Matrescence Workshop – the fourth trimester
What is Matrescence? You may already be familiar with the term ‘4th Trimester’, Matrescence is a term originally coined by anthropologist Dana Raphael in the mid-1970s, and is the 4th trimester ‘period’. Matrescence is essentially the process of becoming a mother and the encompassing profound physical, emotional, psycholgical, and social changes.
What Happens During Matrescence?
As a new parent you can change in countless ways during the period of matrescence, and there are many individual differences in the way people experience it. The seismic shift happens biologically, psychologically, socially, economically, existentially, ecologically and spiritually.
At the same time that your body might be undergoing postpartum hormonal changes, you might be questioning where you belong socially. You feel a lot like the first time you sat down in the cafeteria in high school and maybe wondered who are my tribe? Your relationships with your family and partner might also undergo a shift. At the same time, you might start to question your values and belief systems.
Why Matrescence Matters
Often just hearing that there is a period and new transition that has a term is enough to help you relax and feel relief.
Just knowing about it can help you as a new parent to feel more understood. It’s a process-oriented term, we’ve all been through adolescence, and we can understand that. (And, yes, in many ways, matrescence is similar to the all-encompassing, transformative nature of adolescence.)
How to Navigate Matrescence
The first step to successfully navigating matrescence is giving it a name, being aware of the term can help better express your feelings. Through our dedicated workshop we will help reduction shame and stigma over how challenging parenting feels. No one can really know how challenging parenting is until they experience it.
What to expect on our workshop
This supportive workshop has been created with myself, Polly, and Julie Lee (see below).
Over 2 hours you will be in a relaxed and non-judgemental supportive group space where we will help you to feel less alone in the ‘fourth trimester’, and where we will offer professional guidance and space to work though feelings and thoughts and normalise things.
Gently mormalise matrescence, explore shame, and challenge unrealistic expectations
Rebuild self-trust with simple, practical tools you can use right away
Offer relaxation and a space to think and be heard
You will leave with more clarity on your body & mind, words for unspoken experience & practical tools for boundaries, comparison & self-trust.
You will receive a complimentary copy of ‘The Things We Talk About in Therapy’ a practical self-help guide written by Julie Lee
About me, Polly Chadwick
I am a specialist maternity massage therapist and teacher, and have been running BumpBirthBabyUK since 2010. I offer total support for mums-to-be, from conception right through to the birth and beyond. I trained in maternity massage, teach Antenatal Hypnobirthing classes, run weekly Baby Massage courses, and offer baby feeding support.
About Julie Lee
Julie is an exceptional Counsellor, Clinical Supervisor, EMDR Therapist and Trainer. Julie is dedicated to helping women find strength, resilience, and hope after baby loss and birth trauma. Her work is rooted in compassion and creating safe spaces for healing, whether in one-to-one therapy, group support, or professional supervision. You can discover more about Julie through her dedicated website julieleetherapy.org
