334: A Therapist’s Postpartum OCD and How Shame Prevents Seeking Help with Ellen Chance, Ph.D.

Through the sharing of our stories, we educate ourselves and others about perinatal mental health challenges, and we normalize the fact that we should not feel shame for needing professional help and support. For so many people, shame over what they are experiencing keeps them from admitting the truth of their struggles and reaching out for help and support. We want to change that scenario! Join us for a candid conversation with today’s guest. 

Dr. Ellen Chance is a counselor educator and the founder of Whole Counseling and Wellness, a mental health private practice based in Florida. Her practice specializes in women’s and maternal mental health and support through all stages of motherhood, from trying to conceive to beyond the empty nest. Dr. Chance has advanced training in perinatal mental health and is passionate about empowering women and mothers to prioritize their whole wellness, and she works from the belief that all individuals deserve to feel whole: complete, fulfilled, grounded, and connected. Her motivation to serve the perinatal population came from her lived experience with postpartum anxiety and OCD and the shame that kept her from getting the help she needed and deserved. 

Show Highlights:

• Shame drives and perpetuates the symptoms of anxiety and OCD.
• Ellen’s story of fear and worry dominating her emotions during pregnancy–and dealing with breastfeeding struggles with her newborn
• Ellen’s experience with concealing how she felt and where her thoughts were going
• OCD, for Ellen, manifested itself through excessive worry and prevention of every bad thing that could possibly happen to her child—and the shame she felt as a trained mental health professional who could not admit that she needed help
• Ellen’s fears of opening up, being judged for her compulsive behavior, and burdening someone else with her mental health struggle
• Is it still intrusive thoughts if they aren’t about harming myself or my baby?
• Steps that helped Ellen “clear the fog” and start to be herself again
• Being open, transparent, and vulnerable about postpartum OCD didn’t happen until Ellen volunteered with PSI and started leading support groups.
• Things that were helpful to Ellen on her healing journey

Resources:

Connect with Dr. Ellen Chance and Whole Counseling and Wellness: Website, Instagram (Ellen), Instagram (counseling practice), and Facebook

Visit www.postpartum.net for resources and support! 

Visit www.postpartum.net/professionals/certificate-trainings/ for information on the grief course.  

Visit my website, www.wellmindperinatal.com, for more information, resources, and courses you can take today!

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