June 5, 2025 • 47 mins
Dr. Katrina Roundfield's journey from academic psychologist to maternal mental health entrepreneur begins with a startling revelation: despite her extensive training, nothing prepared her for the overwhelming anxiety that gripped her after giving birth to her son.
The stark contrast between prenatal and postpartum care represents a healthcare crisis hiding in plain sight. Women receive approximately 700 minutes of prenatal attention but only 30 minutes of postpartum care, precisely when 80% experience significant emotional distress. This gap inspired Dr. Roundfield to create Tara, an innovative app that supports mothers through matrescence —the profound biological and psychological transformation of becoming a mother.
"I kept thinking about what would have helped me during my postpartum experience," Dr. Roundfield reflects, noting that traditional therapy wasn't the answer. With a newborn, limited time, and symptoms that didn't quite reach clinical thresholds, she found herself in healthcare limbo, struggling without clear pathways for support. This experience mirrors countless mothers who track every feeding and diaper change obsessively, spiral into anxiety, and isolate themselves while trying to navigate a profound identity shift with minimal guidance.
Tara fills this void by offering science-backed tools that acknowledge the neurobiological reality of matrescence. The app provides practical mental health techniques, educational resources on maternal brain changes, and a community moderated by mental health professionals—all designed to accommodate the constraints of new motherhood. Named after the Buddhist goddess considered the mother of all Buddhas, Tara embodies the philosophy that mothers already possess what they need to thrive; they simply require support during this transformative transition.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Stephanie Theriault (00:12):
Welcome to the Maternal Wealth Podcast, a
space for all things related tomaternal health, pregnancy and
beyond.
I'm your host, stephanie Terrio.
I'm a labor and delivery nurseand a mother to three beautiful
boys.
Each week, week, we dive intoinspiring stories and expert
insights to remind us of thepower that you hold in
childbirth and motherhood.
We're here to explore the joys,the challenges and the
(00:35):
complexities of maternal health.
Every mother's journey isunique and every story deserves
to be told.
Please note that this podcast isfor entertainment purposes only
.
It is not intended to replaceprofessional medical advice,
diagnosis or treatment.
Always consult with yourhealthcare provider for medical
guidance that is tailored toyour specific needs.
(00:56):
Are you ready?
Let's get into it.
I'm proud to introduce to youDr Katrina Roundfield.
(01:16):
Dr Katrina Roundfield is alicensed clinical community
psychologist who transitionedfrom academic medicine to
entrepreneurship in behavioralhealth tech startups, driven by
a passion for the transformativepower of human change.
With nearly two decadesdedicated to creating and
implementing interventions thatfoster healthier outcomes for
families and communities, sheembodies the belief that we all
(01:39):
can make better choices forourselves and for those around
us.
Dr Katrina Roundfield earnedher MA and PhD in clinical
community psychology at DePaulUniversity, followed by her
pre-doctoral residency at YaleUniversity of Medicine.
Afterwards, she completed anNIMH post-doctoral fellowship in
(01:59):
clinical services research atthe UCF School of Medicine.
Dr Katrina Roundfield was theco-founder and chief clinical
officer of APA Health, a teenmentoring and mental health
skills company.
Katrina was also on thefounding team of Two Chairs, an
adult psychotherapy startup.
Katrina maintains an advisoryrole at Two Chairs today and
(02:21):
under Katrina's executiveleadership, the company scaled
from zero to 1,000 therapysessions a week.
Afterwards, katrina was readyto make change.
In this episode, you willdiscover how a remarkable woman
with firsthand experience ofmatrescence is revolutionizing
immediate postpartum mentalhealth care.
(02:42):
What barriers do we encounterwhen seeking help for postpartum
depression, anxiety and rage?
Barriers that we face includeaccess time empathy.
Dr Katrina Roundfield and hercollaborator have co-created an
innovative app with Tara thatbridges the gap, ensuring women
(03:02):
and birthing individuals receivethe support that they need to
prevent mental health crisesduring the critical postpartum
period.
Imagine having help right inthe palm of your hand exactly
when you need it.
I'll share real examples from myown matrescence journey,
including challenging morningsfilled with seemingly endless
tears while my husband's at work, my support team is miles away
(03:24):
In those high tension momentsplagued with sleep deprivation,
lack of nutrition, loss ofidentity.
The app with Tara providesvirtual support.
This journey of matrescenceshines a light on how we can
navigate a path that societyoften overlooks, guiding us
through tough times and helpingto prevent crises.
(03:45):
I'm excited for you to learnmore about Dr Katrina Roundfield
and how her journey throughmatrescence is now empowering
others welcome katrina histephanie.
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (04:09):
Thank you so much for having me thank
you so much for being here.
Stephanie Theriault (04:12):
I'm so excited to get into the
conversation with you, learnmore about you and your journey
into motherhood and how thatbrought you to where you are
today Amazing.
I'm excited so one of the waysI really like to start the
podcast is to have you sharewith us, with the listeners,
about yourself before you becamea mom.
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (04:33):
Sure, sure.
So before I became a mom thatwas seven years ago, leading up
before that I got my PhD inclinical and community
psychology.
I planned to be a researchprofessor and so I started doing
research on child and familyand mental health.
That was really my focus.
I ended up going to Yale andthen transitioned to be a
(04:54):
professor at the University ofCalifornia, san Francisco UCSF.
A professor at the Universityof California, san Francisco
UCSF, and there I was doingresearch focusing on the mental
health of families and over sometime just decided that I wanted
to bring a lot of my researchmore into practice.
And we're in Silicon Valley,san Francisco area I met a few
(05:15):
people and started working onthe side consulting at digital
mental health companies as aconsultant and then eventually
decided to make the leap offaith and move into a full time
role as a founding clinicalleader at a company called Two
Chairs.
So I was there as our leadingclinical person at the company
(05:36):
and built that company for fouryears.
Person at the company and builtthat company for four years.
Company was doing great andduring that period, actually
backing up a whole four years, Iwas at the company.
But in the very first year, infact, when I was offered the job
, I told the founder and CEO hey, you just offered me a job.
I just want you to know I'mactually pregnant right now.
(05:57):
And so I let him know that I waspregnant.
I asked him is that going to bea problem?
Because we shouldn't go forwardif there's going to be some
kind of issue with me beingpregnant and at a startup.
And he was true to his word andsupported me every step of the
way during my pregnancy and whenI came back.
But I will pause there, becausethat is the place where all of
(06:19):
this starts in terms of my storyof where I'm at now, what I'm
working on now and why I'm sofocused on postpartum care and
the support of mothers for theirmental health throughout their
journey into motherhood.
Stephanie Theriault (06:32):
So let's get into that Sure With your
journey into the pregnancy,postpartum period, birth.
Where did you find yourself inthat experience that led you to
where you are now?
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (06:46):
Yeah.
So my experience intomotherhood was not what I
expected and I think it's reallyimportant to note that.
What I have found is that mystory is not unique.
It is the story of many womenand birthing people that we read
all these books, we take allthe child prep classes, we try
to know what to expect when weare expecting, and it turns out
(07:09):
that most of us are notemotionally prepared for the
transition into motherhood, andthat was my experience.
What happened was I had a prettyyou know, not unremarkable
pregnancy.
It was.
It was no problem it, you know.
It was a really easy pregnancy.
For the most part, I was veryfortunate that I was able to
(07:29):
deliver my child, actuallywithout medication.
That's how I wanted to deliver,really wanted to kind of own my
birth story, and I was veryfortunate that it all worked out
that way for me.
However, the moment that I leftthe hospital and had this
beautiful little boy in my arms,my son Miles, I was pretty much
(07:50):
gripped with panic and fear andoverwhelm and anxiety and all
the feelings, and I was notemotionally prepared for that.
I thought that I was a prettyresilient person, I thought that
I knew what I was gettingmyself into and unfortunately I
had the experience of justfeeling absolutely terrified for
a good portion of my entirefirst year postpartum and I
(08:13):
think you know, the deeper I'vegone into exploring the mental
health and wellness of women,I've realized that this is again
not a unique story and it isalso something that we are not
really prepared for and ourmedical system sort of fails us
in this period of time where thesupport is really lacking.
So that was a little bit aboutmy experience.
Stephanie Theriault (08:35):
With your postpartum experience.
How did you find what youneeded to get you through that
time?
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (08:42):
Yeah.
So for me, what ended uphappening was I I'll share a
statistic that, on average,women and birthing people get
about 700 minutes of pregnancy,prenatal care, and that's
everything from, you know,gestational diabetes tests to
appointments to childbirth prep.
(09:03):
All of this happens inpregnancy 700 minutes On average
.
After the baby arrives, momsget about 30 minutes of care,
and that was my experience.
As you can see, that's a prettymassive gap in care because the
medical system sort of thinks,okay, well, the medical
emergency which was you givingbirth to a child is no longer
(09:24):
present and so, since the babyis here, you should just be fine
.
And that is not the case.
In fact, 80% of womenexperience extreme emotional
distress in the entire firstyear postpartum, and that was my
experience.
However, I did go to apostpartum appointment.
That was my 30 minutes.
(09:44):
I was.
Thankfully, my husband forcedme to go.
I wasn't actually going to goand actually, and actually, a
lot of the research shows thatmany women miss that appointment
because they're so focused onbaby.
They will not miss a pediatricappointment, but they're very
likely to miss a postpartumaftercare visit.
Thankfully, I did go, but I wasI showed up to the appointment
(10:06):
pretty frazzled.
I don't even know if I brushedmy hair that day.
I had the baby with me.
I was, you know, not sleeping,I was just worried and my doctor
, being a fantastic doctor, wasable to ask me a few questions,
gave me a screener and screenedme for anxiety and depression.
Interestingly, I did notactually qualify for a disorder.
(10:30):
So I had symptoms, but itwasn't high enough to, you know,
say that I actually hadpostpartum depression or anxiety
and as a result of that, mydoctor didn't recommend further
care.
But what she did do was shelistened and she was empathetic
and she asked me to walk me.
You know, walk her through myday.
(10:50):
I told her well, I wake up andthen I track everything on these
trackers and I tracked thebaby's poop and I tracked the
baby's pee and I tracked thefeeding and I tracked these
things and I don't leave thehouse.
And my doctor said hey, katrina, you really need to stop
tracking everything.
It's making you really obsessedand anxious and it's not good
for you.
(11:10):
You need to leave the house,you need to call a friend, you
need to ask somebody to come andhelp you at the home, because
my husband had to go back towork, unfortunately pretty
quickly and so you know, mydoctor had really practical
preventative mental health tipsfor me.
That were just things I coulddo, but I needed somebody to
tell me to do them and so I diddo those things and I did start
(11:33):
to feel a bit better.
I then sort of returned back towork after about three months.
I took only three months and Ithink in some ways work was
helpful to me because it helpedme to take all of my obsessive
thoughts that I was having thatcould have turned into
postpartum OCD and I justobsessed about the company and I
(11:53):
obsessed about my job.
I think it was actually ahealthy shift in how my brain
was restructuring and rewiringitself.
I'll talk a little bit aboutthat, because a lot of what I
focus on now at my company, tara, is focused on matrescence and
how women's brains and bodieschange and how that actually has
(12:14):
massive impacts on mentalhealth and wellness for women.
But I did go back to work.
I started to feel a bit better.
I will say the whole first yearwas a bit of a blur and I feel
like there were a lot of daysthat were unpleasant, anxiety
filled and worrisome for me.
So I think that very commonly.
(12:35):
For other women as well, thatwhole first year is almost like
a survival mode.
I think that's a commonexperience, but I think we're
not doing enough as a society tosupport moms in that experience
and I was grateful andfortunate to have a doctor who
just said hey, you don't need toworry this much, stop tracking
all these things.
Do something different oryou're probably going to end up
(12:57):
developing an actual disorderhere and thankfully that
intervention happened.
But I think so many women andbirthing people don't get that
intervention and don't have anytools or skills or even just the
basic knowledge to understandwhat's happening with them and
their health and wellnessno-transcript.
Stephanie Theriault (13:28):
At Maternal Wealth, we aim to ensure that
you have access to the best andthe most appropriate care.
That's why we created aMaternal Healthcare Provider
Database.
Maternal health providers caneasily create profiles to
promote their services andbusiness, helping to increase
access for those seeking theircare.
This is a one-of-a-kinddatabase that offers a new and
(13:49):
exciting way for women to searchfor and find maternal health
providers near them and tailoredto their specific needs.
Profiles feature badges thathighlight various services, such
as TODAC-friendly practices,all-female practices, lgbtqai
plus inclusivity, languageoptions, access to vaginal
(14:11):
breach services and more.
Additionally, be sure to checkout our Not your Average Birth
course.
In this course, I discuss thevariations that exist in
hospital practices based onpolicies, staffing and budgets,
all of which can directly affectyour birth experience and
outcome.
So you go back to work afteryour first child and then I know
(14:53):
you have two.
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (14:54):
So before you got, pregnant with
your second child.
Where did with Tara come intoplay?
Great questions?
Tara came into play when,basically, I you know, really
it's a fast forward of about sixyears gave birth to my child in
2018.
My first kid went back to workat two chairs, stayed there for
four years, gave birth to asecond child while I was at two
(15:15):
chairs as well, had a similarexperience with my mental health
not quite as debilitating anddifficult as my first, but still
very challenging and thentransitioned out of that company
, ended up going to anothercompany focused on teen mental
health.
And during that entire period,I kept thinking about and
(15:36):
talking to women healthproviders, reflecting on my own
clinical practice working withpostpartum moms and just
continuing to think about whatwould have been better for me,
what would have helped me duringmy postpartum experience and
that whole first year aftergiving birth, and I just didn't
have a good answer.
You know, an obvious answerbecause I'm building mental
(15:58):
health and therapy companieswould have been to just provide
better therapy to moms.
But to be really honest withyou, and maybe unexpectedly and
a little contradictory given thefact that I am a licensed
psychologist is that I didn'tthink that therapy was the
answer for me and for me, Ithink that I had all the
resources to go to therapy, butone my doctor said I wasn't
(16:21):
clinically unwell, I just wasemotionally struggling.
You know, therapy is really forclinical issues, at least from
my perspective.
And then the other piece isthat even if I had thought to go
to therapy, when was I going togo?
I didn't have a lot of time.
I had a baby with me, you know,and then I had a second baby,
just feel like, felt like Ididn't really have the time to
(16:44):
do that and I didn't really knowif, frankly, if I even wanted
to admit that I would haveneeded therapy.
It just was, you know, so muchsurvival mode and not focusing
on myself was such a huge partof my survival was really just
focusing on the baby.
And so for years I thoughtabout what could have helped me
and what could have helped othermoms, and I ended up doing a
(17:05):
lot of research.
I am a researcher.
That's my kind of base level ofkind of career is really
understanding research andreading a lot of research and
understanding the cutting edgescience.
And I came across research,shout out to a friend of mine,
nicole Pensack, dr Nikki Pensack.
She wrote a book called Rattledand I read that book and it was
(17:26):
really eye opening aboutmatrescence, about how the brain
changes.
I read that book in 2024.
Had my child in 2018, thoughtabout this issue for a long time
, didn't really see a goodanswer, and then came across a
book that a friend of mine sentme and she wrote it and I read
it.
It's about matrescence.
And then I went deep, deep downthe rabbit hole, reading all the
(17:49):
research I possibly could onthis topic and learned so much
about, you know, an informationgap.
I'd never even heard of theword matrescence before.
I'd literally never heard thatword before.
So you know, I'm a clinicalpsychologist, educated at Yale
and UCSF, and I don't know thisword.
That feels like something thatis pretty much a massive
(18:10):
information gap.
And, as a broader point, I thinkin maternal mental health and
maternal health generally,there's just so much lack of
knowledge, lack of informationthat's shared with women.
Critical information that reallycould save lives literally
could save lives is not sharedwith us, you know, because
there's not always a focus onwomen's health, and this is yet
(18:31):
another example of that that youknow, because there's not
always a focus on women's healthand this isn't yet another
example of that that you know,most women are not educated
about the emotional falloutthat's going to happen when they
give birth to a child.
It happens to probably everyone,actually, and you know, after
reading that work and going deepdown the rabbit hole, I said
this is this is it.
This is what I want to bring tothe world.
This is the company I want tobuild.
I want to help women understandthis information.
(18:52):
I want to give them practicalmental health, science-backed
tools to support themselves thatare really easy to use, and I
want to give them a supportivecommunity that is not a crazy
Reddit rabbit hole or somestrange Facebook mom group that
ends up going off the rails.
I want to give them a communitythat's moderated by mental
health professionals andactually, can you know, give
(19:15):
them a space to grow and supporteach other together in a
moderated, safe space.
Stephanie Theriault (19:19):
So you're a young mom you have two little
kids and then you start your owncompany.
Talk us through that.
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (19:46):
Yes, thank you.
Yes, so by 2024, I had decidedthat I wanted to start this
company, so got to it.
My kids at the time musthusband, and I think husbands
are not always appreciated inthe way that they should be.
But I will say that my husbandis absolutely supportive of me.
(20:06):
He gives me the time and spaceand supports me in all the ways
to actually get this done.
I also have a lot offlexibility because I'm an
entrepreneur, so that allows meto show up to read to the kids
at Literacy Center or, you know,pick my kids up early from
school or anything like that.
So that's been.
It's been a blessing, but yeah,it's.
(20:27):
It's a little scary to start acompany and do that with just
from the ground up, but it, youknow, the thing that really
motivates me is that it's justso motivating to think about.
My passion has always been tohelp children and families.
My entire research, when I wasyounger and as a professor, was
to support the wellness andbetter outcomes for children and
(20:49):
families.
And, as it turns out, you know,the biggest predictor of healthy
child and family outcomes iswhether mom is feeling good,
whether mom is, you know, takingcare of herself and is finding
joy and is, you know, enjoyingthe quality of her motherhood
experience.
And I think, you know, the mostimportant thing we can do for
(21:10):
families is to support women andto support the mothers, and so
that is what motivates me, it'smy deep passion and honestly, I
think it also makes me a bettermom to build this company, and
so, you know, that brings outthe best in me to be able to
make a difference for other moms.
But also I'm learning a lot.
I actually use the skills thatwe teach on our platform and
(21:32):
it's helped me with things likemom guilt and mom rage and
finding moments of joy.
I literally use the skills thatI teach, and so it makes me a
better mom and I hope that itmakes other other moms, the moms
that they want to be and beable to show up for their
families in the way they want toshow up.
Stephanie Theriault (22:00):
How did you come up with the name Tara for
your company?
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (22:04):
Great question.
So I have a phenomenal cofounder who is an engineer and
he really is an entrepreneur whohas the technical expertise of
being a fantastic engineer.
I worked with him at two chairsand then I worked with him at
the company that I was at theteen mental health company and
then, you know, when Itransitioned from that teen
(22:24):
mental health company, he wasthe first person to say, hey,
katrina, we've been workingtogether for the last like two
companies and six or so years,like let's, let's build a
company together.
I was and I said I would loveto do that, and so, um, we, we
started working on Tara and atthe time I actually had a name
(22:44):
for it.
That is cute, but it's just notclever enough, I think, and so I
actually was going to call thecompany Miles Ahead, because my
son's name is Miles and you knowwe want to create something
that allows moms to be milesahead.
It's just not really likecatchy in the, in the way that
apps are supposed to be catchyor digital companies are
(23:05):
supposed to be a little catchy.
So, anyways, I shared that withmy co founder, jesse, and he
said this is nice, but like,let's keep thinking about that
name.
And actually my husband, I toldmy husband the name and he was
like miles ahead.
It's nice because it's like atribute to miles, but then like,
what about our other son?
How will he feel when herealizes you created a company
(23:25):
and didn't name it after him?
And then so I, you know therewas.
It was already already riddledwith a few flaws, but my
co-founder explained our companyto his wife and he explained
hey, it's about matrescence,it's about how women's brains
and bodies change and actuallybiology is really on their side
because their brains arechanging in a way to essentially
(23:48):
learn their baby, show up bestfor their baby and, you know,
provides a lot of opportunitiesfor women to be the best mom
that they can be.
And his wife said oh, that'sinteresting.
It kind of makes me think aboutTara the goddess, and she is a
Buddhist goddess who is thoughtof as kind of a maternal figure.
She's actually thought of asthe mother of all Buddhas.
(24:10):
And she basically was likemaybe you should name your
company Tara, tara, because it'skind of helping moms be their
highest self, their most likeenlightened maternal self.
He said that name and I waslike you know what I think?
That's, that's the one like Ithink that actually might be
better than miles ahead.
So let's, let's go with thatand I've I've really loved that
vision that you moms can betheir own goddess and they
(24:33):
actually have everything thatthey need to be the best mom
they can be.
They just need a little bit ofsupport during this really
difficult transition.
Welcome to the Maternal Wealth Podcast, a
space for all things related tomaternal health, pregnancy and
beyond.
I'm your host, stephanie Terrio.
I'm a labor and delivery nurseand a mother to three beautiful
boys.
Each week, week, we dive intoinspiring stories and expert
insights to remind us of thepower that you hold in
childbirth and motherhood.
We're here to explore the joys,the challenges and the
(00:35):
complexities of maternal health.
Every mother's journey isunique and every story deserves
to be told.
Please note that this podcast isfor entertainment purposes only
.
It is not intended to replaceprofessional medical advice,
diagnosis or treatment.
Always consult with yourhealthcare provider for medical
guidance that is tailored toyour specific needs.
(00:56):
Are you ready?
Let's get into it.
I'm proud to introduce to youDr Katrina Roundfield.
(01:16):
Dr Katrina Roundfield is alicensed clinical community
psychologist who transitionedfrom academic medicine to
entrepreneurship in behavioralhealth tech startups, driven by
a passion for the transformativepower of human change.
With nearly two decadesdedicated to creating and
implementing interventions thatfoster healthier outcomes for
families and communities, sheembodies the belief that we all
(01:39):
can make better choices forourselves and for those around
us.
Dr Katrina Roundfield earnedher MA and PhD in clinical
community psychology at DePaulUniversity, followed by her
pre-doctoral residency at YaleUniversity of Medicine.
Afterwards, she completed anNIMH post-doctoral fellowship in
(01:59):
clinical services research atthe UCF School of Medicine.
Dr Katrina Roundfield was theco-founder and chief clinical
officer of APA Health, a teenmentoring and mental health
skills company.
Katrina was also on thefounding team of Two Chairs, an
adult psychotherapy startup.
Katrina maintains an advisoryrole at Two Chairs today and
(02:21):
under Katrina's executiveleadership, the company scaled
from zero to 1,000 therapysessions a week.
Afterwards, katrina was readyto make change.
In this episode, you willdiscover how a remarkable woman
with firsthand experience ofmatrescence is revolutionizing
immediate postpartum mentalhealth care.
(02:42):
What barriers do we encounterwhen seeking help for postpartum
depression, anxiety and rage?
Barriers that we face includeaccess time empathy.
Dr Katrina Roundfield and hercollaborator have co-created an
innovative app with Tara thatbridges the gap, ensuring women
(03:02):
and birthing individuals receivethe support that they need to
prevent mental health crisesduring the critical postpartum
period.
Imagine having help right inthe palm of your hand exactly
when you need it.
I'll share real examples from myown matrescence journey,
including challenging morningsfilled with seemingly endless
tears while my husband's at work, my support team is miles away
(03:24):
In those high tension momentsplagued with sleep deprivation,
lack of nutrition, loss ofidentity.
The app with Tara providesvirtual support.
This journey of matrescenceshines a light on how we can
navigate a path that societyoften overlooks, guiding us
through tough times and helpingto prevent crises.
(03:45):
I'm excited for you to learnmore about Dr Katrina Roundfield
and how her journey throughmatrescence is now empowering
others welcome katrina histephanie.
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (04:09):
Thank you so much for having me thank
you so much for being here.
Stephanie Theriault (04:12):
I'm so excited to get into the
conversation with you, learnmore about you and your journey
into motherhood and how thatbrought you to where you are
today Amazing.
I'm excited so one of the waysI really like to start the
podcast is to have you sharewith us, with the listeners,
about yourself before you becamea mom.
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (04:33):
Sure, sure.
So before I became a mom thatwas seven years ago, leading up
before that I got my PhD inclinical and community
psychology.
I planned to be a researchprofessor and so I started doing
research on child and familyand mental health.
That was really my focus.
I ended up going to Yale andthen transitioned to be a
(04:54):
professor at the University ofCalifornia, san Francisco UCSF.
A professor at the Universityof California, san Francisco
UCSF, and there I was doingresearch focusing on the mental
health of families and over sometime just decided that I wanted
to bring a lot of my researchmore into practice.
And we're in Silicon Valley,san Francisco area I met a few
(05:15):
people and started working onthe side consulting at digital
mental health companies as aconsultant and then eventually
decided to make the leap offaith and move into a full time
role as a founding clinicalleader at a company called Two
Chairs.
So I was there as our leadingclinical person at the company
(05:36):
and built that company for fouryears.
Person at the company and builtthat company for four years.
Company was doing great andduring that period, actually
backing up a whole four years, Iwas at the company.
But in the very first year, infact, when I was offered the job
, I told the founder and CEO hey, you just offered me a job.
I just want you to know I'mactually pregnant right now.
(05:57):
And so I let him know that I waspregnant.
I asked him is that going to bea problem?
Because we shouldn't go forwardif there's going to be some
kind of issue with me beingpregnant and at a startup.
And he was true to his word andsupported me every step of the
way during my pregnancy and whenI came back.
But I will pause there, becausethat is the place where all of
(06:19):
this starts in terms of my storyof where I'm at now, what I'm
working on now and why I'm sofocused on postpartum care and
the support of mothers for theirmental health throughout their
journey into motherhood.
Stephanie Theriault (06:32):
So let's get into that Sure With your
journey into the pregnancy,postpartum period, birth.
Where did you find yourself inthat experience that led you to
where you are now?
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (06:46):
Yeah.
So my experience intomotherhood was not what I
expected and I think it's reallyimportant to note that.
What I have found is that mystory is not unique.
It is the story of many womenand birthing people that we read
all these books, we take allthe child prep classes, we try
to know what to expect when weare expecting, and it turns out
(07:09):
that most of us are notemotionally prepared for the
transition into motherhood, andthat was my experience.
What happened was I had a prettyyou know, not unremarkable
pregnancy.
It was.
It was no problem it, you know.
It was a really easy pregnancy.
For the most part, I was veryfortunate that I was able to
(07:29):
deliver my child, actuallywithout medication.
That's how I wanted to deliver,really wanted to kind of own my
birth story, and I was veryfortunate that it all worked out
that way for me.
However, the moment that I leftthe hospital and had this
beautiful little boy in my arms,my son Miles, I was pretty much
(07:50):
gripped with panic and fear andoverwhelm and anxiety and all
the feelings, and I was notemotionally prepared for that.
I thought that I was a prettyresilient person, I thought that
I knew what I was gettingmyself into and unfortunately I
had the experience of justfeeling absolutely terrified for
a good portion of my entirefirst year postpartum and I
(08:13):
think you know, the deeper I'vegone into exploring the mental
health and wellness of women,I've realized that this is again
not a unique story and it isalso something that we are not
really prepared for and ourmedical system sort of fails us
in this period of time where thesupport is really lacking.
So that was a little bit aboutmy experience.
Stephanie Theriault (08:35):
With your postpartum experience.
How did you find what youneeded to get you through that
time?
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (08:42):
Yeah.
So for me, what ended uphappening was I I'll share a
statistic that, on average,women and birthing people get
about 700 minutes of pregnancy,prenatal care, and that's
everything from, you know,gestational diabetes tests to
appointments to childbirth prep.
(09:03):
All of this happens inpregnancy 700 minutes On average
.
After the baby arrives, momsget about 30 minutes of care,
and that was my experience.
As you can see, that's a prettymassive gap in care because the
medical system sort of thinks,okay, well, the medical
emergency which was you givingbirth to a child is no longer
(09:24):
present and so, since the babyis here, you should just be fine
.
And that is not the case.
In fact, 80% of womenexperience extreme emotional
distress in the entire firstyear postpartum, and that was my
experience.
However, I did go to apostpartum appointment.
That was my 30 minutes.
(09:44):
I was.
Thankfully, my husband forcedme to go.
I wasn't actually going to goand actually, and actually, a
lot of the research shows thatmany women miss that appointment
because they're so focused onbaby.
They will not miss a pediatricappointment, but they're very
likely to miss a postpartumaftercare visit.
Thankfully, I did go, but I wasI showed up to the appointment
(10:06):
pretty frazzled.
I don't even know if I brushedmy hair that day.
I had the baby with me.
I was, you know, not sleeping,I was just worried and my doctor
, being a fantastic doctor, wasable to ask me a few questions,
gave me a screener and screenedme for anxiety and depression.
Interestingly, I did notactually qualify for a disorder.
(10:30):
So I had symptoms, but itwasn't high enough to, you know,
say that I actually hadpostpartum depression or anxiety
and as a result of that, mydoctor didn't recommend further
care.
But what she did do was shelistened and she was empathetic
and she asked me to walk me.
You know, walk her through myday.
(10:50):
I told her well, I wake up andthen I track everything on these
trackers and I tracked thebaby's poop and I tracked the
baby's pee and I tracked thefeeding and I tracked these
things and I don't leave thehouse.
And my doctor said hey, katrina, you really need to stop
tracking everything.
It's making you really obsessedand anxious and it's not good
for you.
(11:10):
You need to leave the house,you need to call a friend, you
need to ask somebody to come andhelp you at the home, because
my husband had to go back towork, unfortunately pretty
quickly and so you know, mydoctor had really practical
preventative mental health tipsfor me.
That were just things I coulddo, but I needed somebody to
tell me to do them and so I diddo those things and I did start
(11:33):
to feel a bit better.
I then sort of returned back towork after about three months.
I took only three months and Ithink in some ways work was
helpful to me because it helpedme to take all of my obsessive
thoughts that I was having thatcould have turned into
postpartum OCD and I justobsessed about the company and I
(11:53):
obsessed about my job.
I think it was actually ahealthy shift in how my brain
was restructuring and rewiringitself.
I'll talk a little bit aboutthat, because a lot of what I
focus on now at my company, tara, is focused on matrescence and
how women's brains and bodieschange and how that actually has
(12:14):
massive impacts on mentalhealth and wellness for women.
But I did go back to work.
I started to feel a bit better.
I will say the whole first yearwas a bit of a blur and I feel
like there were a lot of daysthat were unpleasant, anxiety
filled and worrisome for me.
So I think that very commonly.
(12:35):
For other women as well, thatwhole first year is almost like
a survival mode.
I think that's a commonexperience, but I think we're
not doing enough as a society tosupport moms in that experience
and I was grateful andfortunate to have a doctor who
just said hey, you don't need toworry this much, stop tracking
all these things.
Do something different oryou're probably going to end up
(12:57):
developing an actual disorderhere and thankfully that
intervention happened.
But I think so many women andbirthing people don't get that
intervention and don't have anytools or skills or even just the
basic knowledge to understandwhat's happening with them and
their health and wellnessno-transcript.
Stephanie Theriault (13:28):
At Maternal Wealth, we aim to ensure that
you have access to the best andthe most appropriate care.
That's why we created aMaternal Healthcare Provider
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Maternal health providers caneasily create profiles to
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This is a one-of-a-kinddatabase that offers a new and
(13:49):
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Profiles feature badges thathighlight various services, such
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(14:11):
breach services and more.
Additionally, be sure to checkout our Not your Average Birth
course.
In this course, I discuss thevariations that exist in
hospital practices based onpolicies, staffing and budgets,
all of which can directly affectyour birth experience and
outcome.
So you go back to work afteryour first child and then I know
(14:53):
you have two.
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (14:54):
So before you got, pregnant with
your second child.
Where did with Tara come intoplay?
Great questions?
Tara came into play when,basically, I you know, really
it's a fast forward of about sixyears gave birth to my child in
2018.
My first kid went back to workat two chairs, stayed there for
four years, gave birth to asecond child while I was at two
(15:15):
chairs as well, had a similarexperience with my mental health
not quite as debilitating anddifficult as my first, but still
very challenging and thentransitioned out of that company
, ended up going to anothercompany focused on teen mental
health.
And during that entire period,I kept thinking about and
(15:36):
talking to women healthproviders, reflecting on my own
clinical practice working withpostpartum moms and just
continuing to think about whatwould have been better for me,
what would have helped me duringmy postpartum experience and
that whole first year aftergiving birth, and I just didn't
have a good answer.
You know, an obvious answerbecause I'm building mental
(15:58):
health and therapy companieswould have been to just provide
better therapy to moms.
But to be really honest withyou, and maybe unexpectedly and
a little contradictory given thefact that I am a licensed
psychologist is that I didn'tthink that therapy was the
answer for me and for me, Ithink that I had all the
resources to go to therapy, butone my doctor said I wasn't
(16:21):
clinically unwell, I just wasemotionally struggling.
You know, therapy is really forclinical issues, at least from
my perspective.
And then the other piece isthat even if I had thought to go
to therapy, when was I going togo?
I didn't have a lot of time.
I had a baby with me, you know,and then I had a second baby,
just feel like, felt like Ididn't really have the time to
(16:44):
do that and I didn't really knowif, frankly, if I even wanted
to admit that I would haveneeded therapy.
It just was, you know, so muchsurvival mode and not focusing
on myself was such a huge partof my survival was really just
focusing on the baby.
And so for years I thoughtabout what could have helped me
and what could have helped othermoms, and I ended up doing a
(17:05):
lot of research.
I am a researcher.
That's my kind of base level ofkind of career is really
understanding research andreading a lot of research and
understanding the cutting edgescience.
And I came across research,shout out to a friend of mine,
nicole Pensack, dr Nikki Pensack.
She wrote a book called Rattledand I read that book and it was
(17:26):
really eye opening aboutmatrescence, about how the brain
changes.
I read that book in 2024.
Had my child in 2018, thoughtabout this issue for a long time
, didn't really see a goodanswer, and then came across a
book that a friend of mine sentme and she wrote it and I read
it.
It's about matrescence.
And then I went deep, deep downthe rabbit hole, reading all the
(17:49):
research I possibly could onthis topic and learned so much
about, you know, an informationgap.
I'd never even heard of theword matrescence before.
I'd literally never heard thatword before.
So you know, I'm a clinicalpsychologist, educated at Yale
and UCSF, and I don't know thisword.
That feels like something thatis pretty much a massive
(18:10):
information gap.
And, as a broader point, I thinkin maternal mental health and
maternal health generally,there's just so much lack of
knowledge, lack of informationthat's shared with women.
Critical information that reallycould save lives literally
could save lives is not sharedwith us, you know, because
there's not always a focus onwomen's health, and this is yet
(18:31):
another example of that that youknow, because there's not
always a focus on women's healthand this isn't yet another
example of that that you know,most women are not educated
about the emotional falloutthat's going to happen when they
give birth to a child.
It happens to probably everyone,actually, and you know, after
reading that work and going deepdown the rabbit hole, I said
this is this is it.
This is what I want to bring tothe world.
This is the company I want tobuild.
I want to help women understandthis information.
(18:52):
I want to give them practicalmental health, science-backed
tools to support themselves thatare really easy to use, and I
want to give them a supportivecommunity that is not a crazy
Reddit rabbit hole or somestrange Facebook mom group that
ends up going off the rails.
I want to give them a communitythat's moderated by mental
health professionals andactually, can you know, give
(19:15):
them a space to grow and supporteach other together in a
moderated, safe space.
Stephanie Theriault (19:19):
So you're a young mom you have two little
kids and then you start your owncompany.
Talk us through that.
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (19:46):
Yes, thank you.
Yes, so by 2024, I had decidedthat I wanted to start this
company, so got to it.
My kids at the time musthusband, and I think husbands
are not always appreciated inthe way that they should be.
But I will say that my husbandis absolutely supportive of me.
(20:06):
He gives me the time and spaceand supports me in all the ways
to actually get this done.
I also have a lot offlexibility because I'm an
entrepreneur, so that allows meto show up to read to the kids
at Literacy Center or, you know,pick my kids up early from
school or anything like that.
So that's been.
It's been a blessing, but yeah,it's.
(20:27):
It's a little scary to start acompany and do that with just
from the ground up, but it, youknow, the thing that really
motivates me is that it's justso motivating to think about.
My passion has always been tohelp children and families.
My entire research, when I wasyounger and as a professor, was
to support the wellness andbetter outcomes for children and
(20:49):
families.
And, as it turns out, you know,the biggest predictor of healthy
child and family outcomes iswhether mom is feeling good,
whether mom is, you know, takingcare of herself and is finding
joy and is, you know, enjoyingthe quality of her motherhood
experience.
And I think, you know, the mostimportant thing we can do for
(21:10):
families is to support women andto support the mothers, and so
that is what motivates me, it'smy deep passion and honestly, I
think it also makes me a bettermom to build this company, and
so, you know, that brings outthe best in me to be able to
make a difference for other moms.
But also I'm learning a lot.
I actually use the skills thatwe teach on our platform and
(21:32):
it's helped me with things likemom guilt and mom rage and
finding moments of joy.
I literally use the skills thatI teach, and so it makes me a
better mom and I hope that itmakes other other moms, the moms
that they want to be and beable to show up for their
families in the way they want toshow up.
Stephanie Theriault (22:00):
How did you come up with the name Tara for
your company?
Dr. Katrine Roundfield (22:04):
Great question.
So I have a phenomenal cofounder who is an engineer and
he really is an entrepreneur whohas the technical expertise of
being a fantastic engineer.
I worked with him at two chairsand then I worked with him at
the company that I was at theteen mental health company and
then, you know, when Itransitioned from that teen
(22:24):
mental health company, he wasthe first person to say, hey,
katrina, we've been workingtogether for the last like two
companies and six or so years,like let's, let's build a
company together.
I was and I said I would loveto do that, and so, um, we, we
started working on Tara and atthe time I actually had a name
(22:44):
for it.
That is cute, but it's just notclever enough, I think, and so I
actually was going to call thecompany Miles Ahead, because my
son's name is Miles and you knowwe want to create something
that allows moms to be milesahead.
It's just not really likecatchy in the, in the way that
apps are supposed to be catchyor digital companies are
(23:05):
supposed to be a little catchy.
So, anyways, I shared that withmy co founder, jesse, and he
said this is nice, but like,let's keep thinking about that
name.
And actually my husband, I toldmy husband the name and he was
like miles ahead.
It's nice because it's like atribute to miles, but then like,
what about our other son?
How will he feel when herealizes you created a company
(23:25):
and didn't name it after him?
And then so I, you know therewas.
It was already already riddledwith a few flaws, but my
co-founder explained our companyto his wife and he explained
hey, it's about matrescence,it's about how women's brains
and bodies change and actuallybiology is really on their side
because their brains arechanging in a way to essentially
(23:48):
learn their baby, show up bestfor their baby and, you know,
provides a lot of opportunitiesfor women to be the best mom
that they can be.
And his wife said oh, that'sinteresting.
It kind of makes me think aboutTara the goddess, and she is a
Buddhist goddess who is thoughtof as kind of a maternal figure.
She's actually thought of asthe mother of all Buddhas.
(24:10):
And she basically was likemaybe you should name your
company Tara, tara, because it'skind of helping moms be their
highest self, their most likeenlightened maternal self.
He said that name and I waslike you know what I think?
That's, that's the one like Ithink that actually might be
better than miles ahead.
So let's, let's go with thatand I've I've really loved that
vision that you moms can betheir own goddess and they
(24:33):
actually have everything thatthey need to be the best mom
they can be.
They just need a little bit ofsupport during this really
difficult transition.
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