PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH

Birth Trauma/Difficult Birth Experiences:

Unfortunately sometimes births do not go as planned.  Sometimes a difficult birth experience sticks with us even when we are really trying to move forward.

I work with parents to process their difficult birth experiences using Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing therapy otherwise known as EMDR.  This technique helps process the difficult birth in a way that does not require telling your story in great detail and is considered a somatic therapy. After processing a difficult birth, many people feel calmer in their bodies, think about the past birth less, and feel less anxious about the idea of a future birth.

Please note that you don’t have to define your birth as traumatic to benefit from support.  If the experience impacted you and you want support, then I’d be happy to help.

Perinatal Anxiety and OCD:

Maybe you’re someone who’s always run anxious but then it’s gotten worse with pregnancy or after a baby arrives. Now instead of experiencing anxiety at times, now it feels like all of the time. Or perhaps getting pregnant or having a baby may have brought on anxiety and fears that you’ve never experienced before. Your old ways of getting through hard times are not working.

You might be experiencing:

-Anxiety keeping you up at night, even when baby is sleeping

-Reading every parenting book and feeling overwhelmed with choosing the “best” or “perfect” way to parent

-Scary or odd thoughts about bad things happening to those around you

-Spending hours “googling” to try to feel less anxious, but you find it never really helps

When clients are experiencing perinatal OCD, I offer Inference Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I CBT) to help reduce distress. I CBT is a collaborative, gentle approach to deconstructing OCD, why it’s showing up the way it is, and teaches how to have more awareness and agency when OCD is trying to run the show. If you’re not sure if you are experiencing OCD or more general perinatal anxiety, I’m happy to sift through that together.

The good news is that therapy can help you feel relief. We’ll work together to come up with a plan so anxiety or perinatal OCD doesn’t feel front and center in your life.

I’m here to help. Let's work together to determine what the best course of action is for you. Let me become a part of your support network.

I enjoy supporting all families on their pregnancy and postpartum journeys including those in the LGBTQIA+ community.

Do you think you could use some support during pregnancy or postpartum? Contact me for a free 20 minute consultation.