Women, Wellness and The Planet

This podcast episode explores "Community Navigation," a novel universal prenatal psychosocial system of care designed to support expecting families. Developed by researchers at Duke University, Community Navigation pairs pregnant parents with trained navigators who co-identify family strengths and unmet needs across maternal mental health, childcare, housing safety, and healthcare access. In its latest refined protocol (Version 2.1), 98% of participating families reported at least one unmet n...

Women and girls face disproportionate impacts from climate change, making up the majority of the world's poor and accounting for four out of five displaced people. Yet, women are also essential drivers of climate solutions. Producing up to 80% of food in developing countries, they pioneer sustainable farming practices and preserve invaluable indigenous ecological knowledge. From acting as first responders in environmental disasters to leading global activist movements, women influence 70–80% ...

In this episode, we explore how delivery mode impacts maternal mental health. Drawing from a landmark 2026 Obstetrics & Gynecology study analyzing over 930,000 births, researchers discovered that all cesarean deliveries, whether planned or unplanned, significantly elevate the risk of new-onset postpartum depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress. Surprisingly, successful vacuum or forceps deliveries showed no added psychiatric risk compared to spontaneous vaginal births. However, fail...