Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Ivy Waterstone.
Hi Andrea, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a mother, artist, teacher, maternal mental health advocate for the state of Georgia and Founder of The Mothers Creative. I have taught Art, mindfulness and yoga for the past 20 years, but most importantly it is my motherhood journey that has most deeply shaped who I am today and led me to both create The Mothers Creative and advocate for mothers’ mental health.
In December of 2017, I was gifted one of the greatest accomplishments of my life- my son. Simultaneously, I experienced the most challenging event to date- an 8 day hospitalization in a psychiatric ward for postpartum psychosis ten days after giving birth.
This hospitalization ripped me away from my newborn son and left me without any resources for mental health or maternal community support to heal or even begin to navigate a path forward into wellness. I battled Bipolar 1, postpartum anxiety and postpartum depression for a year without maternal resources to help me understand and navigate this challenging time. My experience felt isolating, uncharted, and specific to me. I felt like I was swimming in turbulent seas without a life raft.
Because of my experience teaching art, yoga and mindfulness, I decided to lean into my utmost creative passions, and worked to transform my postpartum mental health. By first hand experiencing the lack of available support, care and resources available to postpartum mothers to help their mental and physical health; and having experienced the healing power of creative journaling, mindfulness and artistic expression for myself- I realized that I wanted to dedicate my life to building support networks utilizing art and community connection to help take the onus off of the mother and into a space of mothers supporting mothers.
That’s how The Mothers Creative was born. By seeing a lack of postpartum care and resources in the US, and deep stigmatization of mental health perpetuated to this day, I have found the purpose of my work and will continue to bring light to the deep seated stigmas mothers sit with and use my skills to foster community among challenges.
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I would not describe my road as smooth, but rather hills and valleys that I have navigated with the best tools and perspective I can lean into at each moment.
Going into my pregnancy, my husband and I were intentional about prioritizing my care. I have Bipolar 1 and was on medications for my health and wellbeing throughout my pregnancy. I was well and we were preparing for the birth of our son. And then just like that… life happens… My husband lost his job and we had three months before our insurance changed in the New Year – which coincidentally was when our son was due to be born. That meant we had three months to try and navigate something that should be so simple cause it’s so common. To just change insurance, stay on my medication postpartum, see doctors, and have access to support for my mental and physical health.
Yet, I was denied insurance coverage multiple times by multiple insurance platforms. Denied by the Affordable Care Act because I made too little income alone as a teacher and contractor, so I was told to seek out Medicaid for pregnancy. Denied by Medicaid for pregnancy for making too much as a household during a year when my husband was laid off. I did not want to have to choose to be induced to stay under insurance coverage or give birth in an ER just because I was facing the reality of being uninsured. Yet, it became painfully obvious that was just what we would have to do. Cobra and an induction became our only option. This decision cleared out our entire savings in just three months and our only means of paying for food and bills was the generosity of our parents – which is an immense privilege that so few are afforded.
I have navigated mental health challenges over my lifetime and have worked tirelessly to destigmatize mental health… destigmatize it to myself, to my community, to my doctors. Yet despite a lifetime of resilience and fortitude, I never thought that I would feel the shame and bite of stigmatization, lack of access to resources and lack of care like I did during the months before and following the birth of our son.
Instead of a year of connection and joy as I became a new mother – I was met with the even more true reality of postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety and postpartum psychosis as well as stigmatization in the community and workplace, and trauma from a psychiatric hospitalization.
My experiences of feeling burnt and lost in uncharted waters during my postpartum period sparked a flame for me… inspiring me to create The Mothers Creative – an organization that helps support mothers’ mental resilience and health through creativity. By using art and journaling to process motherhood and challenge the Supermom narrative pervasive in our society – we aim to transform what it means to mother, no longer siloed but supported in community.
We’d love to learn more about your work. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
The Mothers Creative provides therapeutic artistic workshops to encourage self-care and foster peer support, ultimately improving mental health and developing resilience. The Mothes Creative redefines self-care as an impetus for creative play using journaling, collage, printmaking and watercolor to enhance each workshop as we find connection through our journeys as mothers traversing this pivotal time in our lives.
We offer 6 week workshops a few times each year for small groups of 8 mothers in each cohort. By approaching our collective journeys with supportive conversation in a container that guides participants journaling practice and community connection- we equip mothers with the tools to create vibrance and resiliency.
Thursday night drop in Self-Care creative workshops are a weekly drop in workshop geared towards women wanting to develop a practice that uses expressive art journaling and creative time to help shape a weekly anchor of creative play- giving space and time for self-care and processing. It’s like an open studio for helping you set up time and space to add in artistic play into your weeks.
All our offerings are highly facilitated so women and mothers are held in community and anchored to creative prompts and facilitation geared at bringing creativity and community connection into your weeks.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least about our city?
I love the culture and art of our city. I am inspired by the multitude of ways we help to foster art as both an experience and as a beautification of the city. I hope to see more opportunities for artists and creatives to shine and be elevated, as well as culture to be preserved, valued and highlighted.
We have work to do to prioritize art and share the unique culture we have present. I believe that by fostering artistic expression within ourselves, as well as sharing it with a larger audience, we have the opportunity to preserve the sweet landscape of Atlanta and recognize the unique ways our city can show up to elevate the tapestry of culture and art that is present in Georgia.
Pricing: refer to website
Contact Info:
- Email: themotherscreative@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.themotherscreative.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themotherscreative
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themotherscreative
Image Credits:
Andrea Ivy Waterstone’s art image credits: Andrea Ivy Waterstone, Self portrait personal image credit: Alejandro Bidot
