ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It can be a real challenge to find a community as a new parents. It's something the founders of The Den Social Club are hoping to help with.
"My baby is 1 years old. He's the love of my life," Amber Pandya said.
She became a mom not long after moving to Colorado from New York with her husband.
"The folks who you do meet — we were living downtown — they wanted to go out for drinks, hang out and stay out late. I just physically couldn't do any of those things and so it became pretty isolating," she said.
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She eventually found The Den.
"It doesn't feel like a kid space. It didn't feel like I was in an inside ball pit or something like that," Pandya said, "Being somewhere that also allowed for an adult community and an adult feeling was really important to me. Not just losing my full identity to what my kid was doing."
The Den, location at 2900 Zuni Street in Denver, isn't just a coffee shop with a play area. Paying members are able to take part in programming created by parenthood therapist Katie Linn.
"It's such a vulnerable time. It's really the only role in our life that is completely transformative. You kind of even lose your name. People just start calling you mom," Linn said.
The LoHi location offers support programming for expectant mothers, couples who will soon be new parents, postpartum cohorts and programs for parents of toddlers.
Pandya was part of the postpartum cohort.
"To be able to socialize with other women going through the same thing and knowing I got to have that safe space and community to talk with really, it was something to look forward to week over week," Pandya said.
The demand for this type of third space for parents kept growing. The Den is now expanding to Englewood.
"We do a really good job as a culture of encouraging kids to thrive. It's our belief system at The Den that kids would thrive even more if parents were permitted to thrive or encouraged," said Chandler Lipe, The Den's founder.
The Den SOBO is under construction at 3467 S. Broadway and is set to open in late October.
The SOBO location will also have a coffee shop open to the public, while the rest of the work spaces, play area, classrooms and programming will be accessible to members only.
"That was something that we wanted to try out to be able to provide for the families and really get to know them on a deeper level of hospitality. Our SOBO location will have a private back patio. It has beer and wine, and there's co-working, which is something that we constantly heard as a need from our LoHi location," Lipe said.
To learn more about The Den and their membership options, visit their website.
