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Maternal Mental Health and the Reality of Recovery

Therapist Stephanie Arrington joins us to discuss maternal mental health beyond the six-week postpartum checkup. Drawing on her professional work and experience with postpartum anxiety, Stephanie explains why moms’ exhaustion and distress are often normalized—and why asking for support matters.

We talk about postpartum recovery, work and caregiving pressures, perimenopause, sleep, and ways partners can help. Stephanie reminds us that maternal mental health struggles are treatable, and moms don’t have to face them alone.

In this episode

• Stephanie Arrington introduces her work as a licensed clinical social worker, therapist, and founder of Height Psychotherapy.
• Many moms are juggling work, caregiving, and household responsibilities without enough time to recover. That depletion can become so familiar that it feels normal.
• Limited parental leave, childcare costs, career pressures, and lack of community support can all affect maternal mental health.
• Recovery after birth can take much longer than six weeks. Stephanie says physical, mental, and emotional recovery can take up to two years.
• Returning to work while still recovering can be stressful, especially when managing pumping, commuting, and newborn care.
• Postpartum can overlap with perimenopause and menopause, adding body changes, identity shifts, and caregiving demands.
• Persistent sleep disruption, feeling constantly on edge, irritability, rage, and spiraling thoughts deserve attention—not dismissal as “just hormones.”
• Stephanie suggests protecting sleep and rest, identifying what drains energy, and delegating tasks where possible.
• Breastfeeding difficulties and pressure to meet expectations can affect mental health; struggling is not a personal failure.
• Postpartum depression and anxiety can appear months after birth and may persist if untreated.
• Partners can support moms by asking open-ended questions and listening to understand, rather than jumping straight to fixing or judging.
• Stephanie encourages anyone who feels something is wrong to reach out to a trusted person or professional. Help is available, and treatment can make a difference.

Timestamps

00:00 - Meet Stephanie and explore why maternal mental health matters

01:28 - How many moms become depleted without realizing it

03:24 - Societal pressures and the impact on mothers’ health

05:02 - Validation, grace, and what moms can control

06:06 - Generational pressure and the myth of doing it all

07:16 - Why postpartum recovery can take much longer than six weeks

08:52 - Going back to work before feeling recovered

10:01 - Pumping, commuting, and the logistics of returning to work

11:41 - Later motherhood, perimenopause, and loneliness

14:34 - Anxiety symptoms that can show up in the body

16:06 - Why persistent sleep disruption deserves attention

18:15 - Supporting sleep, rest, and energy

20:03 - Delegating tasks that drain your energy

21:09 - When to reach out for professional help

22:17 - Breastfeeding pressure and postpartum mental health

24:25 - Planning for postpartum support

25:39 - Baby blues, postpartum depression, and when symptoms may appear

27:14 - Maternal mental health through different parenting stages

29:41 - What gives Stephanie hope

31:31 - How partners can listen and support

36:06 - Treatment, support, and the reminder that moms are not alone

37:58 - Where to find Stephanie

38:34 - Stephanie shares when she is most in her mojo

Episode Summary

In this episode, Maria and Esohe trace their friendship back to a chance elevator meeting as new moms in Jersey City, and open up about the very different paths their motherhood experiences took from there. Maria shares her story of undiagnosed, late-onset postpartum depression that went unspoken for years, even to her closest friend, while navigating early motherhood without family nearby. The conversation moves through the idea of matrescence, the overlap of postpartum struggles with perimenopause, and why community functions as therapy — not just a nice-to-have. It closes with the real origin story of Mama's Got Mojo: an idea sparked by Maria's husband in 2015, a 2018 UN conference that lit a fire under both hosts, a pivot to in-person events when the podcast wasn't yet possible, and finally, 8 years later, this launch.

Key Quotes

"Motherhood is everything, but it also changes everything. Your body, your brain, your sense of self, and nobody tells you that part." — Maria

"It wasn't until almost two years in... that's when I realized I had completely lost myself." — Maria

"We definitely need that community, the village. We need to bring all of that back." — Esohe

About the Hosts

Maria Collin Goodman

Founder of Mama's Got Mojo. Maria's own experience with late-onset postpartum depression, diagnosed nearly four years after her son was born, and compounded by perimenopause - shaped her mission to build a space where mothers don't fall through the cracks the way she did.

Esohe Alile

Co-host of Mama's Got Mojo and a newborn and maternity photographer. A mom herself, she knows the overwhelm firsthand - and through years of hearing other moms' struggles and birth stories, she's seen up close why community matters. Her encouragement helped set Mama's Got Mojo in motion.

Actionable Takeaways

WHAT MOMS CAN DO

• Say the hard thing out loud, even at the six-week checkup

• Look for or build a “village” substitute if family isn’t nearby

• Learn the word matrescence — naming the transition makes it easier to recognize

WHAT PARTNERS CAN DO

• Notice the gap between how someone looks in public and how they might feel at home

• Actively create an outlet or project, rather than waiting to be asked

• Ask more than “is the baby okay” — check in on the mom specifically

SIGNS TO WATCH FOR

• Late-onset postpartum depression — it doesn’t have to show up in the first weeks

• Crying without a clear reason, irritability, sadness

• Postpartum and perimenopause overlapping — especially for moms who had kids later

KEY REMINDERS

• Community isn’t a nice-to-have — research shows it functions as medicine

• The guilt spiral is common, not personal failure

• This episode closes a loop nearly ten years in the making

Listen & Connect

• Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch on YouTube

• Follow @mamasgotmojo for episode drops, guest news, and behind-the-scenes

• Sign up for the newsletter at mamasgotmojo.com

Your mojo? It never left. Let's find it together.