MotherSHIFT Matrescence Support Program

A 3-month online support group for mothers navigating matrescence - the transition to motherhood

Matrescence is a profound rite of passage. Though it can be challenging, it's also a transformative time that is filled with power and potential.

MotherSHIFT will support you to navigate this time of tremendous change in your life, offering you a map for the sometimes-rocky territory of matrescence, and helping you explore who you're becoming along the way.

Becoming a mother is so much more than just birthing a human.

(which is, of course, a fairly superhuman feat in and of itself)

As you birth your baby, you are also birthing yourself.

You, as mother, will become a different person than you were before having a child.

Becoming a mother is a total identity shift.

In times long ago and places far away, we were ushered through matrescence with the support of a community and with ritual and ceremony to celebrate our shifting lives.

But today, this incredibly important life transition is not protected and revered in the way it once was. We rush to “get back to normal” and often struggle with loneliness, sadness, feeling lost, and sometimes even postpartum depression and anxiety.

We’ve lost the “village” that was supposed to help us when this mothering thing got hard.

That’s why I created the MotherSHIFT Matrescence Support Program.

MotherSHIFT can help you make sense of who YOU are now that you’re a mother – or a mother again.

It's where you turn when your postpartum doula has packed up her magic Mary Poppins bag and your neighbours have stopped delivering casseroles.

It’s a place to receive guidance through the unknown territory of matrescence and to be mothered as you mother. It’s a place where you can finally put words to your experience of motherhood and feel deeply seen and heard.

MotherSHIFT will also help you access the profound power and potential that are your birthing-right as you traverse this rite of passage.

Reviews of the MotherSHIFT Matrescence Support Program

Testimonials

“The exquisite space Jessie holds in MotherSHIFT provided me a refuge to be honest and vulnerable about my motherhood journey. It was gently guided and I found myself looking forward to each week’s calls. It was so good that I want to do it all over again!"
– Becca Piastrelli

Testimonials

“This is possibly the biggest transition you will undertake in your life. MotherSHIFT will support you, challenge you, and guide you while connecting with other mothers. Do it!”
– Holly Lothian

Testimonials

“I’ve walked away with tools and perspectives that help me find sanity on days that feel enveloped by chaos. The ideas fostered each week in our circles have stirred an older, wiser woman within myself. I see myself stepping into her power more and more each day.”
– Monica Carr

Research shows that being aware of matrescence and understanding it as a time filled with the potential for personal growth (even though it can be hard!) is protective against postpartum depression and anxiety.

In other words, you are not broken, you are becoming.

If you feel like you've lost yourself in motherhood, the MotherSHIFT Matrescence Support Program will help you find yourself again. You will:

Locate yourself on an evidence-based, practitioner-proven map of the process of matrescence so that you know what to expect as you navigate your motherhood journey

Be witnessed in some of the complex emotions that come with motherhood – like disorientation, ambivalence and grief – and be equipped with tools and resources to help you work with these feelings

Develop a solid practise of doable self-care to keep you resourced for the ups and downs of matrescence

Divest yourself of the "perfect mother myth" and identify the systemic and cultural influences on your experience of matrescence

Reconnect with yourself and explore who you are becoming, as a person and as a person who now happens to be a mother.

Master the essential skills of navigating matrescence, like engaging your creativity, connecting with your body and developing your intuition

Learn how to design meaningful rituals for yourself, including a rite of passage ritual to help you fully integrate your matrescence

Do all of this in community with other mothers who get it, and with a mentor who has supported thousands of mothers just like you. This is how we re-create the village we're all longing for.

MotherSHIFT is an entire trimester – 3 months – of support dedicated to helping you embody your motherhood and embrace the process of matrescence.

Here's what you'll experience during MotherSHIFT:

Ten engaging modules

You’ll journey through ten modules of engaging content that will help you navigate your transition into motherhood, whether it’s your first time or your fourth. Each module is focused and meaningful, fun and do-able, designed to be contemplated and completed between naps and feeds.

Twelve live circles + ongoing online support

Each week, you’ll circle up with the other mothers in the program to receive further teaching, coaching, and sharing opportunities. You’ll also get access to a private WhatsApp group to receive support, ask questions, and find inspiration.

A beautiful guidebook to capture your process

I’ve developed practical tools and resources to help you navigate this sometimes-gnarly work of becoming a mother. You’ll receive a beautiful e-guidebook including worksheets and journal prompts.

Intimate group size + gentle pace

MotherSHIFT is a small, intimate group of mamas. You will have plenty of time and space to be heard, and all of you is welcome here.

MotherSHIFT’s modules are gently paced, and time for integration + connection is baked right into the program structure. Trust me, I know what this new mama thing is all about: there is no “falling behind” or failing here.

Lifetime access + bonus resources

You’ll have lifetime access to all program materials. Each module also includes bonus enrichment content including readings, interviews, music, guided meditations and other resources to enhance your experience. Your bonus bonus? You’ll also receive a copy of my award-winning book, Mothershift: Reclaiming Motherhood as a Rite of Passage.

Reviews of the MotherSHIFT Matrescence Support Program

Testimonials

“So far the MotherSHIFT virtual women’s circles have been my most favourite new momma community – I have felt inspired and held by the group chats, and have felt so much relief from the group laughs. I have felt excited and nourished and filled up these past weeks."
– Julia Crabbe

Testimonials

“I was so excited when I first discovered the MotherSHIFT program. I loved the experience and will always treasure it. I feel as though MotherSHIFT has helped me reach a point of being fully content and proud to be a mother. MotherSHIFT is an essential program for every new mother. It will help you make sense of this new phase of your life.”
– Stephanie

Testimonials

“Jessie has an incredible ability to create the conditions for a nurturing virtual community in which people are seen and held. The love and support within the MotherSHIFT community was palpable.”
– Melanie

The MotherSHIFT Matrescence Support Program will help you remember, redefine and reinvent yourself in new motherhood.

The MotherSHIFT experience includes intimate group coaching + mentorship, transformative practices, self-reflection tools + ritual, and an amazing community of likehearted mothers.

This is what our path together will look like...

Welcome + Introduction

You can get started on your journey through MotherSHIFT as soon as you sign up for the program with this pre-recorded module. Here, you’ll learn more about what it means to fully transition into motherhood, and explore an evidence-based framework that we'll be using as a map for your matrescence.

Module One: A Changing Life

You’ll explore the changes to your life, your relationships, and yourself that have happened since you became a mama, and how you feel about them. This module will form the groundwork of your transformation process during MotherSHIFT.

Module Two: Grief + Loss

You’ll address aspects of matrescence that often get overlooked: grief + loss. As you navigate your new identity as mama, you’re also leaving behind parts of yourself or your former life. You’ll explore what untended grief needs tending, and create a beautiful ritual to support you to do this work.

Module Three: The In-Between

There is a time in every rite of passage when you are in the “in-between.” You’re no longer NOT a mother, but you don’t feel fully embodied in your new mothering identity. This module will offer you six key ways you can support yourself during this often-uncomfortable time.

Module Four: Self-Tending

Meaningful self-care is one of the most important resources a new mother can cultivate – but we all know that bubble baths and pedicures usually don’t cut it. In this module, you’ll explore an attachment theory-based model of (doable!) self-care that will nourish you from the inside out.

Module Five: Your MotherPowers

Matrescence is not just an identity shift: it’s also a portal to profound power and potential. Module Five will introduce you to what I call the MotherPowers – the set of skills and capacities that not only support you in your motherhood, but are exactly what our world needs most.

Module Six: Your Momifesto

In this module, you’ll begin to explore who you’re becoming by creating a Momifesto – a declaration of who you are as a person, and as a person who happens to be a mother. Your Momifesto will serve as a compass for your motherhood, and a map back home to yourself.

Module Seven: Your Changing Identity

In this module you’ll dive deeper into your sense of who you are becoming, now that you’re a mother. Like many new mamas, you may have been feeling lost and unsure of yourself. You’ll learn an evidence-based way to explore What's Next in your mothering path. There are no goals, to-do lists, behaviour modifications or trite affirmations here: this is about sustainable, meaningful transformation.

Module Eight: Ritual Design

Ritual is an essential ingredient in traversing any major life transition. It helps us integrate change, release grief, honour the journey we’ve been on, and celebrate who we’re becoming. In this module, you’ll learn how to co-create (not culturally appropriate) meaningful ritual to honour your matrescence.

Module Nine: The Return

You’ll prepare for your integration back into the world, considering how to weave a community of mothers who are also longing for a village to support them. You’ll integrate what you’ve learned and prepare to embrace your motherhood with your oxygen mask firmly in place.

Registration for the 2026 Season of MotherSHIFT is closed.

Enter your information to get on the waitlist for the next season of the program.

When you do, you'll be among the first to find out about when early bird registration opens, and be able to receive a deep discount on the program. You'll also receive a copy of the Momifesto Workbook, a powerful resource that MotherSHIFT participants get access to.

Reviews of the MotherSHIFT Matrescence Support Program

Testimonials

“MotherSHIFT was absolutely the community and witnessing I was longing for as I navigated my early motherhood. I knew somewhere deep inside that this transition to motherhood was more than birth stories, more than comparing the best “gear,” more than getting back to “normal.” MotherSHIFT helped hold space as I explored that “more” and illuminated a path for becoming and owning this new identity of mama.”
– Margo Siebert

Testimonials

“MotherSHIFT gave me the space and perspective I needed to better understand my own identity as a mother. I was able to normalize my experience and find my own way into motherhood. It was hugely orienting, affirming, and gave me a lot of tools and ideas that I still employ.”
– Maiga Milbourne

Testimonials

“As a single mother figuring out my first year of motherhood, MotherSHIFT guided me toward my core goals and needs. It helped me to process griefs and discover who I was as a mother and a woman. I also met an amazing community of like-minded mamas, and they gave me the strength to find empowerment in my journey.”
– Victoria Martin

More About Me

Hi, I'm Jessie!

I am a coach, doula, and author, and I have been supporting mothers through matrescence and other rites of passage for nearly two decades.

I’m also the author of the award-winning matrescence book Mothershift: Reclaiming Motherhood as a Rite of Passage, the editor of Mother Becoming: Reflections and Scholarship on Matrescence, and the founder of The Village Matrescence Educator Certification Program. Perhaps most importantly, I am a mother of two.

I've supported thousands of other mothers through the rite of passage into motherhood. I want to help you navigate this time in your life in a way that leaves you feeling confident, empowered, and deeply transformed.

Registration for the 2026 Season of MotherSHIFT is closed.

Enter your information to get on the waitlist for the next season of the program.

Questions you might have about the MotherSHIFT Matrescence Support Program

How long is the program? When does it start and finish? What does it entail?

MotherSHIFT consists of nine modules and twelve virtual circles over the course of twelve weeks. Each MotherSHIFT module contains a written section, some journal prompts or a workbook for you to complete, and usually a few bonus resources. The virtual circles are 90 minutes in length. The program material is both rich and focused, and you’ll find it totally do-able and fun. The dates and circle times for the next season of MotherSHIFT will be announced soon.

What if I can't make it to one of the live circles?

As a new mom, I sometimes feel like I'm running on empty. I want to do this, but I'm worried about how this program will fit into my life?

Though we cover a lot of material in twelve weeks, the work of this program is both incredibly rich and gently approached. You can commit to doing this work in any way that fits your life: you’re a mom. Myself and EVERYONE else in this program TOTALLY get that. There are no shoulds or must-do’s here. You can turn to the readings and exercises in this program when your baby has fallen asleep in her carseat and you don’t want to wake her up, during late-night feedings, or on the rare occasion that you’re able to drink a hot cup of coffee and get a little time to yourself. No matter how you choose to engage with this material, it is my sincere hope that you find it delightful, that it feels like a space of refuge in the day-to-day of early motherhood, and that you feel safe, held and nourished here.

Also, as a MotherSHIFT participant, you’ll have lifetime access to the program. There’s no rush – the program will always be here for you. In fact, many past participants choose to revisit the program material as their mothering journey unfolds.

I'm not really a "new" mom anymore, but I think I would benefit from this program. Can I still participate?

Is this program the same as postpartum anxiety or postpartum depression counselling?

I'm in therapy for postpartum depression and/or anxiety. Can I still participate in MotherSHIFT?

Are gender non-conforming parents welcome in MotherSHIFT?

All people who identify as or want to identify as mothers as well as people who engage in the work of mothering are welcome to participate in MotherSHIFT.

It is important to note that most of my expertise as a doula and coach has been with female mothers, and most of the mothers who participate in MotherSHIFT are also female mothers. This may impact how you feel about joining the program. Please know that I am committed to cultivating a sense of safeness in all the work I do, and I will do everything I can to support you to feel as comfortable as you can participating in MotherSHIFT if you choose to join us.

I would be happy to answer any additional questions about MotherSHIFT that you may have. Just get in touch!

Free Matrescence Support Resource

Want to know more about MotherSHIFT before you commit?

Download the Momifesto Workbook: your guide to exploring who you are as a mother, and as a woman who happens to be a mother.

Momifesto Workbook free matrescence support resource by Jessie Harrold - Coach, Doula, Author and Top Matrescence Expert

“I started the Momifesto last night. And I was in tears right from the first page as I finally felt like someone could see me and feel with me and help me come to grips with the reality that I’m in transition.

I am now very excited (but patient) to meet the new me. And to introduce you to her too.”

L.A., new mom