Matrescence
Support Group
A 6-week Guided Journey Through The Profound Changes of Motherhood
Congratulations, Mama!
You’re embarking on one of life’s greatest transformations, and I’m so grateful you’ve found your way here!
Motherhood isn’t something that suddenly happens the moment the baby is born.
The process of becoming a mother is a slow unfurling that reshapes every part of who you are: physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. It can take 2-3 years to fully step into your new identity.
Whether this is your first baby or your fifth, matrescence invites you into a new version of yourself.
A Matrescence Support Group is a safe and loving space to explore this transformation. Once a week, you’ll sit in circle with other postpartum mothers who understand the tenderness of this season. It’s a place to just be YOU, to reflect, to connect, to share stories, and to experience ritual and guided self-discovery.
In community, everything becomes more possible.
We feel less alone and more supported.
Less like we’re “supposed to have it all together” and more like we’re on a messy yet meaningful path.
Less overwhelmed by the changes and more grounded in sisterhood and support.
Motherhood was never meant to be a solitary journey.
Join the tribe! You belong here.
14 mothers maximum
Spring Series:
March 3 - April 7
Tuesdays from 5:00-7:00pm
Location:
A Family Affair Birth Center
What is Matrescence?
Matrescence is the word for the 2–3 year process of becoming a mother. Moving from woman to mother is one of life’s greatest transformations. We give names to major life transitions to create a shared understanding of the changes a person is experiencing. For example, “adolescence” describes the transition from child to adult. We understand that this stage involves hormonal shifts, changes in behavior, evolving identity, and new ways of relating to oneself and the world. And importantly, we know adolescence takes 8–10 years. It doesn’t happen the moment a 12-year-old gets her first period.
And perhaps most importantly—after she begins menstruating, we would never expect her to “bounce back” to being a child. We expect her to evolve forward.
The same is true for the transition from woman to mother (or from mother of one to mother of two, three, and so on). When we become a mother, we experience radical changes hormonally, physically, emotionally, mentally, and in how we relate to ourselves and the world.
Just as we don’t expect a teenager to go back to being a child, we also shouldn’t expect a mother to “bounce back” to who she used to be. She is evolving forward on her path of womanhood.
As Jessie Harrold beautifully says, “It’s the change that changes everything.”
And the word for this 2–3 year transformational process is Matrescence.
The Mothershift Framework
A quick glimpse into Jessie Harrold’s framework that will guide our time together.
Our journey together will follow a Matrescence framework created by Jessie Harrold, author of Mothershift: Reclaiming Motherhood as a Rite of Passage.
Jessie's map for moving through matrescence is rooted in the ancient rhythms of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire, and expanded on by the universal Mother Powers she has uncovered in her work with mothers as a doula and coach.
Jessie Harrold reminds us in her book that, “While there is a map for this, you also need to know that you can’t do this wrong. There is no right or wrong way to experience this process.
Matrescence is a deeply human, deeply individual transformation. But when we gather in a sacred circle…held in safety, free from judgment or shame, and supported with love, understanding, and acceptance, we’re able to evolve at our own pace.
We evolve together. We rise together.
Unlike typical mom groups, this space isn’t about strollers, diapers, or sleep strategies.
This is about YOU. Your identity, your emotions, your healing, your evolution.
The Four Elements of Becoming
The Mothershift map for the transformation
🌍 Earth — What Has Changed?
Noticing the seismic shifts in identity, relationships, work, body, spirituality, and the emotional landscape of early motherhood.
💧 Water — Grief, Letting Go, Softening
Acknowledging what has been lost, such as a sense of identity, freedoms, expectations, and versions of self that no longer fit.
💨Air — The Liminal Space
Standing in the “in-between”...no longer the old self, but not yet the new one. This is the threshold space where deep questions emerge: Who am I now?
🔥 Fire — Becoming & Mother Powers Awakening
The new self is taking form and strengthened by intuition, resilience, creativity, clarity, inner knowing, and a newfound sense of self-love and acceptance.
The 6-Week Matrescence Support Group:
Experience being deeply held in a circle of women going through the same phase of life
Agenda
Here’s what we will explore together in this safe and sacred space.
Week 1 —Birth Story Processing
(3 hours) In this guided circle, we will honor your birth story with gentleness, curiosity, and compassion. Through the Hero’s Journey lens, we’ll explore the deeper meaning within your experience and uncover the strength, resilience, and self-love that have been there all along.
Week 2 —Earth: What Has Changed
(2 hours) A grounding exploration of identity shift. You will “unpack the contents of your life” and simply notice what has changed since becoming a mother.
Week 3 —Water: Grief, Letting Go, Softening
(2 hours) Together, we will explore the tender place of grief (aspects of ourselves that are no longer with us) in a compassionate and validating environment.
Week 4 —Air: The Liminal Space
(2 hours) This session is all about being in that uncomfortable in-between place. Standing on the threshold of your next self—not who you were, not yet who you are becoming. This week offers normalization of this deep, confusing stage.
Week 5 —Fire: Becoming & Awakening
(2 hours) This week we will discuss the qualities of Self that are emerging. What strengths are rising in you now that you are a mother?
Week 6 —Closing Festivities
(3 hours) Let's celebrate your becoming, and the becoming of all of us! With guided ritual, reflection, art, and a beautiful meal prepared by Shelley.
join the tribe!
What's Included?
6 weekly gatherings: 14+ hours of guided support from Shelley Rahim with time for learning, reflection, journaling, sharing, and ritual.
Birth Story Processing: Integrate the beautiful and challenging moments of your story. Feel a sense of peace, wholeness and pride with how your birth unfolded.
Your own, beautifully designed printed workbook with our weekly lessons so all your discoveries are held in one, sacred journal.
Guidance on how to make a Mother Within Alter, and unique talismans to take home each week to add to your alter as a physical representation of the internal changes.
Organic teas and homeade snacks each week, loving made by Shelley. Plus a full, homemade lunch on the closing ceremony day.
A private facebook group or WhatsApp community to expand the sisterhood outside our weekly gatherings.
A deeply transformational experience that will inform the wise mother you are becoming, as you bond with women who could potentially become a lifelong sisters!
Gain Skills For Life!
This isn’t only about the season you’re in now. When you honor this journey as a rite of passage, you cultivate personal growth skills that will support you through all of life’s great transitions.
$259
March 3 - April 7
tuesday 5:00-7:00 pm
Location:
A Family Affair Birth Center
*payment plans available
faq
Is this group for pregnant mothers or postpartum mothers?
This group is for mothers who have already given birth. Whether you've been a mother for 6 weeks, 6 months or 6 years, all mothers are welcome.
Can I bring my baby?
No, sorry! This is for moms to take time to nourish themselves through sisterhood support and deep reflection time, which is best accomplished without babies.
What should I bring to the session?
Bring a water bottle and a pen. I will provide the journal, snacks and tea.
What if I have more than one child?
Each child will create a new iteration of who we are as mothers. We are constantly evolving and this framework will apply to each phase of motherhood. Absolutely COME! You will have wonderful insights to share and also learn and grow with the other mothers!
What if I have to miss a session?
You will have an opportunity to make up the session you missed in the next series, which starts immediately after the current series ends.
What if I adopted my children and did not give birth to them?
You are still a mother, and you are still experiencing Matrescence! You can skip the Birth Story Processing session and start at session two. I will prorate your fee.
I'm Shelley Rahim
When I became a mother in 1992, something shifted in me immediately. I felt an inner calling to gather with other mothers…to process, share, go deep, and learn about myself and each other. I began facilitating women’s circles organically in the mid-90s, and those gatherings nourished me in ways I will never forget.
Over the past 25 years, I have continued to hold space for women in many forms: prenatal yoga, postpartum yoga, mommy-and-baby classes, birth story processing circles, and a wide variety of women’s support groups.
Creating spaces for mothers to feel seen, heard, and held has been the heart of my work for decades.
Now, with Jessie Harrold’s Matrescence framework, I am thrilled to guide mothers through an intentional journey of motherhood as a rite of passage. One that honors the depth, complexity, and power of this transformational time in a woman's life.
Learn more about me here: www.newmothercaregiving.com