New mural promotes maternal mental health

By CARLEY GORDON

Click here for updates on this story

    NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — A new mural in the Hillsboro Village designed by Murals & More in collaboration with Ready Nest Counseling is raising awareness about an issue rarely discussed.

It shows women at different stages of motherhood: pregnancy, post partum, infertility, and loss, because the truth is, it’s not always picture perfect.

“When our expectations don’t meet the reality, we feel alone. And when we feel alone, we feel shame,” Emily Pardy, the founder and CEO of Ready Nest Counselling, said. “And when we feel shame, we hide our story.”

Pardy said she hears from women and mothers who are suffering in silence every day.

“This mural is here to represent: you are not alone, and you have an absolutely a necessary voice that needs to be heard,” Pardy said.

It’s a message that’s already resonating.

“I think women will walk by and say, ‘look, that’s me,'” Nashville mother Kay Nicholas said. “I think we’re afraid to say things because we think we’re the only ones. I think it’s time that we look at each other as sisters and discuss our depressions, our anxieties, all of us together because we’re all in the same boat.”

The hope is that people will take pictures in front of the mural and share them on social media using #maternalmentalhealth.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.