Today I am speaking with Dr. Stephanie Waggel, a mother, physician, author, motivational speaker, teacher, cancer survivor, marathon runner, and founder of Improve Medical Culture. She has a degree in psychology, biology and medicine and has over 17 years of experience working in the mental health field. In 2023, Dr. Waggel became certified in perinatal mental health. Specifically, advanced studies in perinatal psychopharmacology (medication for pregnant people). She feels this area is understudied and pregnant women deserve an educated professional to provide correct diagnosis and treatment. She started a free therapy group and heavily advocates for expansion and integration of PMADs care.  We dive deep into the importance of having professionals that can diagnose and treat perinatal mental health, as well as her own mom journey. We talk about: -advocating for maternal mental health -psychologist versus psychiatrist -breastfeeding and medications -when to seek help -intrusive thoughts in postpartum -finding running in postpartum -sports in pregnancy -early education  Time Stamps 1:00 Introduction 3:06 where to go and who to see? 10:04 meds in postpartum 14:06 intrusive thoughts  20:01 normalizing feelings 25:35 being a runner 31:53 more moms talking about postpartum 35:24 exercise to navigate mental health 42:30 the fear of losing control 49:38 rapid fire questions  CONNECT WITH CARRIE IG: https://www.instagram.com/carriepagliano/ Website: https://carriepagliano.com  CONNECT WITH LISA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/improvemedicalculture/ Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/improvelifepllc/ TikTok-  www.tiktok.com/@improvelifepllc Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/ImproveLifePLLC/ Youtube- https://youtube.com/@improvelifepllc Website: www.improvelifepllc.com  We have a free biweekly anonymous virtual group therapy for pregnant persons + new parents. RSVP for free tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-group-therapy-for-pregnant-persons-and-new-parents-tickets-699860972007 The Active Mom Postpartum Podcast is A Real Moms' Guide to Postpartum for active moms & the postpartum professionals who help them in their journey. This show has been a long time in the making! You can expect conversation with moms and postpartum professionals from all aspects of the industry. If you're like me, you don't have a lot of free time (heck, you're probably listening at 1.5x speed), so theses interviews will be quick hits to get your the pertinent information FAST! If you love what you hear, share the podcast with a friend and leave us a 5 start rating and review. It helps us become more visible in the search algorithm! (Helps us get seen by more moms that need to hear these stories!!!!)