Speaking & Consultation


AURÉLIE ATHAN, PH.D. is a Columbia University affiliated and trained Licensed Psychologist

with a specialization in Reproductive WELLBEING across the lifespan.

Welcome

For nearly two decades, I’ve been working to change how we understand the major transitions of reproductive life—especially the profound psychological journey into motherhood.

When I was first being trained, maternal mental health was often framed only in terms of disease. But what I saw in my research and clinical work told a fuller story: becoming a parent is an identity transformation as significant as adolescence. It deserved its own name.

So in 2010, I revived the word matrescence (Raphael, 1973)—the transition into motherhood—and with it, a social impact lab was born to get the word out and theoretically develop it further for the modern age. Little could we have foreseen the momentum it would build, shared from person to person until it finally broke through the consciousness of the world.

Today, we see the term echoed in pop culture, memoirs, documentaries, and public media as a way for mothers to better understand themselves. The diaspora of matrescence has arrived, and the talking points we carefully crafted in our lab continue to be reproduced and spread far and wide.

My latest work introduces the more inclusive concept of reproductive identity: how our desires, decisions, and feelings around having—or not having—children shape who we are, how we live, and how we are seen by others.

I believe we all deserve a roadmap for navigating our reproductive lives with insight, agency, and support—and I’m here to help build it. I am most fulfilled when working in interdisciplinary spaces, collaboratively with others who have big ideas with integrity.

To discuss Your consultation needs, please contact me here.

  • Supervision and consultation is available to individuals or organization caring for mothers.

    • Supervision for maternal care practitioners (professionals & para-professionals/mental health & non mental health*)

    • Consultation for individuals and organizations seeking to strengthen programming, services, or research agendas

    • Consultation to schools seeking to incorporate reproductive identity & literacy into their sexual health curriculum

      *OBGYNs, nurses/midwives, doulas, childbirth educators, lactation consultants, pre/postnatal health instructors, wellness coaches and other related professions and fields working to improve wellbeing in mothers

  • Training via workshops, lectures, presentations on matrescence and REPRODUCTIVE IDENTITY to your community.

    • Reproductive identity & literacy for pre-teens, adolescents, and emerging adults

    • Matrescence and the transition to motherhood: risk and resilience

    • Mid-life identity development and creativity in women/mothers over 40

    • Maternal mental health training for medical residency programs and nursing education

  • I am available for expert commentary, interviews, and features on topics related to reproductive psychology and maternal mental health.

    I bring a research-based, inclusive, and developmentally grounded perspective to conversations on:

    • Matrescence and the psychology of becoming a mother

    • Reproductive identity across the lifespan

    • Fertility, choice, and the inner life of reproductive decision-making

    • Mental health and wellbeing in pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond

    • Sexual and reproductive education and literacy for youth

    • Women's creativity and reinvention in midlife

    I have been featured in print, radio, podcasts, documentaries and live events, and am skilled at translating complex ideas into accessible, meaningful insights for diverse audiences— but always with the intention to deepen the conversation.