Healing the Tigress Ep. 52 - How Motherhood Led to C-PTSD Recovery with Stella Falkner
In this episode, Stella Falkner shares her inspiring journey from postpartum mental health struggles to creating and founding Dowa, a platform that bridges community support with clinical care for mothers. We dive into Stella’s personal experiences through postpartum that led her to discovering she had complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) and how she started healing from this. Stella tells us about how C-PTSD is different from PTSD because it arises from not one singular traumatic event but from an accumulation of prolonged, repeated, or chronic traumas that becomes woven into daily heightened feelings of being under duress.
We discuss how Stella was lucky enough to find a partial hospitalization program (PHP) that would take her in even when she was past a year postpartum, which ultimately felt so life-saving in her journey. We talk about the scarcity of dedicated postpartum mental health programs and the difficulties in accessing in-network support, shedding light on the broader mental health challenges beyond perinatal mental health disorders.
When designing her company, Stella was intentional about the way Dowa was set up. Stella introduces Dowa's innovative approach to maternal wellness, featuring a diverse provider network and support tools designed to break the stigma around seeking mental health help. The conversation highlights the critical role of community in maternal mental health and emphasizes the importance of finding safe spaces and culturally specific support, particularly for Asian American and Pacific Islander mothers.
More about Stella:
Stella Falkner is a Korean-American entrepreneur, mother, Certified Mental Health Peer Specialist, Postpartum Doula, Lactation Educator, and maternal health advocate. Her work centers on building technology that is deeply empathetic and grounded in the lived experiences of real families.
After navigating her own mental health challenges in motherhood and finding strength in the support of other moms, Stella founded Dowa — a platform designed to bridge community support with clinical care. She built Dowa to provide integrated support that addresses the full spectrum of motherhood: mental health, physical wellness, and the often overwhelming stress and anxiety that come with raising a child and tracking their development.
Website: dowahealth.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/dowahealth
Resources mentioned:
"What My Bones Know-A Memoir of Healing from Complex-PTSD" by Stephanie Foo
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