Telehealth Services Only
Working together to help you navigate your feelings and own your mother identity.
Perinatal Psychological Therapy
Perinatal Psychological Therapy recognises that the perinatal period is a time of significant personal growth.
Mothers, partners and babies are in transition together, learning how to connect, love, play, 'do' and 'be'. This development happens in relationship, and can only be understood in the family context.
When parents seek therapy from a Perinatal Psychologist, we hold in mind the complexities of this period, while also seeking to support you to see your strengths and capacities as a parent, and in your baby.
We hold space for you to reflect, ponder and wonder about your changing identity; making room for all the thoughts and feelings that can arise during this time.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) are interventions that facilitate the development of mindfulness and compassion skills for self-regulation in the context of your values. This enables you to be the Mumma you want to be; meeting your needs as well as those of your baby.
EMDR Therapy
Eye Movement Desensitzation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is one of the most effective treatments for trauma. The brain has an automatic information processing system that ordinarily allows for memories to be stored and integrated into our memory networks. This happens particularly during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. However, when we experience trauma, the normal fight/flight/freeze response is in overdrive, and this prevents the brain from functioning normally. Trauma memories are not processed or integrated; they are stored as a discrete, vivid, 'frozen in time' memory that feels like it is happening right now.
EMDR therapy initially involves learning how to regulate your emotions so that we can use the brain's natural capacity for healing to process and integrate the trauma memory into an adaptive form. Bilateral stimulation is used, which is very similar to the experience of REM, to kick start the processing phase of EMDR. This leads to the memory being desensitized (no more intense emotions!) and distanced (something that happened in the past instead of feeling like it is happening right now). Once the trauma is resolved, you can expect to be able to live your life without fear.
EMDR therapy is effective for treating all types of trauma; single incident and multiple incident traumas. In the perinatal period, this includes birth trauma, medical trauma, childhood trauma, and attachment/relational trauma.