Perinatal Therapy
Is Perinatal Stress Overwhelming Your Ability To Cope?
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Are you seeking support as you navigate fertility, pregnancy, or the birth of a new baby?
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Has the transition triggered intense symptoms of stress, anxiety, and overwhelm?
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Are new fears or doubts keeping you from being confident in your choices?
Whether you are just beginning your fertility journey or are in the postpartum period, there is a lot of information coming your way right now—it’s normal to experience stress and worry.
But if the stress is compromising your ability to feel calm, hopeful, and able to nurture your relationships, then it’s possible that perinatal anxiety has developed. Living with this kind of anxiety, you might often experience racing thoughts, incessant worries, and general feelings of dread. If left unchecked, these feelings can greatly impact your overall functioning as a new or hopeful mom.
The Transition Into Pregnancy And Parenthood Can Intensify Pre-Existing Anxiety
If you’ve struggled with aspects of anxiety or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in the past, new developments or transitions can exacerbate symptoms—even when you have previous coping strategies in place. Working together in therapy, we can update your toolkit so that you can embark on your perinatal journey with a sense of presence, joy, and self-assurance to handle what’s next.
Parenthood Introduces New Stressors And Expectations
As new or hopeful parents, we constantly receive the message that pregnancy and early parenthood should be one of life’s most welcomed milestones. And while this chapter is undoubtedly exciting, it’s also a complex process that affects our relationship with our routines, our environments, our family members, and ourselves. Conflicting feelings and expectations are a normal part of adjusting to new, often unpredictable circumstances.
Unfortunately, a desire to be “perfect” makes it difficult for many women to be confident in their ability to parent. Convinced that they should feel differently about becoming a mother or that they’re “doing it all wrong,” they can fall into the trap of thinking they are alone in their struggles.
Perinatal anxiety and OCD are quite common and can be helped with treatment. As a specialist working across the spectrum of anxiety disorders, I am passionate about supporting new and hopeful mothers through the perinatal process. Using an individualized, strategy-driven therapy approach, my goal is to help you let go of the worries, compulsions, and perfectionism keeping you from being the mom you want to be.
Therapy Provides You With Skills For Managing Perinatal Stress—From Pre-Conception To Birth
My practice is dedicated to helping individuals overcome the effects of chronic anxiety on their lives. Whether you struggle with generalized anxiety, social anxiety, OCD, panic disorder, and/or body-focused repetitive behaviors, my perinatal therapy services are designed to support you from pre-conception through the postpartum period.
What To Expect
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to treatment, and therapy is always individualized to your unique needs and goals. Using highly effective, evidence-based methods, we will collaborate on a therapy approach that can provide you with sustained relief from perinatal stress and anxiety. These methods include:
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to gently challenge and re-interpret fears
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Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) to gradually face triggers in a way that reduces the need to engage in compulsive or repetitive behaviors
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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help with accepting certain thoughts and feelings instead of fighting against them
With the right combination of these approaches, we can enhance your coping skills and strategies as you adjust to big changes both now and in the future. By learning to create a new anxiety response in therapy, you can experience more presence of mind—ready to navigate fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum challenges with confidence.
Common Concerns About Perinatal Therapy…
“I am already overwhelmed with everything going on—I don’t know if I can make time for therapy.”
I know that for many new or hopeful moms, therapy sounds like just another item to put on the to-do list. However, perinatal counseling is designed to offer you more time and space in your life, not less. Think about all the time you spend feeling anxious or trying to manage anxiety, perfectionism, and compulsions. By investing in your coping strategies through the counseling process, you can ultimately get back the time that perinatal stress and worry have taken away.
“Treatment won’t help.”
I am committed to using the most effective, research-backed therapeutic treatments around, and I tailor the process to each client’s unique experience. Whether your symptoms are new or chronic, I am confident that my combination of CBT, ERP, and ACT can help you manage perinatal stress and anxiety.
“Therapy is too expensive and not worth the cost.”
While therapy is certainly an expense, it’s also an investment in your and your family’s future. Children don’t need a “perfect” mom, but they do need a happy mom who can model healthy skills for coping and self-care. If you’re still worried about the expense of perinatal therapy, I invite you to contact me so we can discuss how to make the counseling process as cost-effective as possible.
Parent With Pride
If pre-conception, pregnancy, or postpartum issues have sent you on a rollercoaster of fear and anxiety, perinatal counseling can offer you essential skills for adjusting to big life changes.
Contact me for more information or to schedule a free, 15-minute consultation to learn more about how perinatal therapy can help you.
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