34 | DECEMBER 29 • 2022 

W

hen a woman is expecting for 
the first time, motherhood 
can seem like a whimsical 
dream with soothing lullabies and a 
sweet sleeping baby. Then she gives 
birth; her hormones are completely out 
of whack; the baby never stops crying 
and her partner’s just snoring through 
the chaos. Suddenly, the new mother 
is hysterically weeping, “What’s wrong 
with me? Everyone else makes it seem so 
easy!”
Four years ago, when Rina Hennes 
Sabes, LMSW, gave birth to her first baby, 
Rocky, her adjustment to motherhood 
was extremely different from what she 
had anticipated. 

“There’s so much that women go 
through during pregnancy and the post-
partum period that’s just not talked about 
very often,” Rina said. 
In 2021, Rina was pregnant for the 
second time and working with older 
adults at Jewish Family Service when she 
felt a new calling to work with moms in 
the community. 
Rina teamed up with her colleague 
Julia Cohen LMSW, PMH-C, who felt 
strongly about this topic as well. 
Julia gave birth to her son Daniel in 
January 2020, just months before the 
entire world shut down due to COVID. 
Naturally, that played a role in Julia’s 
postpartum experience; she struggled 

with a perinatal mood and anxiety 
disorder that precipitated her interest in 
further training and helping other moms. 
Rina and Julia took trainings together 
on the subject and, with the blessings 
of JFS and in partnership with JFamily, 
created their first postpartum support 
group this past summer. 
Meetings took place in person on 
Wednesdays from 1-2:30 p.m. at Nature’s 
Playhouse in Ferndale and was capped 
at 10 people in order to keep the group 
intimate. 
The summer program was offered to 
moms of babies up to age 6 months, but 
now, thanks to a grant they received from 
Jewish Women’s Foundation, they are 
able to expand their programming and 
offer it to moms of babies up to age 1. 
Their second cohort began mid-
November and they have plans to expand 
even further with future workshops and 
support groups for new parents.
“It’s obvious how needed this support 
is and we want to make sure we’re 
reaching everyone who may benefit,” 
Julia said. 
While Julia and Rina do share some 
tools and strategies, that isn’t the main 
focus of the group. They lead the group 
as facilitators and invite members to 
share what worked for them. 
“It’s about having community, being 
with others who are going through the 
same thing,” Julia said. “Having a baby is 
such a life-changing experience and those 
who are struggling can feel like it’s just 
them. Being with others reassures you 
and validates your struggles.”
Both Julia and Rina are young moms 
themselves and feel like they gain 
personally from the group. 
“Our participants shared that the 
support group was the highlight of their 
week, and Julia and I felt the exact same 
way,” Rina said. 
Rivkah Kahlani of West Bloomfield 
attended both the summer and winter 
support group and said it has been 
intensely valuable for her. 
“The cool thing about the support 
group is that the focus is on the mom, 
making sure we feel seen, heard, valued 
and validated. We can be real about all 
our scary new feelings and not worry 
that we’re being judged for them. We can 
just be human,” Rivkah said. 

HEALTH

Local postpartum support group helps 
new moms deal with scary feelings.

 
Support 
 for New Moms

ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Rivkah Kahlani 
with her baby 
at a recent 
support group