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COMMUNITY CIRCLE
Connection and support through the changing seasons of building a family.
NEST is a free Community Circle for adults navigating the emotional, relational, and practical experiences that can come with trying to conceive, pregnancy, postpartum, and early family-building transitions.
Meetings create space for conversation, reflection, general education, shared experience, and connection with others moving through their own family-building journeys.
Register for a Scheduled Meeting Join the Contact List What to Expect
Building a family can bring joy, hope, uncertainty, change, stress, grief, new roles, and shifting expectations.
For some, the journey may include trying to conceive or fertility treatment. For others, it may involve pregnancy, postpartum adjustment, or finding a new rhythm as a family grows.
NEST offers a welcoming place to connect with others, reflect on your own experience, and explore practical ways to support wellbeing through times of transition.
NEST welcomes adults across different stages of family-building.
For people navigating the hopes, questions, uncertainty, and emotional demands that may come with trying to build a family.
For expectant parents experiencing physical, emotional, relationship, and identity changes during pregnancy.
For people adjusting to recovery, new routines, sleep disruption, changing roles, and life with a new baby.
Partners are welcome to attend, listen, share, and navigate the family-building experience together.
NEST is designed as an open Community Circle.
You do not need to begin at a particular stage or attend every meeting.
Participants may join when a topic, transition, or need for connection feels relevant and return as often as they choose.
There is no expectation that everyone share. Listening and simply being present are welcome ways to participate.
NEST combines peer connection, guided reflection, general education, and practical conversation about family-building transitions.
Spend time with others who understand some of the uncertainty, change, and emotion that can accompany family-building.
Explore changing expectations, identity, relationships, values, and what matters during transition.
Discuss general topics related to stress, communication, wellbeing, relationships, and available resources.
Share perspective and encouragement without pressure to fix or compare another person's journey.
Meeting themes may change based on participant interests, community needs, and available guest speakers or resources.
Explore the difference between what you expected and what your experience actually looks like.
Discuss stress, worry, overwhelm, emotional changes, and practical ways to support yourself during transition.
Explore communication, connection, changing roles, and different ways partners or families may experience the same transition.
Reflect on how family-building may affect identity, priorities, work, relationships, and daily life.
Create space for disappointment, loss, fertility challenges, unexpected outcomes, and experiences that may not match the path you imagined.
Discuss physical recovery, sleep, changing routines, relationships, and adjusting to a growing family.
Explore asking for help, communicating needs, building community, and identifying useful resources.
Consider realistic ways to support rest, connection, movement, recovery, and personal wellbeing.
Explore how individuals, partners, and families adapt, learn, and create new rhythms over time.
The exact format may vary, but meetings often include reflection, education, conversation, and resource sharing.
Settle in, review group expectations, and connect with the circle.
Discuss a family-building theme through brief education, reflection, a guest speaker, or facilitated conversation.
Share experiences if you choose, exchange resources, and identify ideas or supports that may be useful after the meeting.
Family-building experiences can be deeply personal, and different people may have very different journeys.
Participants are encouraged to speak from their own experience, listen with curiosity, and avoid comparing, judging, or offering unrequested advice.
You may share, listen, pass on a discussion, or step out if needed.
There is no single right way to build, grow, or experience a family.
NEST is intended to be welcoming, respectful, and supportive.
Participants are encouraged to respect the privacy of others and not share personal stories or identifying information outside the group without permission.
Because NEST is a community gathering rather than a private clinical encounter, share only what you are comfortable discussing in a group setting.
NEST is a community wellness, education, and peer-support offering.
It is not fertility treatment, prenatal care, postpartum medical care, psychotherapy, behavioral health treatment, or an individualized clinical service.
Questions about fertility, pregnancy, postpartum recovery, medications, mental health symptoms, or other individual health concerns should be discussed with the appropriate healthcare professional.
NEST is offered periodically throughout the year.
When an upcoming meeting is scheduled, available dates will appear below.
Use the Mindbody listing to register directly for the meeting you would like to attend.
Don't see a meeting listed? A future date may not yet be scheduled. Join the contact list below and we can keep you informed about upcoming meetings.
Join the Contact List
Interested in future meetings but don't see a scheduled date that works for you?
Join the contact list to receive information about upcoming NEST meetings, special topics, guest speakers, and related Elevate opportunities.
You can join whether or not you are ready to attend a current meeting.
Joining the contact list does not register you for a specific meeting.
NEST is offered free of charge to community members.
Partners are welcome to attend at no cost.
If you would like to support Elevate programming, you may consider making a gift through the Mammoth Hospital Foundation.
Support Elevate
NEST meetings are typically held at:
Elevate Wellness & Performance121 College ParkwayMammoth Lakes, CA 93546
Meetings may use the second-floor study or another quiet Elevate gathering space.
Check the current Mindbody listing for meeting-specific location information.
NEST is designed primarily for adults, and conversations may include fertility, pregnancy, postpartum experiences, relationships, loss, stress, parenting transitions, and other personal topics.
Participants may engage as much or as little as they choose. There is no requirement to tell your whole story or share private medical information.
Partners are welcome to attend when that feels supportive and appropriate for the participant.
If you are unsure whether NEST is the right fit or would like help with registration, contact Elevate.
760-924-4301
elevate@mammothhospital.com
NEST stands for Nurturing Empathy, Strength & Togetherness.
It is a free Family-Building Community Circle for adults navigating trying to conceive, pregnancy, postpartum, and other early family-building transitions.
No. NEST welcomes people at different points in the family-building journey, including those trying to conceive as well as people who are pregnant, postpartum, or adjusting to a growing family.
Yes. Partners are welcome to attend and participate.
No. NEST is an open Community Circle and regular attendance is not required.
Participants may attend when a meeting or topic feels useful.
No. Participants may share as much or as little as they choose.
Listening and simply being present are welcome ways to participate.
NEST may include participants who are experiencing fertility challenges, but it is broader than an infertility-specific group.
It is designed around family-building and early family transitions more generally.
Pregnancy loss may be part of some participants' family-building experiences, and NEST aims to approach those experiences with sensitivity and respect.
You are never required to discuss a loss or share details of your experience.
If you are looking for grief-specific support, Elevate's HEAL Grief Community Circle may also be worth exploring.
Topics may include stress, expectations, relationships, identity, communication, fertility challenges, pregnancy, postpartum transitions, support systems, and personal wellbeing.
Themes may change from one meeting to another.
No. NEST is a community wellness, education, and peer-support gathering.
It is not fertility treatment, prenatal or postpartum medical care, psychotherapy, or behavioral health treatment.
NEST is offered free of charge.
Meetings are offered periodically throughout the year.
Current scheduled meetings will appear in the Mindbody registration section above.
If no meeting is currently listed, join the contact list to receive information about future dates.
Registering through Mindbody reserves your place for a specific scheduled meeting.
Joining the contact list allows Elevate to keep you informed about future meetings and related opportunities, but it does not register you for a specific date.
Explore additional community, support, and connection-based groups at Elevate.
Explore movement, education, community, and wellbeing through different stages of life.
Explore programs and resources for parents, caregivers, children, and growing families.
Build relationships with others navigating family-building and life transitions.
Create space for reflection, support, rest, and emotional wellbeing.
Explore new perspectives, resources, and ways of navigating change.
Build knowledge, connection, and confidence for changing family needs and roles.
Come to a scheduled NEST meeting or join the contact list so we can keep you informed about future opportunities to connect, learn, and support one another.
Register for a Meeting Join the Contact List Explore Community Circles
