Cow Heavy And Floral

A Free Screening & Panel Discussion

Wednesday, September 23

5:00 - 6:30 PM Irish Time / 12:00 - 1:30 PM EST

We at PMHI and the PRC are so delighted to be co-hosting this free, 90-minute virtual screening of the incredible short film Cow Heavy and Floral, followed by group reflective practice and a live multidisciplinary panel conversation; built to give perinatal providers both an emotional check in on how the film sits with them and a powerful professional discussion.

Cow Heavy and Floral is an award-winning short film by writer/director Richa Rudola that follows a postpartum writer racing a deadline while navigating an identity crisis across her fractured selves; mother, writer, individual, dreamer. Told through striking split-screen storytelling, the film visually represents the fragmentation of identity during matrescence, and takes its title in part from Sylvia Plath's poem “Morning Song.”

Please Note This Event is Not Recorded

Register Here:

For perinatal providers, the film offers something training often can't: a visceral, felt sense of an experience that we hear about every day from our clients.

Following the screening, our panel (which includes the director herself, a parent with lived experience, a fatherhood advocate, a maternal workload balance advocate, and a perinatal mental health specialist) will unpack what the film speaks to about identity, matrescence, and perinatal mental health.

This event is free, open to all professionals who work with the perinatal population, therapists, doulas, midwives, OB/GYNs, social workers, peer supporters, and beyond.

Wednesday, September 23

5:00 - 6:30 PM Irish Time / 12:00 - 1:30 PM EST

Why This Event Matters

Perinatal providers hold their clients' experiences of identity disruption, grief, and adjustment in their interactions every day, but these powerful forces often go unseen outside of our office and within wider society.

Cow Heavy and Floral offers a felt, story-based encounter with matrescence that textbooks and clinical frameworks can't fully capture. This event models the idea that empathic, story-based learning is essential in our professional development as those that walk alongside the journey to parenthood.

It's also an extension of PMHI's and the PRC’s commitment to accessible education and collaboration, which is why this event is free, and open to the full range of professionals who support this population.

What You'll Experience:

  • A 20-minute screening of the award-winning short film Cow Heavy and Floral

  • A guided reflective practice session led by Maria Clemente Morressi, Vice President of The PRC

  • A 30-40 minute multidisciplinary panel discussion led by Rebecca Reddin, Founder of PMHI

  • A live audience Q&A with the panel

  • Bring your expertise, experience and curiosity (and likely a box of tissues!)

How the 90 minutes will unfold:

  • 5:00 PM — Welcome

  • 5:05 PM — Film screening: Cow Heavy and Floral

  • 5:25 PM — Reflective practice with visual, led by Maria Clemente Morressi

  • 5:40 PM — Panel discussion, led by Rebecca Reddin

  • 6:10 PM — Audience Q&A, moderated by Rebecca Reddin

  • 6:30 PM — Close

Meet the Panel

Richa Rudola - Writer & Director, Cow Heavy and Floral

Richa Rudola is an award-winning filmmaker from India whose thought-provoking work asks relevant questions about identity, consciousness, and the unseen interior worlds we carry.

Celebrated for its unique perspective on new parenthood, Richa’s latest film Cow Heavy And Floral is inspired by her own motherhood journey.

She is dedicated to helping people open up to new perspectives, devoted to authenticity, driven by intellectual curiosity, and has it out for bad time management.

In 2024 she co-founded Meals About Motherhood, an initiative to engender more honest conversations between people about motherhood and to use films/media as a tool to expand and drive those conversations.

Nicole Harlot - Lived Experience, Postpartum Mental Health

Nicole Harlot, Founder and President, is a New Jersey mother of four whose personal battle with postpartum OCD and anxiety catalyzed her transition from finance to advocacy.

A Master Practitioner of neuro-somatics and creator of the Womb Light® modality, she specializes in building the "village" through innovative tech tools like Seedlinks and the PRC SPARK Fund.

Paige Bellenbaum - Perinatal Mental Health Expert

Paige is a maternal mental health advocate and consultant with over 25 years of experience, including senior leadership at The Motherhood Center of New York, where she co-founded the first NYS Office of Mental Health Perinatal Partial Hospital Program. After her own experience with severe postpartum depression, she drafted legislation signed into law in 2014 requiring NY hospitals to screen for PMADs.

She now runs her own consulting practice advising government agencies, hospitals, and institutions on perinatal mental health policy, and serves as an Advanced Perinatal Psychotherapy Trainer with Postpartum Support International and Adjunct Professor at Hunter College. She has been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and in The New York Times.

Dave Saunders - Fathers' Mental Health Advocate

Dave Saunders is a counsellor, psychotherapist, and founder of From Lads to Dads (FLTD), a father-focused support and advocacy service dedicated to improving outcomes for new and expectant fathers and their families.

For over a decade, he has worked directly with fathers during the transition to parenthood, supporting their emotional well-being and championing the recognition of paternal mental health as an essential part of perinatal care.

With a specialist interest in perinatal mental health, Dave's clinical, community, and academic work focuses on the unique experiences of fathers throughout pregnancy, birth, and the early years of parenting.

Karla Dragic - Work/Motherhood Balance Advocate

Karla is the founder and coordinator of Mums Hub, a community-led organisation supporting mothers to rebuild confidence, recognise their skills, and access flexible, family-friendly pathways into work, training and community life.

Her work is rooted in the belief that motherhood, care and unpaid work hold real value, and that systems and workplaces must better reflect the realities of mothers’ lives.

Karla brings a grounded community perspective to conversations about motherhood, work, identity and support.

Rebecca Reddin - Panel Host

Rebecca Reddin is the Founder of the Perinatal Mental Health Institute.

As a Chartered Psychologist and Certified Perinatal Mental Health Specialist, Rebecca is passionate about the creating in-depth, powerful, and evidence based trainings that explore the complexities of the transition to parenthood; including everything from the expected clunkiness of Matrescence, to the intense impact of Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders and everything in between.

The Mission of PMHI is to provide those who support Mothers and Families in this transition with the knowledge, understanding, and skills to effectively support those they serve, as well as to provide ongoing support in their professional development.