Expressive arts program aimed at new mothers
Bringing Home Baby offers ways to address postpartum depression
The transition to motherhood was not what Kelly Huszar expected.
She found the lack of sleep hardest to cope with, especially in the middle of the night.
“It impacted my ability to think rationally and communicate with my partner and take care of myself because I was teetering between exhaustion and wanting to do something for myself,” said Huszar.
Take a nap or read a book? It was a question she often asked herself on Saturdays when her partner was home and she had a moment to herself.
“I realized that I would have liked to have someone to say, ‘ Wow it doesn’t look like you’re holding it together all that well. What can I do to help?’”
Having found the light at the end of the tunnel, Huszar is now trying to help other new moms through a new program using art, music and movement to treat postpartum depression.
The Bringing Home Baby program offers a variety of packages developed by Huszar. Each one includes a mix of mindfulness exercises and expressive arts, ranging from painting and sketching to music, movement and writing.
Huszar holds a degree in social work and is a certified expressive arts therapist. She conducts sessions in the privacy of clients’ homes or out of her studio, Red Fox Creative Studio.
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“I wanted to provide a space where moms feel safe to say, ‘I love my baby and I love this experience. However, this part of it really sucks and I’m really struggling,’” she said.
Not all of the moms Huszar sees have been officially diagnosed with a perinatal mood disorder such as postpartum depression, but they self-identify on the spectrum and are looking for something “more enriching than what traditionally moms are told to do.
“‘This phase will pass;’ ‘It’ll get better;’ ‘The days are long, years are short;’ ‘Cherish every moment;’ All of those things are inherently true,” she said. “But that doesn’t make it less hard and that doesn’t mean that my struggles aren’t valid just because I’m going to miss it in three years.”
The program is intended to create a community where moms can talk about their struggles and go home with real coping mechanisms. The tools are meant to be quick and easy so that moms can do them at home.
One exercise she does is creating a music playlist for moms to listen to during the time of day they find the hardest to get through.
For Huszar, a combination of therapy and support groups helped her. She saw a psychologist who also specialized in focusing, a therapeutic treatment that allowed Huszar to get more in touch with her body and identify her feelings.
“Making that connection of like ‘OK, my sadness lives here, this is what it looks like and this is how I can honour it and feel it and then move on, carry it, let it go,’” she said.
What was missing when she struggled was a creative outlet. All that was available was traditional art classes, which she was interested in, but didn’t have the time for.
“When I went to get my (expressive arts therapy) certification, that was when the world opened up,” she said. “I just felt like moms deserve the opportunity to express themselves in this way and be supported by other moms who are going through a similar experience.”
More information on Huszar’s programs can be found at www. kaylahuszar.com.