Author Archives: Jennifer Butler Basile

childbirth

The Dish on Doulas

As this past October dawned, I woke early on a Saturday, put on some presentable clothes, and drove an hour north to a farmers’ market – and I didn’t even need any produce.

I was researching an article on doulas for Rhode Island Moms. My initial idea was “An Interview with a Doula” to create a personal connection introducing how and what doulas offer. After discussions with three doulas I either knew personally or through a few degrees of separation, the article’s focus became more broad-based. When I saw that Doulas of Rhode Island (DORI) was hosting a Meet the Doulas event at Lippitt Park in conjunction with the farmers’ market, I knew I’d learn even more.

What is a doula?
Click to read more of my article on rhodeislandmoms.com

My trusty little notebook quickly became filled with the emotional and physical support these women provide to mothers everyday in hospitals and homes. I spoke to Emma setting up the table and welcoming guests. I spoke to Katherine, membership coordinator for the doula organization (who connected me with Paulette who gave me more info via phone). I met Ava, based in my neck of the woods and friends with a Warrior Mom doula I know. I met Emily, who had just relocated to Rhode Island and was getting the lay of the land for mamas here. I met Shay who translated her own birth experience into a way forward with future moms. Some of these women prepare mothers in the prenatal phase and see them through labor. Others support them during labor and at home postpartum. Some prepare nutritious foods and provide childcare while mom sleeps. Some do it all. All establish a solid and supportive foundation for moms to thrive.

While it wasn’t meant to be an article about mental health, that is often the lens through which I view issues. I asked several of the doulas what they do to support and assess mental health/illness in their clients. They obviously all watch for the signs and know when to call in help, but I was shocked by the surprisingly simple, yet profound, response Lily had. As a postpartum doula and overnight nanny, she emphasized the benefit of sleep, how even PMAD treatment programs and hospitals focus on mom getting adequate sleep.

How refreshing that if we ensure moms get what they need (ie sleep, nutritious food, companionship, informed decision making), mood disorders may not even arise!

And THAT is why doulas are a force to be employed, paid attention to, and celebrated.

I spent over two hours speaking to and circulating around the doulas of Rhode Island and their table. I told Emily that I could talk about maternal (mental) health all day. “Me too,” she said.

The article that went to press November 5, 2024 could not contain all the stories and wonderful women I met. The way I serve women and mothers is affected by them. I am thankful for their work and their sharing.

With a community like this, women and mothers cannot go wrong.

The doulas who shared their work and time with me. . .
Many thanks

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Sebastian Voortman from Pexels
may is maternal mental health month

Female Fulcrum

Who would’ve thought that being an adult volunteer with Girl Scouts would pay such dividends? Obviously there’s the bonding with one’s own child and building experiences for all in the troop. But the connections between the grown females is what always moves me.

At our troop’s camp-out this year, another mom and I rallied the girls to set up an oversized see-saw contraption. Essentially a wooden dock on a fulcrum, we had to slide it from ramp position to a teetering position so as to ‘ride the waves’. Two grown adults couldn’t do it by themselves and everything Girl Scouts is GIRL-led, so the entire troop found a spot and together we lifted and slid the slab into place.

As the girls leapt onto the sloshing see-saw one by one and experimented with movement and weight distribution, the mom and I marveled at the power of the physical example right in front of our faces.

Teamwork. Small actions combining for a great force. Empowerment. Goal realization.

I remarked how important it was for girls to be in an environment solely for them with ample space for their voices and desires. This led into a conversation about this mom’s experience as a personal and fitness coach, saying that a young man in the administration of her organization had tried to offer tips for improving her practices. She and her core group had already found an incredibly enriching and cohesive bond. She, as a woman, in a different age bracket, and a mother, had all she needed to interface with these women. She had lived in experience.

“There is such power when women gather,” I said.

“Absolutely,” she said. “Especially when it’s a space just for them.”

We looked at each other knowingly, nodding, and I know my eyes were certainly filling.

And all that from a cold, rainy, muddy weekend at camp strong-arming a wooden raft into a precarious – or perfectly balanced – position.

But the community and calm knowing that comes from a gathering of women is what I want to celebrate and what I know to be at the core of maternal mental health.

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Silhouette Photo Of Women Under Blue Sky
May is Mental Health Month

Women Supporting Women

And now we enter that portion of programming pertaining to women. It’s important to have supportive people of all stripes, but I have found an immense affinity and solidarity and empowerment in female bonds. In the lived experience and in the realm of all things matrescence.

I’ll be using several subsequent posts to share and showcase some amazing women, standing by and showing up for others, starting with a throwback to when one loved me enough to tell me what I didn’t want to hear.

Wisdom in a Cup of Tea

And then to remind myself of the beautiful little stink that never was a question:

For This Child I Prayed

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Maternal Health Month 2014

May 2014

An overview of my second annual series for mental health awareness, specifically focused on maternal mental health. Part resource, part description and discussion, part personal reflection. One encouraging observation: while I was in some low spots, I am not now. Everyday is a journey and I’ve survived every one thus far.

May is Maternal Health Month
Advanced Screenings
A Thread of a Different Color
Hide and Seek
No Pressure
Debbie Downer
It’s the Depression Talking
Playing the Odds
It Just Makes Me Sad
A Common Language
Work in(g on) Progress
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Grayscale Photograph of Man Laughing
May is Mental Health Month

Generational

Last weekend, I traveled a good portion of the eastern seaboard and visited with a dear aunt. The eldest of her three siblings, my godmother, I hadn’t seen her in seven years. She is the keeper of important family details, historical data. My cousin (and travel partner) had countless deep conversations with her across our four-day visit.

When my aunt showed us her photo album/geneaology book, she pulled out a copy of the following blog entry. Given the weight of many of our conversations, the poignant irony could not be any thicker than if fog had filled the room.

The motto of the weekend, a lot of our family, my life.

Laugh So You May Not Cry
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Young Woman on a Session with Her Therapist
May is Mental Health Month

Mental Health Help for Moms in Rhode Island

One of the developments of the past year is my writing for Rhode Island Moms. While I was not hired to write specifically about mental health, fittingly, my first two articles for them were about this topic so near and dear to my heart. Then Megan Block, the founder of Rhode Island Moms, allowed me to share my personal postpartum story.

My Mental Health Articles for Rhode Island Moms:

Today, to mark 2025’s mental health awareness month, my latest article dropped to share resources with women and mothers who are thinking they might need extra support.

Mental Health Help for Moms in Rhode Island

I am incredibly grateful that Rhode Island Moms gives mental health a platform on its site and allows me to write about it.

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May is Mental Health Month

May 2013

May 2013 was the first time I undertook a month-long theme of multiple posts to mark mental health awareness. Below are some of my posts from that series. A trip in the way back machine that explains a lot about my current state of mental health, motherhood, and life – and how I got here.

The Perfect Storm
Don’t Fear the (Ir)rational
The Brand of Crazy I Am
You Got Some ‘Splainin to Do
The black dog of depression
All the Rage
A Sit-com of Errors
The Blue Chicken or the Anxiety Egg?
Patate Pazze
Destymie-ing Dysthymia
An Imperfect Porpoise
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Green Leaves and White Flower Crown
may is maternal mental health month

Immaculate

When I was a child, bright May mornings were filled with energy.

Sturdy rubber soled, strapped toes met pebbly concrete as in formation we marched

to crown Mother Mary.

Even if your hands didn’t rest the blooms atop her head

the songs and solemn file made you feel special.

The Mother of our Church, it makes sense that this month also celebrates earthly mothers.

And given the true gravity of motherhood, it makes sense that it also celebrates mental health.

I’ve done all manner of mother-centric posts over months of May past.

This past year has been full of research and connection as well, but in some new directions. I’ve decided to share some of my experiences over this month of maternal mental health and mamas. To shine a light on some of the amazing work that mothers and women are doing. On their own and in support of each other.

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A Woman in Purple Pajamas SHVETS Pexels Canva
parenting

Independence or Inculcation

It filled me with sadness.

Hours after she’d reluctantly gotten on the school bus, I saw how she’d laid her pajamas out neatly on her bed. It was only a few nights ago that she’d asked me to ‘fix’ the mangled inside-out ball of them before she could put them on for sleep – a task she was perfectly capable of doing, but at which somehow I was better.

The magic of mom. We somehow only notice it when it isn’t employed.

But this isn’t about the unrecognized or underappreciated.

This is about the wistful movement toward independence.

Hinted at in outfits plucked from the drawers by oneself, pajamas outlining the little person who is no longer there.

She’s still there. She didn’t want to go to school. She told me by moving her little body in an angry run down the driveway this morning.

But it was paired with more grown-up concerns like math and writing and reading – but not about what we want; by two-player games when there’s a third; by recesses that are too short and far between.

All of my kids struggled during this year of school. The threshold between little and bigger; fun and hard work; learning and toil.

It’s an important step that she’s being proactive and more independent. It’s good for her and easier for me. But its gain is paired with the loss, or erosion at least, of whimsy and nonsense, carefree days and easy play.

Laying out one’s outfit for the next day is just one more lock of a cog on the wheel. I want her to run freely down the road and into life.

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perinatal mood and anxiety disorders

The Connection You Never Knew You Needed

Postpartum Support International (PSI) was founded in 1987 in Santa Barbara, California by Jane Honikman, who was spurred on by her own experience with postpartum mood and anxiety disorders in the 1970s and the obvious need for social support for new mothers.

Now headquartered in Portland, Oregon, PSI has expanded across the United States and into 36 countries. With helplines, peer support groups, and professional training and resources, it is a bastion of maternal mental health.

While PSI came on my radar over twenty years into its tenure, spurred by my own struggles, it quickly became a source of hope and continued utility and inspiration. All the women I’ve met in the maternal mental health space have been incredibly affirming and supportive. To be able to amplify those connections and community on the PSI blog is a true honor. Read my piece below:

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