GOLD Speakers

Desirée Israel, LGSW

• Country: USA

Biography:

Desirée is a perinatal psychotherapist, trained birth doula, Reiki practitioner, and owner of Motherland Community helping women decipher the funk of motherhood through her practice in Baltimore, MD. A mother of 2 boys, Desirée ignited her passion for perinatal mental health after experiencing undiagnosed postpartum depression and OCD. Using her own experience and compassion in hopes to heal others, Desirée completed training as a birth doula in 2014 and the Postpartum Support International’s Components of Care Training on PMADs in 2015. Since then, she has immersed her free time in PMAD (Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorder) awareness. Additionally, she serves as a Maryland co-coordinator for PSI (Postpartum Support International), co-founder of the Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for Women of Color and her practice is a Perinatal Safe Spot through the National Perinatal Taskforce. Desirée’s philosophy is ‘every woman should be nurtured and cared for during her transition to motherhood. It is a rite of passage that has no manual, only the virtue of patience, sacrifice and sense of community that is necessary to hold space for a woman on the other side of birth.