Meet Brooke

 

Growing up I always knew I wanted to pursue a career where I could channel my skills and insights as an empath. Holding space for others is something that has always come naturally to me, along with creative problem-solving. I have had a 20+year challenging, yet very rewarding career in occupational therapy. From teaching elementary school students about brain injury prevention to traveling to South America on a burn rehab subject matter expert exchange... Helping a young woman awaiting transplant learn to care for herself with a portable heart pump...to fabricating splints for a premature newborn. It has enriched my life and cultivated perspective that will forever influence the way I show up in the world.

 

Of the countless eye opening experiences, probably the most memorable one was in my early years as a therapist, seeing the catastrophic effects of a pre-eclampsia-related hemorrhagic stroke in a brand new mother. It left her unable to speak or even sit up in bed. After many months of intensive rehab, she walked out of the hospital, only to just begin her next journey as a mother. 

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The first time I really found myself in a "patient" role was when I became a mom 13 years ago. Having a non-high risk pregnancy and delivery, it was a no frills, time to go home on day 3, somewhat banal experience. Uneventful is probably what one wants when it comes to birthing a baby, but what I mean is, the care I received left me feeling like I was really on my own. In the weeks and months following, I had to work hard at figuring out and finding help for what I now know was postpartum depression and anxiety. Breastfeeding was a whole world of struggle, pain, and perceived failure. Pelvic pain and muscle weakness made attempts to feel "normal" that much harder.  Along the way, I began to recognize that many women normalize what they are experiencing, assuming that things like incontinence, intense worry, and pain just come with the territory of birthing a baby - and never seek help.

 

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