Perinatal Therapy
Prenatal and Postpartum Depression and Anxiety
Your body, thoughts, emotions, relationships, and social experiences undergo dramatic changes during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. Drastic life changes - even when exciting or welcomed or planned - make our mind-body systems vulnerable to feeling “off.” Feeling off during your perinatal experiences might involve:
Feeling sad, numb, or uninterested in things you usually enjoy or expect to feel excited about
Feeling hopeless, unable to look forward to future experiences
Struggling with sleeping or eating (and not only because you’re busy caring for a baby)
Struggling to relax even when you get the chance to
Physical aches, pain, and discomfort
Constantly feeling worried, scared, panicked, or guilty
Feeling tense, restless, or on-edge, constantly
Believing that you’re worthless or not good enough, or frequently having negative thoughts about yourself
Perinatal depression and anxiety can feel like being attacked by a mysterious force while you’re trying to find your footing. Mind-body therapy approaches can help you experience mental and physical relief as you go through this incredible transformation.
“You are not alone. You are not at fault. With help, you will be well.” - Postpartum Support International
Birth Trauma
If your pregnancy or birth experience was highly stressful and difficult (physically or emotionally), you might be struggling with:
Intense, overwhelming emotions that are hard to cope with
Feeling on-edge, tense, panicked, or afraid
Feeling numb
Feeling disconnected and distant from yourself and those around you
Difficulty bonding with your baby
Feeling like you hate, can’t trust, or don’t recognize your body
Insomnia or nightmares
Flashbacks (feeling like you’re re-living difficult moments)
Wanting to avoid your baby or things that remind you of your pregnancy and birth
Physical pain and discomfort (like headaches, stomach problems, muscle tension, or difficulty physically recovering from the birth)
To the postpartum mom in pain: Peace is still possible for you. Trauma-focused mind-body therapy teaches your mind-body system how to feel safe, stable, at ease, and safe in your body, so that early motherhood can be a time of healing and empowerment for you.
Perinatal Grief and Loss
Grief and loss connected to pregnancy, birth, postpartum, or parenting experiences feel especially complicated and isolating. If you have experienced:
Fertility challenges
Pregnancy loss
A difficult or complicated decision to terminate a pregnancy
A medical crisis impacting fertility, pregnancy, birth, or postpartum
The loss of your child
the swirl of emotions can make you feel like you’re drowning. This loss alters your life story and you might feel as though you don’t know yourself anymore. It might be hard to imagine ever feeling peace again.
Mind-body trauma therapy helps grieving parents access comfort and empowerment; it provides a soft place to land in the midst of the inner chaos, helps your body learn how to breathe deeply again, helps you rebuild your relationship with your body, helps you create a sense of inner safety, and supports you in finding ways to honor this part of your story.
Parenting Infants and Toddlers
Early parenthood is intense by nature. The non-stop needs, demands, touch, sounds, and big emotions can become overwhelming and draining. Feeling deep, fierce, gut-wrenching love and deep, fierce, gut-wrenching stress simultaneously sends you reeling.
Mind-body therapy approaches help parents of young children access and create inner peace in the midst of a sensory whirlwind. It helps you to compassionately identify, examine, and adjust hurtful beliefs about yourself that arise as you strive to care for your children well. It helps you heal old wounds so that your parenting can be grounded in wisdom and led by your core values, not by your trauma. And it provides a supportive space for you to learn how to embody those values as you embrace and develop this new piece of your identity.
Healing Your Inner Child as You Parent
You know that you want to raise your child in a peaceful home, where they are both physically and emotionally safe, nurtured, and supported. You know that you want to help your little one become a person who is kind to theirself and to others. You want to speak calmly, teach calmly, and problem-solve calmly.
Painful, stressful, or frightening childhood experiences might be holding you back you from feeling grounded and confident in your new role as a parent. Parenting is challenging, but unhealed wounds make it intensely overwhelming. Trauma-focused, mind-body therapy approaches help your “inner child” receive the care you needed in past seasons, so that your “Eldest, Wisest Self” can take on the role of being a peaceful parent now.
