Perinatal Therapy
Defining the Perinatal Period:
Perinatal means the period “all around” birth, including the period of time throughout pregnancy and the baby’s first year.
So what makes the therapy I do “perinatal”?
I have always respected the significant milestones we, as humans, go through in our lifetime…especially as a therapist who walks with so many of you through them. That term ‘milestone’ can include a broad spectrum of change, I know I definitely have gone through many. Even with this lived experience and all the work I had done on myself, nothing could have prepared me for the perinatal period of my life. Navigating family planning, pregnancy, birth, the first year of keeping a fragile human alive, then navigating another pregnancy…it felt as though I was untethered and sometimes, even invisible. I remember feeling frustration at what felt like society’s gate-keeping of the hardships I would face, which left me feeling guilt, shame, and confusion.
This is not an uncommon experience for many new or prospective parents. How we were tended to and loved, ways our bodies and minds have served us, what we were taught around problem solving and how to view our mistakes, and dreams we had that didn’t end up being our reality…all of this can influence how we enter into parenthood. How we might navigate grief.
My work in the trauma world had already given me a wider lens with which to see the world and my clients. I took that experience and began to immerse myself in all things perinatal (for myself and my clients). Through research and training, I found my way to a wonderful organization called Postpartum Support International, where I gained my Certification as a Perinatal Mental Health Clinician. I continue to seek out the constantly growing body of research and training opportunities in the perinatal realm, and I hope that there will be much more to come.
Our therapy work together will address all parts of you that were touched by conception, pregnancy and birth, loss, parenting, partnering, as well as all that came before. I want to de-mystify tricky parts of your experience and get past the gate-keeping. We will work to support the healing that needs to take place in order for you to move through this wild storm of development that is occurring in your life.
You have a vibrant inner world that makes up who you are and what you are capable of, my hope is that we can help make all parts of you feel nurtured, seen, and thrive.