Episode 115--Facing childlessness with art, my interview with Dr. Krista Cooper

Published: Jan. 20, 2020, 11:30 a.m.

b'

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Childless not by Choice, where my mission is to recognize and speak to childless not by choice women and men around the world. Civilla Morgan here. I am spreading the great news that we can live a joyful, relevant, and fulfilled life, although we did not have the children we so wanted. Welcome to episode 115

Welcome to the first episode of 2020!\\xa0

What is today\\u2019s show about?

Patreon Contributors: I would also like to thank my Patreon contributor Ivy Calhoun for her monthly financial contribution to the platform. Whether you contribute via patreon.com/childlessnotbychoice, or you go to the website and contribute via PayPal, your contributions are appreciated and used to help the platform to get the word out. Thank you!

https://www.patreon.com/Childlessnotbychoice

  • Jordan Morgan
  • The Knights

  • Questions or comments? Contact me at:

Email: civilla@civillamorgan.com

\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0Or

\\xa0Visit the website at www.childlessnotbychoice.net, look to the left on the home screen and click on the link below the telephone to leave me an up to 90-second voicemail.


Intro:

Krista Cooper PhD, LLMSW is a native of Hartford, CT, of Jamaican heritage.\\xa0

she attended Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama where her love of languages and the written word resulted in a change of major from Pre-Med to English and Spanish. While at Oakwood, she also studied for a year at Colegio Adventista de Sagunto, Spain.\\xa0 After obtaining her Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Spanish, Dr. Cooper obtained her Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan.\\xa0

After graduation, she worked as an Intake and Assessment Social Worker in the Children and Families Division as well as working as a Substance Misuse social worker in the United Kingdom. Other areas of work experience include geriatric populations and mental health work with children and adults.\\xa0\\xa0

In 2012, prior to the completion of her doctoral studies, Dr. Cooper accepted an Assistant Professor of Social Work position at Andrews University. While there and completing her dissertation, she began experiencing several health and life challenges related to uterine fibroids. This sparked an interest in exploring in more depth the experiences of women living with reproductive health challenges.\\xa0

Upon completion of her doctoral studies in 2014, and her own subsequent healing process, Dr. Cooper applied for a grant that would allow her to explore the aforementioned area. She was granted funding for research entitled, \\u2018Identity and Experience: The Lives of Women Living with Symptomatic Uterine Fibroids.\\u2019 Results from the study and its focus on individual story prompted her to start Reproductively Yours LLC which focuses on reducing the stigma associated with women\\u2019s reproductive narratives through education, story work, creativity and community building. Her greatest desire is for women that currently live or have lived with reproductive health challenges to know that they are not alone.\\xa0\\xa0

Welcome to the show Dr. Cooper!\\xa0\\xa0

  1. So you finally gave in to the prompting you felt in your heart, to start your business, what are your dreams for this business? What types of people are you hoping to help? Where do you see your business, your platform, by the end of 2020?

\\xa0

*The cost of IVF is around $10k for each cycle, was that a prompt for you to start your company correct?

Faith and childlessness

Christian community

Nutrition and self-care

Understanding who I am and who God created me to be

Reproductive health challenges and reproductive health trauma: Reproductively Yours.

  1. I was intrigued by the list of people and issues you wanted to or have researched.\\xa0
  • Researches reproductive issues--

Afro Caribbean women living with HIV

Being a woman

Being an immigrant

Being a black female immigrant\\xa0

Majority of women she interviews are Jamaican or Trinidadian

Do these subject matters, issues all tie together? How?\\xa0\\xa0

  1. So, let\\u2019s talk about something we and many of our listeners know so much about, fibroids.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

We talked about our horrific experiences with fibroids, being in the car or out and having accidents, iron so low it was difficult for you to breathe, needing to have IV iron all dealing with this with no family around nearby, no real support system, then finding out after graduating college that early menopause had set in...\\xa0

Getting to be able to speak with other women who were going through the same things with fibroids, hysterectomy.\\xa0

So you got a grant through your college to research women who are dealing with these issues.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

During your research, qualitative research, you realized you were also researching yourself!

\\xa0She was having difficulties, feeling tired and worn out, and realized it was because the content was so close to home, she ended up allowing a friend to interview her and that was when everything started to fall into place.\\xa0

She read a quote that says \\u2018 the best research is research where the results lead back to yourself.\\u2019--Basal Vander Kolk.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

5) Working on writing a paper that includes the arts.\\xa0\\xa0

Tell us more about the paper you are looking to write which will include another type of media: art.

6)\\xa0 Did we miss anything? Tell the world!

\\xa0

Mentioned in the podcast:

https://www.besselvanderkolk.net/index.html



My contact information:

Website: www.childlessnotbychoice.net and www.civillamorgan.com
Facebook: booksbycivillamorgan
Twitter: @civilla1
Instagram: @joyandrelevance
Pinterest: Civilla M. Morgan, MSM
LinkedIn: Civilla Morgan, MSM
https://www.teepublic.com/stores/childless-not-by-choice

'