PARENT RESILIENCE PROGRAM
Parent Resilience Program (PERC)
Some people find Perinatal Support Washington (PS-WA) after hours of googling how parenthood is “supposed” to feel, others arrive having reviewed a pamphlet on “Perinatal Depression” at the pediatricians. However you arrive and in whatever direction you want to go, the Parent Resilience Program is here for you.
We know that your emotional wellness experiences will be different and unique. For this reason, we would like to offer support in an equally varied and personalized delivery. We are here to support you and your wellness goals.
Our Parent Resilience Program (PERC) is unique in a few significant ways:
What we do:
- Parent Resilience Specialists (PRS) meet throughout the week with a hybrid model of in-person, via phone, text, and video.
- The PRS' provides the support you need and want: wellness planning, connecting you to resources and referrals, and more.
- PRS' can work with families for as many weeks or months as your desires change, typically families engage in services for 6-9 months. We’re here to help you to move along on your wellness journey.
Who we serve:
- Pregnant people and new parents who are at risk of, or currently experiencing, mental health concerns related to childbearing
Some examples could include anxiety, sadness or grief around unexpected parenting/birth outcomes, depression, sleeplessness, scary or intrusive thoughts. - People who have experienced a loss, terminated a pregnancy, or had other unexpected childbirth outcomes
- Parents who are not currently parenting due to loss, removal, etc. are welcome in this program if they are experiencing perinatal mental health concerns
- King County residents (and enrolling for Pierce County in September 2022!)
- People who do not identify as parents but have experienced mental health challenges related to reproduction/childbearing
Who PERC does NOT serve:
- Parents/participants outside of King/Pierce County
- Parents with Substance Use Disorders who are not currently engaged in recovery services
- Parents who are currently, or have recently experienced, a mental health crisis resulting in hospitalization and are not actively engaged in mental health services
- Parents whose primary mental health concern is not related to childbearing/conception/loss
Does this program sound like the right fit for you?
To access any of our programs please submit a request for services below. Providers can refer via the same link
1-888-404-7763
* se habla español
warmline@perinatalsupport.org
“I hope all your future participants feel the support you have given me”
-PERC Participant
Meet our Parent Resilience Specialist Team:
Elizabeth Moore Simpson, LSWAIC, PERC Program Manager
Elizabeth Moore Simpson (she/her), LSWAIC, PERC Program Manager
is a mother of one and also identifies as a bereaved parent. She has worked with new families for over ten years before coming to PS-WA. She has dedicated her career to the work of ending health and economic disparities for communities furthest away from opportunity. Through an infant-early childhood mental and maternal health lens Elizabeth has practiced as a doula, restorative justice circle keeper, child and family therapist, and community organizer for racial and economic justice.
Additionally, Elizabeth is an Ethnic Minority Specialist with specific training, experience, and connection with the urban native community in the unceded tribal land known as ‘Seattle’. These are commitments that extend beyond her professional career as a social worker and are integral to how she views her responsibility to those whose land she resides on.
Elizabeth was raised in Seattle, and spends her (fleeting) spare time with her partner teaching their little one to fight the power!
Elizabeth.MooreSimpson (at) perinatalsupport (dot) org
Stephanie Valerdi, Parent Resilience Specialist
Stephanie Valerdi (she/her/they/them)
Stephanie Valerdi (she/they) is a queer Latinx single parent of a child with special needs. Stephanie supports Latinx, BIPOC, and QPOC families in King county. Stephanie has been supporting families for the last 9 years with a foundation in community programs, and early childhood education.
Stephanie has personal experience navigating the mental health systems as an immigrant, and is passionate about using their skills to help families access support in a culturally informed way empowering parents in their own self advocacy journey. Stephanie is passionate about connecting latinx parents and building a community proud of our culture, and resilience.
Stephanie is supportive in listening and using their lived experience to help bridge the stigma of talking about mental health within the Latinx community. Stephanie’s personal experience with Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs), and trauma, has empowered them in their career to provide compassionate and informed care to the families they work with.
La Tonia Westerfield, Parent Resilience Specialist
La Tonia Westerfield (they/she), Parent Resilience Specialist, Traditional Midwife
La Tonia is a queer Black femme who supports pregnant and parenting families as a Parent Resilience Specialist in Pierce County. They serve as an encouraging resource and witness for parents navigating the perinatal mental health landscape by using their firsthand experience as a parent who has lived with anxiety and depression. La Tonia knows firsthand the barriers that exist for Black and queer folx seeking support for their mental health. La Tonia has experienced personal and professional loss, which allows them to offer supportive tools and skills that are based on lived experience and shared community ways of ‘knowing’ and processing grief and loss.
La Tonia has spent the last 7+ years advocating for families, attending births, and providing compassionate care as a birth doula and student midwife. They graduated from midwifery school in June 2021 and now practice and attend births as a traditional midwife. In all their work,
La Tonia centers Black, Indigenous, and QTPOC families in their role as a midwife, doula, and peer. They use the framework and lens of reproductive justice, the intersections of race, class, gender/sexuality, and ability, and radical rest politics when supporting families in their community.
Jennie Capron, Intern PRS
Jennie Capron, Intern PRS
Jennie (she/her) has been supporting pregnant and newly parenting families for over thirteen years, as a doula, through parent peer support, and most recently as a social work student. She has two early elementary aged children. After her second daughter was born, she experienced mental health challenges, and knows how hard it can be to get the support you need to get back to feeling like yourself. Jennie is dedicated to supporting families through listening and walking alongside them as they find their path to mental wellness.
Jennie loves gardening and camping in the summer, playing card/board games in the winter, and reading a good book just about any time.
Shawn Koyano, Intern PRS
Shawn Koyano (she/her)
Shawn Koyano (she/her) is a queer Black survivor of physical, emotional, and sexual assault and is dedicated to supporting those who have experienced or are experiencing trauma to find healing. She is the daughter of a single Black mother who instilled in her the value of perseverance in the pursuit of a life in which she and her community can thrive. She is striving to instill the same values in her two young children while working full-time as the Program Director of Families of Color Seattle (FOCS) and as a student in a dual MSW/MEd in Human Sexuality (Sex Therapy) program at Widener University.
Shawn has worked and volunteered her time supporting families in community. She believes in the power of peer support and leads with non-judgemental, compassionate care and listening, centered around accessing joy. Having experienced navigating the medical system as a Black woman, she has struggled with her own mental health and physical struggles through difficult pregnancies, births and loss, and lives as a fierce advocate for birth-giving and parenting folks. Shawn enjoys spending time with her family, jigsaw puzzles, reading, caring for plants, being on the water, and growing food.
Parent Resources and Handouts
County Resources & Referrals
Due to COVID-19 many of of the support groups below are either not meeting, or are meeting virtually. Please visit our Virtual Support Groups Handout below for all the details.
