november reflection: create, nurture, grow

by: stephanie purdom, lisw-s

When we first had the idea for me to start a monthly reflection on wild hope therapy’s blog, it felt serendipitous. November is a special month for me as it contains both of my children’s birthdays. 

It was my son James’s birth five years ago that inspired me to move into private practice in the first place. The allure of a flexible schedule as a new parent, along with the desire to connect more deeply with my clients after experiencing such a deep emotional shift during my own matrescence, led me to make the transition shortly after he was born. Further, it was my experience with both prenatal anxiety and postpartum anxiety and depression that inspired me to become a perinatal mental health specialist. (Within a year of his birth, I attended PSI’s certification training.) And it was during my second pregnancy, beginning in March of 2021, that I decided to build a group practice. 

I spent my entire pregnancy with Iris building Wild Hope. From hiring my first employee (now our clinical director, Maggie Reinmann) to scouting and furnishing offices, writing mission statements, learning business basics that they most certainly do not teach you in graduate school — all while navigating the pandemic, moving to a new city, and raising my sweet son. 

I’ve sometimes questioned that decision and wondered if I should have slowed down and let myself experience that pregnancy more mindfully, or caused less chaos for my family, or had more time to set up our new home in Cleveland. So much of the work I’ve done with perinatal clients (and parents in general) is figuring out how to support your family while still maintaining your own goals and interests. But as my brain went down that path, I had to remind myself of something else that’s come up in sessions repeatedly. Amidst the exhaustion, the preparations, and sometimes, the complications — pregnancy and parenthood can also be a time of creativity, when the exhilaration of bringing your baby into the world makes you think of what else you could accomplish. 

So when I carried my now one-year-old daughter down the stairs and into the kitchen this morning, and my husband, son and I sang her “Happy Birthday” as she giggled and bobbed, smiled and sparkled, I thought not just of the miraculousness of her and her first year of existence, but of all that had been born and nurtured since we first found out we’d be welcoming her. 

It’s really cool to see your children grow. Like, it’s probably — no, it is — the coolest thing I’ve ever witnessed. But I can’t deny the similar excitement I feel as our practice has grown as well. Our team of two has grown to a collective of 14 incredible professionals, all committed to providing trauma-informed, affirming mental health care. A once-completely virtual operation now has physical locations in both the Columbus and Cleveland areas, while still providing accessible and reliable telehealth. Next month I will share more of what this amazing team has accomplished in 2022, but also what we hope to create, grow and nurture in 2023.