Yay! Robin is here! With her take on the . Because she participated in many — she even hosted one!
And because September will have triple the hope: I’ll be holding three  (3!) support chats, because it’s my birthday, and I am giving back to all of you. So Robin stopped by and invited her friends (Hi Robin’s friends!) to help spread the word. (Scroll down for the date and sharing button.)

Never mind the fact that we are yet to meet in real life,  For you to have a great case study, it must ask some questions. is one of my favorite people on Earth.  Someday (at the next BlogHer conference, maybe?) I will hug her to pieces. If you’ve never been to , I lovingly suggest you take a look.

Passing the mic to Robin:

One evening in August I finished dinner, found something to entertain my son for a while, and picked up the phone. I dialled in to the , not knowing who would be on the line but knowing it would be largely women I had never met and (mostly) never will. And it was one of the best, most loving, most supportive conversations I’ve had.

I’m past the hard stuff, for the most part, and consider myself , but I still get a lot out of these calls. When I first heard about them I told Yael I couldn’t imagine talking on the phone to people I don’t know about my struggle with PPD. For some reason, putting it on my blog and on Twitter is much easier for me than saying it out loud. But one day I decided to call, and you know what? It wasn’t so hard.

In fact it was great.

The PPD Speakeasy is a totally supportive environment, and Yael always knows just what to say. Hearing others’ experiences always makes me feel less alone and it was no different talking about it after I’ve come to accept even the toughest parts of my experience. And it was so, so nice to be able to tell others that feeling this way is common, and it is okay to talk about it, and it is going to get better.

I know Yael of course (at least in the online sense) and one other woman on the call happened to be someone I’d met in person, but otherwise I didn’t know anything about these women. Only their names (which could very well have been pseudonyms, because that’s okay) and their stories.

Those stories were honest and heartbreaking. And hopeful. So hopeful.

In my experience, when you get to a place where you can talk about what’s going on, you start to own it. And in owning it you start to loosen the grip it has on you. You might have to do it a finger at a time, and sometimes when you’re not looking it will grasp on to you again, but you know it’s there. And you can say, No, you don’t own me. I’m choosing not to let you win.

I’ve participated in several SpeakEasy calls now and they’ve always been wonderful. And they’re gaining momentum. After the August call I sent a note to Yael that said, “That was AWESOME!” And it was. There are more women calling in now and every one of them, regardless of how much she shares – a little, a lot or nothing at all – is doing something for herself. Something healing. Something important. Something good. It’s a beautiful thing.

As Yael previously mentioned, she’s doing three SpeakEasy calls in September, so there’s bound to be one at a time that works for you. Join in and get help carrying the hard stuff. I plan to.

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Mark your calendar: in addition to the usual 2nd Tuesday evening call (Sept.13 at 8:30 pm) we will have extra chats on Sunday September 18 at 2:00pm, and Tuesday September 27 at noon (all times are Eastern). The intention is to cater to the needs of mothers with varying lifestyles and time-zones. So if you’ve always wanted to join in, hopefully these added dates and times will help this happen. I can’t wait to hear your voice – I hope you can join the conversation.

Do you have a place on the internet? You can help spread the word, and spread the hope, by sharing the above button. Here is the handy-dandy html:

Much gratitude.