May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This Mother’s Day weekend, two therapists provide a space for Black mothers to practice mental wellness.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As communities nationwide prepare to celebrate both Mental Health Awareness Month and Mother’s Day this May, two Charlotte-based therapists are highlighting the critical connection between maternal well-being and family health.
Tiffany Bishop and Whitney Coble, co-founders of Raising Resilience, pivoted their practice from child therapy to maternal mental health after recognizing a pattern among their clients.
“Those challenges and difficulties were correlated to their challenges and difficulties in parenting, which then of course showed up in their child’s behavior,” Bishop said.
The college friends-turned-business partners discovered a significant gap in therapy services specifically addressing maternal mental health, particularly for women of color.
“It just opened a new world,” Bishop said. “We were just privy to all this information about maternal mental health conditions, the prevalence, especially for Black women who often experience these perinatal mood and anxiety disorders but they’re also least likely to receive support.”
Their practice has become a resource for mothers like Jahmara Marchman, who sought support as she navigates early parenthood.
“I had to really step back and realize how can I continue to pour into myself so I can be the best mom that I can be,” Marchman said.
Marchman values having a supportive environment where mothers can be honest about their experiences.Â
“It’s beautiful, it’s fulfilling, but also it’s hard work,” Marchman said. “Just to be in a safe place to really just let out, vent.”
This Mother’s Day weekend, Raising Resilience will host “Nurture and Bloom: A Maternal Wellness Experience,” an event designed for mothers and expectant mothers to reflect on their parenting journey.
“We think about parenthood and motherhood as a flower,” Coble said. “Because it takes your input to watch it grow, but also when we neglect ourselves and don’t show up for ourselves, that plant reflects that.”
The founders stress the importance of gifting mothers with deeper support, on top of traditional Mother’s Day gifts.
“The cards, the flowers, those things are nice but it’s not really a time to self-reflect around who I am as a mother. What are the things I’ve given myself grace and patience for?” Bishop said.
The Nurture and Bloom event will take place Friday and Saturday, May 9-10, in Lower South End and Uptown Charlotte.
