Postpartum is a big time for a mama. She’s learning or relearning how to care for a brand new baby while experiencing crucial changes to her mental and physical self. Even though postpartum moms have just experienced one of the biggest changes a person can go through, they often neglect taking care of themselves. It’s extremely important for women to centre their postpartum recovery—it should be a time of healing, adaptation, and baby snuggles. Through her own postpartum experiences and continuing education becoming a postpartum Doula, Victoria knows the importance of making mamas feel heard and taken care of.

The more supported mom is physically, emotionally, and spiritually through pregnancy, the more direct benefits for her baby. Lindsey Tasker Cole is our Physiotherapist and Pelvic Health Therapist who helps a lot of mamas navigate this space. Supporting moms—especially first-time moms—can come in many forms, but let’s focus on the benefits of exercise and safe options for mamas to enjoy.

Potty training can be a handful, but the good news is, there are lots of ways to help your kids go through the developmental stages leading up to and during potty training! That's where Danielle Bararuk, our Physiotherapist and Pelvic Health Therapist, comes in. With a special interest in paediatric physiotherapy, she can tell you all about the many factors that can impact your child's ability to potty train and the many stages that get them there.

Self love is so important and something that we should always be working on.

One way to show ourselves self love is through movement.

Movement is about observing and listening to your body.

We can track our body temperature to help understand when we are ovulating in our cycle. It serves as one more "piece of the puzzle" to understanding your menstrual cycle as a whole. Click to read more and learn how to track your basal body temperature.

The holiday season is a wonderful time of year. It is the time when we get together with family and friends. We spend quality time enjoying each others’ company and eating some great food and (hopefully) some rest and relaxation!

The holidays can be fun, joyful, and exciting. Let’s be real though - they can also be super stressful!

Especially when you feel the pressure to get things just right: To cook the perfect meal, give the best gifts, keep all the traditions going, and make that sure everyone around you is happy.

Prepping for the holidays while keeping up with your usual responsibilities at home and work gets overwhelming. Especially for those struggling with perfectionism.

Hydrotherapy over the Holidays… and all Winter long.

The use of water therapy (hydrotherapy) for healing has been used by people for centuries. It became revitalized during the nature cure movement in Germany in the 19th century, which nature cure has 5 pillars to health: living a balanced lifestyle, herbal medicine, exercise, nutrition, and hydrotherapy. The nature cure movement sparked the creation of naturopathic medicine, and it’s principles including hydrotherapy are still being taught in naturopathic colleges today.

Welcome FALL, but don’t fall behind in your activity and exercise goals!

As we put away our beach toys, bikes, and summer gear, there naturally is a shift towards slowing down, indoor activities and a more sedentary lifestyle. Like all things, this is all good and fine, but let’s keep it in moderation! With the cooler weather looming and the fall days upon us, it’s easy to lose motivation and FALL off the exercise train.

Have you ever had a sore back, hip pain or pelvic girdle pain the day after you have been strength training, running or participating in an activity? But you feel like you have a great movement pattern and great technique. Have you experienced incontinence, prolapse or rectus diastasis that did not rehab fully post-partum? What you may not be activating or utilizing properly is your Inner Core!

I hate using the "F word" but fall is in the air. The leaves have started to change color, the days are shorter, and the mornings are cool. The kids are back to school and the chaos of summer is a distant memory.

Fall is my favorite season, I feel like it’s a natural time to reset & reintroduce routines. If you are a control freak like me you love routines, to do lists, and schedules.

Most common questions asked by the people about Occupation Therapy include:

Do you help people find jobs?

No, we do not help people find jobs. ‘Occupation’ refers to the activities that you complete in your everyday life. Anything that “occupies” your time is an occupation. We help people who are experiencing barriers to activity completion; these barriers vary drastically (disability, illness, role transition, etc.). Wow! This means the therapy we provide can vary dramatically from person to person!

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is the most common menstrual related diagnosis in women of reproductive age. Typically symptoms first appear in adolescence, however some women begin to develop symptoms in their early to mid 20’s. Although PCOS is named after the presence of multiple cysts on the ovaries, it really is a collection of symptoms.

The birthing parent is not the only one who is at risk of developing anxiety or depression related to pregnancy and childbirth. The non-birthing parent is also at risk of postpartum depression and anxiety. The stigma men experience if they struggle as a new parent is even higher than women. Traditionally men are viewed as strong and self-sacrificing. This makes reaching out for help even tougher. Janelle Daku provides fantastic suggestions on how Dad’s can bond with baby and be the involved parent he desires.

In this blog Kim Deschamps summarizes a very powerful and healing self-care treatment to empower women and teach them how to read the physical patterns held in the pelvic muscles and alleviate patterns that inhibit energy flow.

When you google pelvic pain the list is long, like really long! This makes sense because yes, there are many reasons one might experience pelvic pain! And sometimes there are multiple reasons combined that can result in chronic pelvic pain. SO, let’s dive into it!

When it comes to women’s health, knowing and understanding how our bodies work is important. It’s the only way we can be alerted to when things are off. Unfortunately, most women, my self included were not educated about our bodies. Start the conversation about your reproductive system and menstrual cycle with Shasta Zeeman in her recent blog post, first of a 3-part series!

Janelle Daku, OT, shares her knowledge and her personal experience with endometriosis and sheds light on the collaborative team and holistic interventions that are available to women experiencing endometriosis. Definitely take a read!!

Post-partum anxiety is defined by frequent, distressing fears. Some mothers describe worrying constantly about worst-case scenarios, seeing potential risks all around them. Dr. Marnie Rogers-de Jong, PH.D., provides excellent information on the physical symptoms of post-partum anxiety, and the variety of ways to help a mom experiencing postpartum mood disorders.

Managing stress in Danielle’s life has become top of her priority list ever since going through a diagnosis and surgery for a frontal lobe brain tumor. She believes it has been one of the things that has truly helped her get back to my optimal health and happiness. Read more on her reflection.