Perinatal & Postpartum Therapy in Denver

The baby is fine. You're not sure you are.

Most of the women I see don't lead with the word depressed. They say they're fine, then describe not sleeping even when the baby sleeps, crying in the car, or feeling like their old self moved out and nobody new moved in yet. If some version of that is you, you're in the right place.

About one in seven women develops a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder. Many never get treatment because asking for help can feel like one more impossible thing in a season where you're already carrying too much. Treatment works, and you do not have to wait until things feel unbearable to reach out.

Postpartum anxiety and depression

Anxiety is the more common picture, and the less recognized one: a mind that runs worst-case scenarios on a loop, a body that stays braced long after everyone is safe. Depression can look like sadness. It can also look like numbness, irritability, or going through the motions of a life you can't feel.

Neither means you're a bad mother. It means something is going on that has a name and can be treated.

Mom rage

Nobody really warns you about the anger.

Rage at your partner sleeping through the night. Rage at the sound of the swing. Rage because someone touched you one more time when you were already completely touched out.

Postpartum anger is common and still not talked about nearly enough. Sometimes anxiety, overwhelm, resentment, sleep deprivation, or depletion comes out looking a whole lot like rage. In therapy, we get curious about what's underneath it instead of just teaching you to swallow it.

Intrusive thoughts and postpartum OCD

Intrusive thoughts are incredibly common during the postpartum period, and they can also be terrifying. They're unwanted thoughts or images that can feel completely out of character and often target exactly what matters most to you. Having an intrusive thought does not mean you want it to happen or that it says something terrible about who you are. Sometimes intrusive thoughts can become part of a larger pattern of anxiety, checking, reassurance-seeking, avoidance, or rituals. When this happens, therapy can help you understand what's driving the cycle and find ways to respond differently, without judgment or shame.

If you're wondering whether what you're experiencing may be postpartum OCD, we can explore your symptoms together and determine what kind of support would be most helpful.

When bonding doesn't come easily

Sometimes the rush of love happens immediately. Sometimes it comes quietly. Sometimes you look at your baby and mostly feel exhausted, overwhelmed, numb, guilty, or honestly just confused about why you don't feel the way everyone said you would. There is no single moment when you're supposed to magically become bonded. Attachment grows through thousands of small interactions over time.

We can make room for whatever you're actually feeling without turning it into evidence that you're doing motherhood wrong.

Who you are now

There's a word for the transition into motherhood: matrescence. Like adolescence, it can change how you experience your body, relationships, priorities, identity, and sense of who you are. You can love your child and still miss who you were before. You can be grateful and overwhelmed. You can want this life and still grieve parts of your old one. Those things can exist at the same time.

Birth trauma and loss

Some births leave more than a scar. Maybe there was an emergency, a NICU stay, a loss of control, or a room full of people making decisions while you felt completely unheard. I'm trained in EMDR, an evidence-based approach that can help process traumatic memories that still feel very present. When appropriate, it's one of the approaches we may use to work through birth trauma.

If you're carrying a miscarriage, pregnancy loss, or another loss connected to this season, we can make space for that grief too, at whatever pace it needs.

Is this the right fit?

I work individually with adult women. Come here if you want a therapist who understands this season rather than someone who sees it occasionally.

I'm not the right fit for couples counseling. If medication might be worth exploring, I'll talk with you about it openly and help connect you with a prescriber who can assess whether it's right for you.

If you're in crisis right now, don't wait for an intake: call or text 988. Colorado's line answers in Spanish too.