Mom Club is incorporated as a nonprofit organization located in Laramie, Wyoming. Our purpose is to provide emotional support and education to moms in our community. Our vision is to see women feel empowered to take control of their mental health when it comes to pregnancy and postpartum. We provide a safe and comfortable space for women to meet with other local moms to talk about their emotional and physical wellbeing. We also connect women with local services specific to their needs (ex: a new mom who is struggling with breastfeeding can easily be connected with a lactation consultant). Our immediate plan is to offer one to two meetings per week during varied times. Meetings will range from structured discussions about topics such as postpartum depression, pregnancy loss and pregnancy questions to other things such as self-care, dedicating time to relax by joining together for wine nights, game nights, movies and fun. These events are updated regularly and can be found on our website under the Event Calendar tab!

Becoming a mother is a momentous occasion. It creates many emotions, some expected and some that are surprising and no matter how prepared you think you are, it’s difficult to prepare for the unknown. It can be exciting and terrifying, scary and fun all at once and moms need other moms. | At 6 weeks postpartum with my first baby, I put a smile on my face and told my doctor that being a mom was great. He looked at me skeptically and luckily could see through the facade. I was drowning. I was so angry! Why wasn’t this easier? Was I not cut out to be a mom? Did I make a terrible mistake? Cue crushing disappointment and sadness and then a steep slippery fall into a giant pit of crying, anxiety, irrational fear and lots of anger that could have easily derailed a strong relationship with my husband. I lived there for a while and it was the hardest few months in my life until that point. After some medication and some therapy and some different medication, I was functional again. But it was February in Laramie, Wyoming. It was cold and dreary and all I wanted to do was talk to another mom about the real stuff that we go through. Those honest mom talks are what pulled me the rest of the way out of that pit. I started inviting moms over for tea parties and breakfast, even if they were invited by other moms, I didn’t care. And they were some of the most rewarding get togethers I’ve ever had. | We talk about how hard it is to be a mom, how wonderful things are, what we’ve used to treat diaper rash, how we manage the first day of daycare, what we get irritated about, what we cry about, how kids affect our relationships, how we manage sleep regression, and SO many other things. It helps us to feel less isolated and sometimes we need a lot of reassurance that we are in fact doing a good job when all we worry about is how we aren’t doing a good job. This nonprofit organization is meant to help moms find other moms easily as well as utilize the resources our community offers.

Our goals look something like this… buy a house for the purpose of routine and regular meetings, privacy to breastfeed or pump, a kitchen to include baking groups and dinners into Mom Club’s regular activities, space to offer exercise groups/dancing/yoga to our moms. We would also use that space to invite members of the community to speak at our gatherings and offer their expertise in different areas. This would also provide us an opportunity to include community members looking to start their businesses (yoga instructors, bakery’s, party planner, etc.) while supporting, funding and advertising for Mom Club. Mom Club would like to be collaborative with our local doctors and nurses. This could incorporate offering bereavement services to women who have experienced loss, checking in on new mothers after their transition home, helping guide women to appropriate counseling services if needed, and offering emotional support to those who experience a difficult transition into mom-hood. Lastly, Mom Club would like to contract with a licensed counselor so that our members have easily accessible and readily available counseling services. As we grow, we’d like to offer events and classes in surrounding towns.