Validation of Core Values: Discovering how the Nine Steps to Wellness align perfectly with my coaching values, reinforcing the importance of these principles in supporting postpartum mental health.

The Nine Steps to Wellness:

1. Education: Providing information through books, handouts, and websites. I curate and distill this information for my clients to simplify their learning process.

2. Sleep/Rest: Emphasizing the critical need for rest, even if actual sleep is elusive.

3. Nutrition: Highlighting the importance of proper nutrition, especially during the exhausting postpartum period.

4. Exercise and Time for Self: Encouraging movement and personal time to enhance physical and mental well-being.

5. Sharing with Nonjudgmental Listeners: Building a supportive village of nonjudgmental individuals.

6. Emotional Support: Asserting the necessity of emotional support from various sources.

7. Practical Support: Advocating for physical help with childcare, cooking, and housework—outsourcing when necessary.

8. Finding Supportive Resources: Leveraging healthcare providers, support groups, and coaches to fill in gaps.

9. Plan of Action: Breaking down tasks into manageable steps to avoid overwhelm and foster progress.

These steps form the foundation of my coaching practice, helping physician moms thrive postpartum and establish a solid foundation for motherhood. 

If you’re in the early years of motherhood, feeling overwhelmed and unable to enjoy time with your kids due to exhaustion and stress, schedule a

Register here for ✨Finding the Right Fit: Au Pair Essentials for Physician Moms✨ on August 15th at 3 PM ET/12 PM PT. Find, and keep, the right Au Pair for you and your family!

Remember to subscribe to "Stethoscopes and Strollers" on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode of encouragement and empowerment.

Apple Podcast | Spotify | YouTube

Connect with me.

Website | Instagram | Facebook

Join my Email list to get tips on navigating motherhood in the medical field.

If you feel you need direct support or someone to talk through the unique challenges of being a physician mom, schedule a free coaching session.

Free Coaching Session with Dr. Toya

Transcript

 So I am studying for my perinatal mental health certification,  even though I told myself my board exam would be the last certification I would ever do. Here I am.  I, have put off the exam now twice, so I'm finally going to do it, no matter what,  and I'm going back through my study materials.

And I came across something that just made me so happy and so sure about what I am doing with my individual coaching for physician moms in the early years of motherhood. And I remember I had the same feeling when I was taking the actual training and they went over what I'm about to talk about because it was just as I had launched my official coaching business and I had these tenants, these kind of core values that I  planned to use with my clients.

And. I was sitting in this class for the certification and everything that I believed, everything I was going to talk about, everything that I planned to practice with my clients there it was as a way to help people who are in this postpartum phase. And for me, early motherhood phase feel better, feel less alone, less depressed, less anxious. So I want to go over the postpartum support international nine steps to wellness.  And step one is education, you know, books, handouts, websites, things like that. I don't require my clients to read a whole lot of books.  They have enough going on. I, I read the books for them and then take all of the information and use it to, to help them through whatever they're going through. 

Two is sleep slash rest. they say that rest is critical to being well. Even if you can't sleep,  rest is important.  Nutrition, a lot of times when we are immediately postpartum, you just eat whatever you can.  You are so exhausted.

Nobody has time to cook.  So, the nutrition in this time is not the best. Even I struggle with that right now. But it is so important. to be well in this time.  Step four is exercise and time for myself.

Now I take a little bit of issue with the combination of the two, but I appreciate the sentiment and exercise in this context is movement, right? So it is not something you need to feel like, Oh, I don't have time to exercise. I don't have the energy.  When I think about exercise, I'm like, I don't have time to do like an hour exercise then I can't exercise at all, when really going outside for a walk is beneficial, moving your body in some way is beneficial to your physical body and your mind. Just being able to get outside fresh air and get your muscles moving.

And step five is sharing with nonjudgmental listeners. So here we're talking about the importance of your community, your village, and the important thing is nonjudgmental. So many of us have people in our lives that are super judgy and they could be family, partner, friends. So you have to be really careful.  And. One of the things that I highlight is curating your village, right? It's not just warm bodies. It's bodies that can support you that will not judge you and really listen.

And step six is emotional support. And I really love the quote here. It says you need and deserve emotional support from your friends, family, faith community, workspace, in order to heal, you need and deserve. And it is so important.

 Step seven is practical support. And this is one of my favorites. So you need and deserve physical help with child care, cooking, housework. We're talking about outsourcing. Okay. I got so excited when I read that again,  because it's true. See, Postpartum Support International says it. So it's not just me trying to be bougie and trying to get you to spend money.

You need this to be well.  And step eight is finding supportive resources. So your faith community, health care providers, lactation consultants, mental health providers, postpartum doulas, support groups, and I will add in coaches.   So whatever you need to get the support that you deserve.  Because you may not necessarily have it in your immediate community, or it may not be adequate, or you may just need more of it. 

And step nine,  a plan of action. So when you think about this time, things can be so overwhelming. There are so many things to do for yourself, for the children, for your husband, for your job. And it can be like, well, I can't get all this stuff done. So I'm just not going to do anything.

You can get to that stage of overwhelm. But one thing I focus on with my clients is breaking things down to what do you need to do that is just one baby step, the lowest barrier to entry, the least amount of resistance, just the easiest thing that you can do to move you one step forward.

Let's do that and let it just be about this one step, not about all the things. And just having that plan in an easy, digestible way can bring so much relief. And then once we get that baby step done, we go to the next baby step and we keep going and we keep going.

It is those baby steps that can get you closer to feeling less overwhelmed, less anxious.  So those are the nine steps to wellness and pretty much the core of my private coaching. These are the things that I advocate for the tools that I use to help physician moms who are in the early years of motherhood. And it was just so validating right as I launched to take this training and see that I didn't just make this stuff up.  Like these, steps to wellness that this major organization that is dedicated to the mental health of pregnant and postpartum people since 1987  are so similar to what I use with my private clients to help them thrive postpartum and also to set a foundation for motherhood going forward. 

 So I really need to get back to studying because  I need to get this over with and pass this certification.  And why, you may ask, am I even doing it?    It's just one more tool I use to serve my clients at a higher level.

I don't actually have any plans for the certification but it's, The education piece I felt like it was an excellent adjunct to my training and experience as an OBGYN and just fit so nicely into this space that I was fully delving into.  So wish me luck.  I actually don't even know when this episode is going to be scheduled, so I may have already taken the exam and hopefully I have PMHC behind my MD. So if you are in those early years of motherhood and you have no time for yourself, you're overwhelmed and overrun with household tasks. You can't even enjoy the time with your kids because you're so tired and irritated from everything else you have to do. You've gone back to work and you really don't want to be there. You have to deal with pumping.  And meeting your RVU requirements and figuring out just how you're going to do it all. Schedule a free coaching call with me and you will get your personalized steps to wellness, whatever that means for you in this season. The link is in the show notes. It's also on my website. You need and deserve to be well,  you need and deserve this type of support.  I will see you on the next episode of stethoscopes and strollers.