Des Moines Parent Spotlight: Madison Sweet of Bloom Women’s Wellness
Madison Sweet started Bloom Women’s Wellness to provide holistic mental health support to women. The practice specializes in perinatal and postpartum counseling but offers care to women from all walks of life.
Des Moines Parent connected with Madison to learn more about her and her journey.
Give us a little background on yourself.
My husband, Mitch, and I moved to the Des Moines metro about eight years ago. We moved to the area for his job! In 2017, we got married and added two kiddos to our family. Knox (5) is our sweet and sensitive firstborn, and Adeline (3) is our sweet and spicy secondborn. Since starting Bloom, we decided for my husband to stay at home with the kids as it made the most financial sense for our family, and we had reached a point of so desperately craving time with them when they were little. We have done this for the last couple of years and haven’t looked back!
Could you give us an overview of your business and what inspired it?
Bloom Women’s Wellness is a women’s centered mental health clinic that offers both therapy options as well as integrative medication management services. We have a team of seven providers (soon to be nine!), and we work with women navigating all sorts of different transitions and events. We specialize in working with perinatal mental health but work with all women.
Bloom has been a dream of mine since I became a therapist, but more specifically after I became a mom. I was a school-based therapist when I had Knox, and I remember vividly having this moment where I noticed how different the landscape for children’s mental health would look if we were to take care of the mothers and parents. Ironically enough, I also experienced a traumatic birth myself and could not find resources or people who specialized in this and knew that there was a HUGE gap in care.
Alas, Bloom was born. I knew I wanted a safe space for not only women to come and be cared for in all areas of their lives but also for providers to have the work-home balance that they needed within their professional lives. I opened Bloom in 2021 with just myself, and within three months had an extensive waitlist and began expanding into a group practice. We are moving into our new, larger space on May 1, and I am so excited to begin serving our community more largely!
What are your favorite parts of your business?
For me, it is the flexibility that it provides to dedicate time to my family, and my marriage, and set up my schedule on my terms. It has been an incredibly empowering experience to also build up the women who have been a part of Bloom and watch them set their schedules in a way that helps prevent burnout and provide for their families!
How do you juggle your parenting responsibilities with your business responsibilities?
HAHAHAHAHA. (Gulp!) I do my best to remember that I am seeking harmony, I am not seeking balance. As a small business owner, I think we can all understand that sometimes there will be seasons where we can provide more at home and also seasons where we need to provide more in the work setting. This is still an area that I am actively working on, but I have set firm boundaries with myself to only say yes to the things that I genuinely want to do and be a part of and step back and allow myself to be mindful of where I am investing my time.
What are some of your favorite things to do with your family around the metro?
We LOVE to do anything that is outside, whether that is catching an Iowa Cubs game, heading to the zoo, or exploring local playgrounds. We are always on the hunt for the next fun event! Recently, my son has gotten into gardening, so this summer I am planning on helping him grow his veggies to hopefully can in the fall!
What’s your ideal parent day or night out?
My husband and I love to catch a show at the Civic Center, head out to a concert, and try out new restaurants. I’m a sucker for any place that has charcuterie and Mitch is all about finding places that have the best whiskey collections. We like to keep things pretty casual, but we are all about trying new things!
What’s your number one parenting tip?
As I talk with women and mothers day in and day out, I think the biggest parenting tip for me is to follow what works best for your family and to try to not get caught up in the constant comparison trap. In today’s world, we have social media at the tip of our fingertips, and I think that has created a culture where parents are constantly questioning themselves. There is no “one size fits all” approach to parenting, so leaning into understanding the individual needs within your family and routines and feeling secure in that is so important.
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