Meet the Founders Pt 1
It feels very vulnerable and a little overwhelming to start a blog in 2026, so I figured the best way to start is to introduce us, the occupational therapists behind New Moon OT! We're Angelena and Denise, two therapists and friends with a combined 40+ years' experience in the field. Our paths first crossed in early 2019, as preceptor and student. Over the years, our lives have continued to be interwoven in both personal and professional spaces as we've navigated work and life transitions like motherhood and semi retirement. Our therapeutic approaches and values have always been very aligned and so it was only natural that we decided to team up again as we have so many times in the past.
Choosing to focus on women's health was a bit of a no-brainer for us; as two mothers at different stages in life we have both lived the experience of trying to navigate the healthcare system as women, and have felt first-hand the impacts of existing gaps in services designed for us, particularly during some of the biggest life transitions a person can experience. In my case, that transition was matrescence, or the transition of becoming a mother. I still don't quite have the words to describe or define what my experience has been like, so I'll just say this for now: I went into childbirth feeling prepared. I am well-educated and have a very supportive family; I did all the homework, classes and appointments I thought I was supposed to do prior to having a baby, and I still felt overwhelmed and challenged by both the expected and the unexpected. Time feels different in the fourth trimester, and problem-solving on the fly felt impossible to my changing brain. I had physical limitations I hadn't expected; I had new injuries popping up from poor body mechanics and positioning. I really thought "I'm an OT, shouldn't I be able to figure this out?"
The answer was a resounding no. I could not use my clinical brain and my mom brain at the same time. I needed an objective set of eyes to help me protect my body and accommodate my cognitive changes while caring for my daughter. I realized that I had spent all of my time learning how to care for her before she was born but I didn't know how to care for myself in this new life stage in a way that both honoured the person I was before and the person I was becoming. And so, New Moon was born. Or at least, that's the story behind my half. It has been a year in the making, but anything good is worth waiting for, and we're so excited to finally be here.
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