Perinatal mental health and parenting support
Providing skilled, compassionate support through every season of growing your family.
Even in the best of cases, becoming a parent can turn your world upside down.
You had ideas about the sort of parent you thought you’d be, but the reality? This is way harder than you expected. Of course, you love your kid more than anything! And yet, you’re grappling with all the shifts and changes of this new identity. You’re used to performing at a high level, and you didn’t expect to be thrown for a loop by this major life transition. You so deeply want to be a great mom, but you’re finding all the advice out there to be completely overwhelming, and the “mom guilt” is real. All the other moms you see seem to have it all together, but you feel like you just can’t get things figured out.
You might be grieving a birth experience or a postpartum experience that wasn’t what you expected or hoped for. Or perhaps your child has a medical complication or an unexpected diagnosis that has thrown you for a loop. You might be struggling with feeling sad, overwhelmed, or having anxious thoughts that just won’t seem to go away. You deeply want to enjoy parenthood - or as much of it as you can, anyway! - but right now, that feels like a far-off reality.
Or maybe, parenting has come with an extra set of challenges.
The good news? You don’t have to do this alone.
You deserve to work with someone who understands the complexities of this season of life, and who can provide you with compassionate and skilled support. As a mom to 4, I bring not only my clinical skills and training in perinatal health, but also my own experiences of parenting to my work. I want you to know that I get it - all the joy, all the love, and all the messiness of parenting. You will leave our work together feeling seen and heard, as well as better equipped with concrete skills to navigate the unique demands of this season - all while staying connected to your core parenting values.
Common reasons parents come to see me:
Adjustment to parenthood
Even in the best of cases, the shifts and changes that come with new parenthood can throw us for a loop. My belief? When a baby is born, a mom is born too. There’s even a word for all the normal developmental shifts and changes that you, as a parent, experience after bringing a baby into the world: matresence. Together, we’ll work to help you feel more supported and confident in this new identity, helping you move through all the shifts and changes of the early years with confidence, flexibility, and self-compassion.
Parental overwhelm and burnout
The 2024 Surgeon General report on parental stress (“Parents Under Pressure”) came as no surprise to most modern parents, who report experiencing unprecedented levels of stress and overwhelm. I love supporting parents in increasing their own parental well-being, and see this work as essential to supporting healthy families and communities. We’ll explore changes you can make to better juggle your multiple roles; increase your acceptance around things that can’t change; and even help you access more moments of joy and connection along the way.
Postpartum depression, anxiety and OCD
Sometimes, it’s more than the “baby blues.” Studies show that 1 in 5 moms may experience postpartum depression, anxiety, or other perinatal mental health disorders including postpartum OCD and PTSD. If you find yourself feeling depressed, anxious, or bothered by worrisome thoughts during pregnancy or following the birth of your baby, you are not alone and you deserve to feel better. I would love to work with you to help you feel more supported, find your footing, and enjoy motherhood again.
Birth trauma and perinatal grief and loss
If you experienced a traumatic birth, a NICU stay, or other traumatic events during the perinatal period, you may find yourself feeling overwhelmed, isolated, and struggling to find your footing. Or perhaps you’ve tragically experienced the loss of a pregnancy, infant or child - an experience that comes with overwhelming grief and isolation and can increase your likelihood of developing depression, anxiety and PTSD. I am so sorry for your loss, and you are not alone. I have specialized training in treating birth trauma and supporting clients through experiences of perinatal grief and loss, including miscarriages or other fertility challenges, stillbirth, medical decision-making and infant loss.
“Everybody tells us that mothering is about raising our kids. Nobody tells us that mothering is also about raising ourselves.”
— Amy Taylor-Kabbaz