Rising Mama Collective began out of a combined passion and effort of Rising Mama founder and director, Crystal Colbourne, and two midwives at Grow Midwifery in Chilliwack, BC.

 

Postpartum care is extremely important to all of these women. The midwives care for the new moms on a daily basis, but are limited to the amount of time they can give to each mom. Under our medical system, the care for the new mom is not provided beyond six weeks. For most new moms this is not enough, as they deal with isolation, loneliness and exhaustion. Continuing support is essential on many levels throughout the first year.

 

Crystal is a mom of three kids, and herself suffered with Postpartum seasons that were very isolating and overwhelming. Having births that didn't go as planned, unexpected c-sections to recover from, and isolation, Crystal suffered in different ways with both postpartum and prenatal anxiety, depression and OCD. Crystal has always had a passion for babies and birth, which led to Crystal completing Doula courses in 2015. Taking these courses helped her start her own healing process and realize that what she had experienced was normal, but not right, and she shouldn't have had to suffer the way she did. After completing these courses, she became pregnant with her third blessing and this time she secured the care of a midwife. The difference was exponential and her passion for babies and proper care of moms blossomed.

 

When COVID-19 affected BC it in the spring 2020, Crystal's friend from Grow Midwifery reached out asking her for help with their mamas as the isolation and lack of celebration was affecting these moms. This isn't something new, but COVID-19 amplified the problem. What started out as a short-term care package program to bless new moms during the lockdown, turned into a pillar of Life Exchange Foundation. The response to Rising Mama's focus and efforts has been very impactful to our community, and is a collective of women in our community baking and donating products from their businesses, along with members of our community providing generous financial donations and gifts. The impact we were making through these simple acts of care packages filled with: baked goods, gifts, flowers, and cards filled with encouragement has been speaking to moms at the soul level. Our moms know that they are not alone and that they are loved and supported during their most impactful and vulnerable time in their lives.

 

Rising Mama Collective is partnered with Grow Midwifery to provide a care package to each of their mamas during the first few weeks of the postpartum season.

 

Our desire at Rising Mama Collective, is that this is just the beginning of an impactful initiative to support moms across the Lower Mainland. We're excited to see the passion and commitment from our generous givers to support these moms and assure them they have an entire community behind them, and to see them rise up and flourish as new moms. Moms are vital to the health, development and stability of homes and community.