The Top Knot Squad

Latest Episodes:

Maternal Nutrition and Depletion Mar 03, 2020

Show notes

On today’s episode, the squad talks about nutrition and maternal depletion. As any birthing person can tell you, pregnancy does a number on our bodies. Not only do organs literally shift their position to make room for growing a tiny human, the effects can linger long after birth. From changes in shoe size to hair texture, it’s safe to say that our bodies are never the same after baby.

Our guest today is Mirelle Leguia of Mother Nutrient. Mirelle is a holistic nutrition consultant based in Austin, TX. She graduated from Bauman College's Holistic Nutrition Program with Honors after completing her Master's in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University and her Bachelor's in Business Administration from UT Austin.

Mirelle's interest in nutrition came after her own health challenges during and after her pregnancies. She left her established career in marketing to pursue her interest in women's health, specifically prenatal and postnatal nutrition. Mirelle has worked with local and international clients, helping them recover their health after having babies and teaching them about nutrient dense foods.She specializes in Paleo, WAPF and other nutrient dense diets.

Mirelle lives in south Austin with her husband Jason, son Nico, puppy Emma, eight happy backyard chickens, and is expecting her second boy via surrogacy in April.

Resources:

Goop: Maternal depletion even 10 years later

Mother Nutrient's Nutrition Quiz

Mother Nutrient on Instagram

Sober Parenthood Feb 18, 2020

Show notes

On today’s episode, the squad talks about Sober Parenthood. We’ve all read and probably laughed at a meme that jokes about needing to drink to cope as a parent. For years, alcohol has steadily seeped into the social fabric of motherhood, with pitchers of mimosas at morning playdates, Thermoses of “mommy juice” on the soccer field sidelines and Facebook feeds filled with stylized memes declaring it’s not really drinking alone if your kids are home. Studies show that women — especially women in their 30s and 40s — are drinking more than ever before.

It is said to have originated back in the 1960s, when mostly male doctors would reportedly prescribe Valium as a way for women to manage their anxiety, rather than teaching them coping and self-regulation tools, and calling the process “Mommy’s Little Helper”.

About Danielle:

Our guest today is Danielle Park. Danielle (she/her) is a Tarot reader/teacher, massage therapist, and mother of 2 young children in Austin. She uses the Tarot to help people embrace their own agency and develop a practice for self-acceptance and self-awareness. She has been sober for over 2 years and enjoys documenting the proliferation of wine-mom propaganda/merchandise. You can learn more about her on @oakmoontarot or oakmoontarot.com

Resources:

Danielle’s website: oakmoontarot.com

Danielle’s Instagram: instagram.com/oakmoontarot

The “sober curious” movement

Sober Mommies

The Sans Bar Austin

Questioning your alcohol habits or wondering where to get help? Start at https://www.alcohol.org/

The Long Road of Repair Feb 06, 2020

Show notes

On this episode of the Top Knot Squad, we will be discussing parenting as a survivor of mental health. It is no secret that perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMAD) can wreak havoc on every aspect of our lives. But what about its effects on life after early parenthood? On today’s episode, we will be discussing parenting as a survivor of mental health, the impact that PMADs can have on our relationships, and the prolonged repair we have to engage in with our children and partners to maintain healthy attachment. We’re excited to welcome our guest, Jill Birt.

About Jill:

Jill is a Registered Nurse, Certified Yoga Teacher with advanced training in Yoga Psychology and an essential oil educator for doTERRA essential oils. She began her career as an RN here in Austin in 2001 caring for expectant mamas in labor and delivery. She found herself drawn to yoga and meditation for support as her family grew and life demands thickened, but it wasn't until she was trying to find her way out of the debilitating darkness of severe anxiety and depression that trailed postpartum psychosis, that she really discovered the healing power of yoga. Through study and practice, she has learned yoga is far more than a physical experience. Her study of yoga has deepened her understanding of the human mind, body and spirit and the immense resource of intelligence within. The path of yoga has also led her to discover the vast support nature offers in holistic wellbeing. She believes the most effective form of healthcare is integrative holistic healthcare. She holds a great respect for the power nature offers in healing, values the advancements of modern science, and relies upon the wisdom and spiritual teachings of yoga

Resources:

Jill website: https://mailchi.mp/585e50bc0cdd/prepared

Jill IG: @prepared_motherhood & @jillmbirt

NAMI: https://www.nami.org/

Kids Life Mastery at Austin Yoga Tree: https://widgets.mindbodyonline.com/widgets/class_lists/a713594eae5/class_description?site_mbo_id=188875&class_description_id=148&widget_type=Enrollment&ga_client_id=undefined&source=enrollment_v0&device_id=f1960b7e-e09b-46db-a872-f29ce903db41R

The Monster Under Your Bed Book: https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Under-Your-Just-Story/dp/0692800069 Hey Warrior Book: https://www.heysigmund.com/product/hey-warrior/

Parenting School-Aged Kids Nov 06, 2019

Show notes

On today’s episode, we’ll be talking about Parenting School Age Children. Between the ages of 5 and 12, children expand their horizons and spend more time away from their parents. It can be tough to see your child go from baby to child – going to school, making friends, and learning more about the world. It’s an exciting time in your child’s development, but can also come with a multitude of stressors as both you and your child learn to navigate new systems, routines, and relationships, not to mention concerns about inclusion, bullying, violence, sex ed, and more. We are thrilled to have Dr. Eboni Lunsford Calbow join us for today's conversation and hopefully provide us with some tips and tricks on surviving the journey through the school years.

Eboni Lunsford Calbow, LCSW, PhD, is a clinical assistant professor in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin.

Her current research and teaching interests include school social work, trauma informed care and intervention, educational equity and social justice, multidisciplinary and collaborative practice, and evidence-based interventions for children with disabilities.

Prior to teaching full time at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, Calbow was a school social worker for almost a decade, working with over twenty school campuses in Austin ISD. She has experience working with children and adolescents ages 3-22 and is a Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) Practitioner. Her professional practice covered topics like trauma informed intervention, culturally responsive practice, drop-out prevention, sociocultural influences on academic progress, school ethics, crisis and critical incidents, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), and suicide prevention and intervention.

Resources:

Eboni's practice: https://elixirtherapy.co/ Eboni on IG: https://www.instagram.com/elixirtherapy/

Implicit Bias Oct 22, 2019

Show notes

On today’s episode, we’ll be talking about bias. Bias penetrates all aspects of our lives, from workplace bias to bias in mainstream media to bias in education. TKS has focused on maternal mortality in a previous episode this season, but today we’ll be looking at one of the many factors that impact the high rates seen in the US: bias, specifically bias in birth. This encompasses racial biases, biases based on sexual orientation, and beyond, all impacting marginalized communities already at risk for negative birth outcomes. Our guest today is Jennifer Sarduy, mama, activist, and founder of Re+Birth Equity Alliance.

Jen is a community organizer with several organizations, working to hold space and encourage accountability with issues that affect her community.

Primarily, she works with Re+Birth Equity Alliance, an organization she co-founded to address disconnection within birth justice. Within Re+Birth Equity she helps to organize mobile mental health clinics and community based adult sex ed conversations. She travels regularly for Re+Birth Equity to train birth and family workers on implicit bias management and systemic racism in birth. She also is involved with a local harm reduction non-profit, working to ensure that people who use drugs are safer and better understood in Fort Worth. In her free time she enjoys making fish faces at the fish in her aquarium in order to seem more relatable, and making up elaborate excuses to avoid school fundraisers.

Resources:

Re+Birth Equity Alliance

Partnering and Parenting Oct 07, 2019

Show notes

On this episode of the Top Knot Squad, we will be talking about partnering and parenting at the same time and how the eff to keep our relationship healthy. Big things happen to a partnership when you decide to add children to the mix and while parenthood is an exciting time for a couple, it is also guaranteed to bring about some level of stress or strain on the relationship. Today we hope to dive in to everything from communication, mental load, not hating each other, and overall learn a bit more about how to parent without losing touch with your partner. We are thrilled to have our friend and colleague, Genevieve Saenz joining us for this conversation.

About our guest:

Genevieve Saenz, MA, LMFT-Associate (she/her) is both a very silly and a very serious person, who loves gardening, art supplies, ghost stories, and her wild wonderful family. Genevieve created her private practice, PassageWay Arts, in 2013. As a celebrant and therapist, she uses compassionate counseling, the creative arts, and sacred ceremony to create consciousness and ease the pain of change.

Resources:

- Genevieve’s practice, Passageway Arts - Partners in Parenting Austin- Gottman Institute’s Bringing Home Baby Workshops - “Making Marriage Work” lecture by Dr. John Gottman

Parenting as a Survivor Sep 20, 2019

Show notes

On this episode of the Top Knot Squad, we will be talking about what it’s like to parent as a trauma survivor and how we can discuss right from wrong touch with our kids. According to the National Center for Victims of Crimes , 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys have been sexually abused before 18th birthday. There are 42 million survivors of child sexual abuse in America. 3 million are children, which would fill 46 national football stadiums. 90% of children are sexually abused by someone they know and trust. There are over 747,000 registered sex offenders in America.

Today, we don’t just want to talk about how to eliminate this crisis, but also discuss what happens when a survivor gives birth and faces their own parenting journey. For many survivors of childhood abuse, symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may re-occur, or never arise, until they become a parent. All of us have struggled with mom guilt at some point or another, but parenting survivors are at an increased risk for internalizing shame and can find themselves feeling triggered while navigating the trenches of parenthood. Today we are thrilled to have our friend and colleague, Lindsay Thomason joining us for this conversation.

Lindsay is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and the owner and founder of The Nanny League, Inc., an elite placement agency that matches affluent families with college-educated nannies. She started the agency in 2010 after pursuing a career in television & film that ultimately led her to taking on a live-in nanny role for a high-profile family in Los Angeles. Lindsay and her team of women behind the brand have successfully built a database of thousands of professional, college-educated nannies, baby nurses and personal assistants, and have matched them with families across the United States. The Nanny League has been featured in PEOPLE Magazine, New York Magazine, US Weekly, My Fox LA, Celebrity Baby Scoop and Lindsay appeared on Austin’s Studio 512 last winter. In 2017, Lindsay was nominated for LA Business Journal 's 2017 Women's Summit CEO of the Year. She proudly serves on the board as an Associate for Stop the Silence: Stop Child Sexual Abuse, Inc.®, and has most recently helped develop an online training program to educate nannies about child sexual abuse prevention and mitigation. The Nanny League is the first-ever nanny agency to mandate this training for its members. Lindsay currently resides is Austin, TX with her husband Eric, their six-month-old twins, Bette & Sarge, and chi-terrorist (Chihuahua Terrier) dog Evvie. She is extremely passionate about educating people on childhood sexual abuse and is dedicated to maintaining The Nanny League's reputation as one of the best nanny matchmaker agencies in the US.

Resources:

Bessel A. van der Kolk, “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma"

Ellen Bass & Laura Davis, "The Courage to Heal"

The Courage to Heal Workbook

Erin Merryn

The Swimsuit Lesson

The Right Touch

Losing a Child Aug 13, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode, we'll be discussing a heavy topic (when do we not?), the loss of a child. The loss of a child is generally considered the worst possible grief and a topic that is often ignored because of the immense pain involved. We are grateful to have our friend and colleague, Kim Borchert on the show today to share with us her some of her story and help us bring more awareness on navigating grief as a parent. We know the grieving process is a very individual and personal experience, but we hope Kim can help us understand more about the grieving parent. Please listen with an open heart, but also take the space you may need. Kim is the wife to a pretty amazing Man and Mom of 6, 5 on Earth and 1 Beyond. She has been an unapologetic normalizer of death since her daughter died in 2003. She is a childbirth educator and birth and postpartum doula that specializes in helping families navigate grief, loss, and welcoming their rainbow babies. She owns Austin Doula Care with her Doula Soul Mate and is so grateful for the opportunity to serve Austin families and collaborate with other doulas in Austin. She is a lover of plants, herbs, and making food and medicines from her garden. When she is not doing doula work or playing in the dirt, you can find Kim swimming with her kiddos, reading a book, or watching Outlander. Resources: http://austindoulacare.com/ http://nationalshare.org/ https://www.compassionatefriends.org/

Our Birth Stories, Part 2 Jul 29, 2019

Show notes

On today’s episode of TKS, join Naya and Alexis for a two-part episode where they take turns sharing their birth stories.

On part one of two, tune in as Alexis shares about the birth of her son Rory and then her daughter Rowan.

Our Birth Stories, Part 1 Jul 15, 2019

Show notes

On today’s episode of TKS, join Naya and Alexis for a two-part episode where they take turns sharing their birth stories.

On part one of two, tune in as Naya shares about the birth of her oldest son Ethan and then the birth of her younger son, Rohan. Then be sure to stay tuned for part two next week to hear as Alexis shares about the birth of her son Rory and then her daughter Rowan.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected