Perinatal & Postpartum Therapy | Online Counseling
Support that grows with you through every phase of parenthood
Parenthood doesn’t begin in just one moment. It's a series of phases, each with its own questions, and I work with women across all of them. With certification through Postpartum Support International (PSI), much of my practice is built around exactly this: growing with clients as their lives move through different stages.
Many of the women I work with come to me for anxiety, chronic illness, or a grief-filled life transition long before parenthood is on the table, and then stay with me as it becomes part of the picture. Others arrive already in the middle of it. But no matter where you find yourself, you are welcome here.
The Parenthood Phases I Support
Perinatal work covers more ground than most people expect. I work with women who are:
Considering whether parenthood is something they want, including ambivalence about that decision
Trying to conceive, including the emotional weight of fertility treatment, unpredictability, or loss
Grieving from miscarriage, still-birth, and infant loss
Navigating pregnancy, including anxiety, identity shifts, and the pressure to feel a certain way about it
Adjusting to postpartum life, including mood and anxiety changes, identity disruption, and relationship shifts
Parenting ongoing, including the ways earlier anxiety, grief, or chronic stress can resurface at new stages of a child's life
Through continued work together, we can ease the weight of what it means to be (or become) a parent, whatever that looks like for you right now. But if you need more immediate support before we can meet, please reach out to the Postpartum Support International's HelpLine.
What is perinatal therapy?
Perinatal refers to the period spanning pregnancy through the first year or so postpartum. Perinatal therapy is emotional and mental support specific to that period, though in practice, its emotional reach often starts before conception and continues well past a child's first birthday.
Within that period, some women experience what are known as perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs), a term used by PSI to describe mood and anxiety changes connected to pregnancy or postpartum. This can include but is not limited to postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety.
But perinatal therapy isn't only for PMADs, and it isn't only about symptoms. Virtual sessions with me are a safe space to process:
identity shifts
ambivalence
disconnection
grief
fertility struggles
relationship changes
body and self-esteem changes
disorientation in changing roles
… all alongside whatever else you're carrying.
Some sessions center directly on mood or anxiety. Others center on making sense of a version of yourself you didn't expect to meet yet.
How I Help Perinatal & Postpartum Women
My approach is built around the idea that you don't have to have "arrived" at a stage cleanly to get support in it. Ambivalence, grief, anxiety, and love can all be present in the same phase, sometimes the same day.
This may look like:
Meeting you at whatever phase you're actually in, rather than the one you expected to be in by now
Making space for loss when it's part of this journey, including fertility struggles or pregnancy loss
Supporting identity shifts that come with pregnancy, postpartum, or parenting, without assuming there's one correct way to feel about them
Continuing to work with you as your needs shift from one phase to the next, since this is rarely a one-session topic
Client-centered, strengths-based tools drawn from CBT and mindfulness, adapted to whatever phase you're navigating
If you’re in Delaware or Tennessee, we can get started as soon as you’re ready.
Perinatal & Postpartum Therapy FAQ
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Perinatal refers to the period around pregnancy and the first year postpartum, though its emotional effects often extend before conception and beyond that first year.
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PMADs, or perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, is a term used by Postpartum Support International to describe mood and anxiety changes connected to pregnancy or postpartum, including postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety.
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Yes. Perinatal support isn't limited to postpartum. It includes the emotional experience of trying to conceive, fertility treatment, and loss at any stage.
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Yes. Ambivalence is a common and human response to a major life decision, and it doesn't mean something is wrong with you or your relationship to parenthood.
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Postpartum Support International certification means specialized training in perinatal mental health, including PMADs, so this work is approached with training specific to this period, not general practice alone.
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Virtual therapy often fits this stage particularly well, since it removes the need to arrange childcare or travel during a period when both are especially hard to manage.
Additional Resources
Since this phase often benefits from more than one kind of support, here are a few additional resources:
National Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741
It Takes a Village
Being and becoming a parent was never meant to be figured out in isolation, and neither is anything that comes before or after it. Whatever phase you're standing in right now, ambivalent or certain, waiting or adjusting, grieving or hoping, I'd be glad to grow with you through it.