October Happenings: Putting Families First!
Dear friends,
We are excited to announce that we have moved into our new space! You can find us in our new home at 67 Byberry Road, Hatboro PA 19040. We are thrilled that our new space will allow us to offer expanded programming and services in beautiful Victorian charm.
We're still getting unpacked and settled; the new furniture continues to arrive daily. We kindly ask for your understanding and patience as we pull things together and assemble the gorgeous interior design by Revise Studio. We are officially open and are following all the CDC Covid-19 recommendations about conducting business with abundance of caution.
This past month has been tough for families: uncertainty around resuming school, a pandemic that is still raging, and the death of a groundbreaking feminist icon: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Like so many of you, we were deeply impacted by her death. Her loss shook us in unexpected ways. Yes, she was a champion for equal justice under the law and a trailblazer for women's rights. Her legacy is deep, and many of us are living testaments to her impact. But many women we've talked to have also felt the loss on a personal level--as women and as mothers.
Justice Ginsburg said of finding her first job after law school, "I had three strikes against me: one, I was Jewish. Two, I was a woman. But the killer was I was a mother of a four-year-old child." Throughout her career, she battled prejudice and inequality, and in the courtroom, she fought tenaciously for a different reality for women and mothers to come. Women are mourning the loss of a someone who died while still fighting in a battle for women's rights that was so pressing that she could not put the burden down even in her last days. Mothers know all too well what it means to keep on giving when it seems there is nothing left to give.
We know this last month has been challenging for families who may feel there is nothing left to give. Families are facing zoom meetings, virtual schooling, financial uncertainty, and political upheaval all while their support systems remain largely dismantled. This season has been so tough in American families, and we know women are shouldering the burden even more than before. This week the "Women in the Workforce" report from LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Co shared that after six years of steady gains for women in management, "more than one in four women are considering downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce. For the past six years, our study has revealed slow but measurable progress for women at all levels of management. Now all those gains could be wiped out in a single year. Up to two million women could leave their jobs. If we had a panic button, we’d be hitting it."
Corporate America is taking note of what we have long known: working mothers cannot shoulder this burden alone. Women and families are in need of support. We are here to stand beside you and offer what you need-- validation of your exhaustion and feeling like this is impossible, a support group, or a therapy session, a friendly face and a cup of coffee. In America, there is so much work to do, but we can do it together. We lend our voice every day to the cause for women, and we will continue to do so -- for all of us, and our families.
In the continued spirit of creating flexible careers for working mothers, we are welcoming a new clinician, JaNae West, MFT. JaNae comes to us with four years experience working in a variety of therapeutic positions including in-home family therapy, crisis counselling in the EF, working with the ACT clinician in the community-based program, and working as a primary therapist inpatient at Foundations Behavioral Health. As a mother of two, JaNae has personal and professional experience in understanding the enormous changes that take place with transitioning into motherhood. JaNae strives to utilize her training in family systems to help new parents navigate through the complexities of moving into their new roles by providing a safe, caring space to explore issues and difficulties that arise with babies and raising small children. She has deep passion for helping individuals explore and overcome intergenerational patterns that prevent a person moving towards a place of healing so that they can live their most authentic life. We feel so lucky to have her!
Recognizing that many of us are in a vulnerable place, our goal is to meet you where you feel the safest. You can either visit us in person or continue to access our services with the convenience of telehealth. As always, our physical office continues to adhere to the strictest safety protocols. Our COVID Safety Plan is included for your reference at the end of this month’s newsletter.
The coffee will be on, as always, so come by and say hello! Book a massage, schedule that therapy session you’ve been putting off, come to the support groups and classes that fit what you’re needing right now. You’ll be so glad you did, and we can’t wait to give you a tour.
Warmly,
Kellie Wicklund, LPC, PMH-C
Owner + Director
