What to Expect from Therapy with Me.

We'll start with where you are and what's been happening with you. You may be looking for support with learning to manage difficult emotions and uncertainty, reclaiming your inner strength, building confidence in your abilities to parent or fostering a healthy attachment between you and your baby. Goals may also include grieving the losses associated with pregnancy and birth, adjusting to life at home with your baby, or reconnecting with yourself or your partner.  In addition to your goals you will have a chance to process your pregnancy and birth experience and be supported with the strong and sometimes scary feelings that may be coming up. All of your feelings are valid.

We’ll talk about the physical, neurological and emotional effects of stress and how these may impact your daily routines and experience. Breathing, relaxation and mind/body awareness exercises will be introduced as grounding tools and we will talk about how thoughts and feelings work together to drive actions. Tools to challenge and modify beliefs and actions that may not serve you are also available. We are more than our thoughts.

Presence, self-compassion and acceptance are themes that will be woven into our sessions. Practice with these will lessen suffering even in the presence of difficult emotions and stressful circumstances. Mindfulness is awareness without criticism or judgement.

You already have innate skills, abilities and gifts to parent well. Tuning in to these skills and your unique gifts will allow you to experience the precious moments. There is joy to be found.

I'll support you in noticing and working with the stories that you tell yourself, about yourself. 
Our stories can provide a sense of continuity and meaning in our lives, but they can also limit us if they become too rigid, negative or narrow. It is possible to transform self-limiting stories and beliefs into more realistic and empowering narratives This is your story to develop and to allow to unfold.
EMDR is the primary modality I utilize to process traumatic, stuck memories and charged issues.  EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) is a short-term exposure therapy that combines bilateral stimulation and mindfulness based resources to process traumatic memories, identify and replace negative beliefs about ourselves and to develop perspective, insight and adaptive coping skills.