Dr. Cynthia Hawver, Psy.D – 52

About me

Dr. Cynthia Hawver, Psy.D is a licensed psychologist, certified coach, host of The Mama Shrink Podcast, writer, speaker, and single mom.

Her specialty area is working with moms who had children later in life, are in the midst of parenting at midlife, and helping moms overcome burnout. She developed a three-stage burnout model, drawing on her personal and professional experience. Dr. Hawver helps moms find what’s causing their burnout, find strategies to heal and overcome it, and find joy in parenting without constant overwhelm and stress.

Dr. Hawver is a graduate of Cornell University, Wright State University, and completed her doctoral internship at The Pennsylvania State University. She worked at The University of Scranton for five years before starting her own private practice. She has 25 years of experience helping hundreds of women live their best lives.

Dr. Hawver has appeared as a guest expert on WVIA/PBS television and Newswatch 16. She was featured in the Scranton Times as “The New Coach In Town,”, was a guest on Word of Mom Radio, and has her own podcast called “Mama Shrink.” Additionally, she has been a featured speaker for Proctor and Gamble, Prudential, Scranton Chamber of Commerce, and The Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. She has presented for various Lyme Disease and Eating Disorder organizations. She was a finalist for three Sage Awards through the Scranton Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Hawver is currently working on her forthcoming book, hosting her Mama Shrink podcast, providing coaching to high-functioning moms parenting at midlife, and is a professional speaker. She lives in Northeast, PA with her two beautiful boys, rescue puppy, and Bearded Dragon.

What do you do and why do you do it?

I am a licensed psychologist and certified coach. My passion has always been to understand people and help them live their best possible life. My recent focus on Mama Burnout came from my long, ten-year battle with burnout. The tipping point was losing my mom and step-father within 5 months during COVID-19. Already suffering from chronic Lyme disease and having two children under 10 years old, I kept on working and pushing through until something had to give.

What happened was my life falling apart when my mom died suddenly, and I picked it back up. I want to help other moms from going through what I went through. Burnout is a serious condition and needs to be treated this way. The hard part is that you don’t know you’re in it until you are out. That needs to change.

What changed for you after age 50?

Everything. I really mean this to my core.

My mom died at 70 when I turned 50. I looked at my life and asked ‘if I have 20 more years left, what do I want to do with them?’

I started to question everything and got very real with myself. After my 51st birthday, I closed my thriving private practice because I was burned out and miserable. I decided to sell the building. People that don;t really know me, thought I lost my mind, but I’ve never felt better.

I am the sole breadwinner, so this wasn’t a light decision and I’m still working through this. However, I have slowly moved forward and know that I’ll be spending the rest of my life happy.

I’ve never known internal happiness and through a lot of difficult work I now do. Everything I do I make sure it is an absolute yes or I make it a no, unless it has to do with my boys.

What would you tell the 20 or 30-year-old YOU?

You’ll have to read my soon-to-be-published book for the answer because I’ve been through way too much in this life.

Short story… I’d tell her, it’s all going to work out, but you’re going to have to go through some crap first. I would tell her not to worry what people think, you are strong, and you can do anything you set your mind to.

What do you think you’ll tell yourself in retrospect at the end of your life?

I hope that will not be for a long time because I have to write my book. I don’t want to be on my deathbed still wanting to write my damn book. It’s being written right now!

I’d like to be able to say you did a lot of really amazing things and changed people’s lives. I’ll know that I worked on myself. I wasn’t a perfect mom but I did a pretty damn good job.

What impact do you think increased visibility can have on your business?

It would be a game-changer for me. I have so much I want to offer the world, and I need to get my message out there. I have layers of life that I have learned from and want to help others overcome. I’m working on my book proposal, so I hope it will help me land a book deal. I also want to stop accepting health insurance in my practice, but until I get privately paid clients, I can’t. It’s my back up plan but I want to move more into speaking, writing, and reaching people on a larger scale.

Who or what inspires you and why?

Michelle Obama. She has integrity to her core. I admire her strength, courage, grace, parenting, wisdom, and humor.

Something else I’d like to share

I have over 25 years of experience living with eating disorders and survived Anorexia. I had heart surgery at the age of 21 due to my eating disorder. This is what made me become a psychologist so I could help others with this serious illness. I also have chronic Lyme disease which was misdiagnosed for two years. It’s been a constant battle. I want those two populations to know they’re not alone. I have more than a few books to write.