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Pregnancy & Postpartum Therapy

What this work is about

Pregnancy and the postpartum period involve significant psychological, biological, and relational changes. Hormonal shifts, sleep deprivation, identity changes, and increased responsibility all interact at once. Even in wanted and planned pregnancies, this transition can destabilize people in ways they don’t anticipate.

 

Perinatal therapy focuses specifically on mental health during:

  • Fertility challenges and reproductive experiences

  • Pregnancy

  • The postpartum period

  • Early parenthood

 

This is not general therapy applied to a life stage, it’s a specialized area that takes into account how these factors uniquely affect mood, anxiety, identity, and relationships.

 

Who this is for

This work is for individuals who are:

  • Pregnant and experiencing anxiety, fear, or intrusive thoughts

  • Postpartum and feeling overwhelmed, low, irritable, or disconnected

  • Struggling with bonding or feeling guilt/shame about their experience

  • Navigating infertility, pregnancy loss, or complicated reproductive journeys

  • Adjusting to a major identity shift (career, independence, relationship changes)

  • Noticing increased conflict or distance in their relationship after having a baby

 

You do not need a formal diagnosis to benefit from this work. Many people come in saying, “I thought I’d feel differently than this.”

 

Common experiences we address

  • Postpartum anxiety and depression

  • Intrusive thoughts (including fears of harm coming to the baby)

  • Postpartum rage or irritability

  • Birth trauma

  • Loss of identity or sense of self

  • Perfectionism and pressure around parenting

  • Relationship strain after becoming parents

 

How therapy helps

We focus on both understanding and intervention.

 

That includes:

  • Identifying thought patterns that increase anxiety or distress (CBT)

  • Understanding how your nervous system is responding and learning how to regulate it

  • Processing difficult or traumatic aspects of your experience (EMDR when appropriate)

  • Addressing internal conflict (e.g., “part of me is grateful, part of me feels trapped”) using IFS-informed work

  • Developing realistic, sustainable coping strategies that fit your current life

 

The goal is not to eliminate difficulty entirely. It’s to help you feel more stable, more in control, and less alone in what you’re experiencing.

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