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:

  • 1 This program was developed for you.

    Not just “you” as a parent, but the whole “you”. The “you” that may be reconciling unexpected birth experiences, struggling with your partner, managing anxiety, or other challenging feelings and experiences that can be hard to explain to family and friends, and sometimes even ourselves.

  • 2 Our Parent Resilience Specialists are peers with lived experience.

    Not only was this program made with your needs in mind, but it was created and is operated by those who have been where you are now. Our Parent Resilient Specialists (PRS) have both lived experience and also specialized training in perinatal wellness and mental health during the childbearing period. Our Parent Resilience Specialist are members of their communties and providing culturally-matched peer mental health support to the Black/African American, Latinx/Spanish Speaking, and Indigenous and LGBTQ+ families. They are well-versed in creating helpful and realistic self-care strategies and tailoring our “Wellness Wheels “ tool to you and are great at finding local activities such as storytime in your neighborhood, a local breastfeeding support group, or even attending a pregnancy loss support group with you to overcome the anxiety of going alone.

  • 3 Your wellness journey is led by you.

    Parent Resilience Specialists are trained peer providers who are not here to empower you, we see the power in you. They can assist you in getting ready to take your first steps towards emotional wellness. We know that mental health therapy is one option, but it’s not the only one and there are many paths to wellness. Whether that is connecting to other parent support resources, identifying priorities and boundaries with your family, or just an attentive, non-judgemental listening ear, we are here to help you thrive.

  • 4 This program is free and opt-in.

    We do not interact with insurance and will not bog you down with tedious paperwork. Our program enrolls participants on a rolling basis and our call-back time is 72 business hours. After one initial intake appointment, you are IN and we are here with you.

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
  • People who do not identify as parents but have experienced  mental health challenges related to reproduction/childbearing
  • PERC is launching Skagit County in Spring 2023! 

Who PERC does NOT serve:

  • Parents/participants outside of King Co.  
  • 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:

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Elizabeth Moore Simpson, LSWAIC, PERC Program Manager

Elizabeth Photo

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

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Stephanie Valerdi, Parent Resilience Specialist

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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.

Latonia Westerfield

La Tonia Westerfield, Parent Resilience Specialist

Latonia Westerfield

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.

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Jennie Capron, Parent Resilience Specialist

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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.

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Shawn Koyano, Intern PRS

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Shawn Koyano (she/her)

Shawn Koyano (she/her) is a Black queer mother, survivor, and advocate for survivors and families seeking community, belonging, and healing from violent systems. She strives to center and ground her work in Black feminist radical care, abolition, and dreaming of possibilities for families to be safe and whole.

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, she has struggled with her own mental health and physical struggles through difficult pregnancies, births and losses, and lives as a fierce advocate for birth-giving and parenting folks. She works and attends a dual MSW/MEd in Human Sexuality (Sex Therapy) program at Widener University.

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