The Motherhood Connection
Hello Long Beach Mama!
In case we haven’t met I wanted to introduce myself and invite you to a special event in our community that you might not know about. I’m Robin Giesen, a Long Beach Mom member since 2017 and Long Beach Moms Self Care & Mental Health Coordinator. I am the mother of two amazing boys, Miles (11) and Miller (6). Professionally I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Perinatal Mental Health Certified Therapist, in plain speak, I’m a mom therapist. I haven’t always been a mom therapist; in fact, even though I had been a therapist for some time when my first child was born, I didn’t know that such a thing existed until I needed one. There were a lot of things I needed when I first became a mom, and one of them was community. I was the first of my friend group to become a mother and my family was thousands of miles away, I was lonely, anxious, and clueless about what to do about it. With my second child, I stumbled upon this amazing group and joined for the playdates. When Angelica asked me if I would consider leading a self-care event I said YES! And The Motherhood Connection was born.
The first Motherhood Connection event was created back in 2018. We wanted to create a space for moms to come together to share our highs and our lows and to have a safe space to discuss the messier parts of motherhood. Our goals were to create community, foster connection and decrease the isolation that so many mothers feel but so few mothers talk about. I still remember our first meeting. We discussed the heaviness of motherhood, and each identified one thing we had been hauling along in our mental load that we could let go of. We wrote it down on flying wish paper, giggled our way down to the parking lot of the building we were meeting in, set our words aflame and watched as they magically floated away. I can still remember the feelings of weightlessness and camaraderie. As the Motherhood Connection grew, we realized that some moms, particularly new moms, the moms often most in need of connection, found it difficult to join our gatherings. And so, the daytime motherhood connection was born.
The Motherhood Connection Daytime Edition meets on the third Thursday of the month from 10 to 11:30 am. It is graciously hosted by Long Beach Moms partner En Pointe Dance and Fitness Studio. All Long Beach Moms and babes in arms are welcome. Long Beach Moms in all stages of Motherhood are welcome at all of our events, but the conversation of this group is largely around the highs and lows of the transition to motherhood, or Matrescence. Matrescence refers to the process of becoming a mother which is a physical, emotional, hormonal, and social transition. In other words, THIS SHIT IS HARD. Really hard. If you are struggling with it being so hard, you are not alone, if you are wondering where the village is that everyone keeps talking about, we might just be it. The Motherhood Connection is here to support you.
Each meeting mothers get to briefly introduce or reintroduce themselves and share their current highs and lows and share if there is something they are struggling with. If you’d like our tips and tricks, we’ll be happy to help, but you don’t need to worry about receiving unsolicited advice here, as we are mostly just here to support each other in finding our own unique paths on our motherhood journeys. At the end of each session, we decide what the topic will be for the following meeting. This month we will be exploring boundaries.
If this spoke to you, I hope you’ll join us at our next Motherhood Connection gathering June 15 at 10 am. I recommend you arrive a little earlier so you can grab a pastry and a cup of coffee and settle in. A reservation is required so that we have a seat available for you as space is limited. If you are unable to attend during the daytime keep a lookout for our Evening Motherhood Connection which will be popping up around town over the summer to help all of us stay sane and grounded during summer vacation. Keep in mind that our nighttime edition features chocolate and wine, so consider bringing a friend and drawing straws for a designated driver, or better yet UBER on over. Hope to see there!!
Fondly,
Robin Giesen
