I'm here if you're struggling during pregnancy or following childbirth
If your pregnancy, birthing experience, or parenting journey has been impacted by loss, trauma, or mental health struggles, I'm here for you.
I'm an experienced mental health counsellor and bereavement counsellor, and I work in a trauma-informed way. I also have my own lived experiences of pregnancy and parenting.
I offer support to navigate challenges such as:
- Depression, anxiety, OCD, or PTSD
- Reflecting on your own childhood
- Birth trauma
- Baby loss grief
- Other kinds of grief.
You're welcome as a birthing or non-birthing partner or parent, and you can access support from the comfort of your own environment.
I offer space to be more self-compassionate, and find your sense of coping, healing, and well-being.
Perinatal mental health issues
The perinatal period is a huge transition and change, so if you're struggling with your mental health, please know you're not failing. But you do deserve support, and I hope to support you.
Mental health issues during the perinatal period can show up in a range of ways, such as:
- Antenatal or postnatal depression: Persistent sadness and low mood, feeling detached from the pregnancy or difficulties bonding with your baby
- Perinatal anxiety: Persistent worry, panic or fear around the baby's health, whether you're doing the right things or coping as a parent
- Perinatal OCD: Intrusive thoughts or images about harming your baby or your baby's health and engaging in repetitive behaviours to relieve them
- Perinatal PTSD: Distressing thoughts, images or memories related to or triggered by pregnancy, labour, or postnatal experiences.
You may feel guilt, shame, or self-blame about what's happening. You may feel overwhelmed, alone, a loss of control, or like you're failing.
I'm here for you, and I offer a safe, compassionate space where you can express your thoughts and feelings and gently work through the underlying causes/triggers of your mental health issues. This process supports long-term recovery and healing.
I'm also here if you have lived experience of a mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and would like a safe space to maintain or increase your emotional and mental well-being.
You're welcome to get in touch to explore whether counselling with me would be right for you. You can email me, or call or text 07729 193629.
Reflecting on your own childhood
Having a baby can bring up memories and experiences from your own childhood, including your relationship with your parents/parent figures.
These experiences can influence your confidence in becoming or being a parent and how you connect with and relate to your baby or child.
If your childhood was challenging, you may experience unexpected or heightened feelings of anxiety, fear, loss and grief. You may worry about coping as a parent or being a good enough parent.
I am an experienced counsellor for trauma, bereavement, loss, and domestic abuse. I'm here for you if you'd like support in your healing.
I offer a safe, compassionate space to explore your own values and beliefs about being a parent, and build the confidence and trust in yourself to find your healing and be the parent you want to be.
You're welcome to get in touch to explore whether counselling with me would be right for you. You can email me, or call or text 07729 193629.
Birth trauma
I'm trained in birth trauma (via Make Birth Better).
Birth trauma can include any birth experience that made you feel frightened, overwhelmed, or a loss of control. It may include feeling dismissed around the time of the event, isolated, or unsupported.
Birth trauma can be shattering. You may be reliving what happened through distressing thoughts, images, or memories. You may feel on edge, numb, panicky, physical sensations in your body, disconnected from your body or your baby.
Sometimes it leads to a diagnosis of PTSD, but you don't need a diagnosis to access support or benefit from the work we could do together.
I offer a safe, compassionate and non-judgmental space to regain a sense of coping and control and work towards your healing and well-being.
You're welcome to get in touch to explore whether counselling with me would be right for you. You can email me, or call or text 07729 193629.
Baby loss grief
Experiencing the loss of your baby can be deeply devastating and distressing, and your grief may include intense feelings of shock, sadness, emptiness, anger, resentment, guilt, self-blame.
I hold specialist training in the sensitive issues surrounding baby loss, including miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal loss and sudden infant loss, and your grief will be seen, heard, and understood.
I can work with you in a safe, compassionate and non-judgmental way, so that you can relieve that sense of trauma or distress, explore your loss, express your grief, and honour your baby or babies in a way that is meaningful to you (if you'd like to).
If you're on a rainbow pregnancy journey, I can also be alongside you. This journey can be exhausting if you're experiencing quiet feelings of hope and joy, mixed with grief, fear, and anxiety.
You're welcome to get in touch to explore whether counselling with me would be right for you. You can email me, or call or text 07729 193629.
Other kinds of grief
All kinds of grief can occur during the perinatal period. As a grief and bereavement counsellor, I can support you in the following circumstances:
- If you're facing a loved one's terminal illness
- If you've recently separated from your partner
- If you experienced the loss of your partner during birth or through complications after birth
- If you've experienced the loss of your partner, a parent, another close relative or friend
- If you're longing for a parent or parent figure who died years ago, including in your childhood.
I can also be of support if you've been reflecting on your own experiences of being parented and feel you're grieving the loss of your childhood, such as feeling safe, protected, nurtured, accepted, loved.
Grief can catch you off guard and feel intense and overwhelming. It may feel more intense during the perinatal period due to hormonal changes or the challenges of pregnancy or early parenthood.
I can work with you to find your sense of coping.
I offer a safe, compassionate and non-judgmental space to explore your loss, including how it's impacting your pregnancy or parenting journey, and express your feelings and emotions.
You're welcome to get in touch to explore whether counselling with me would be right for you. You can email me, or call or text 07729 193629.
Working online or over the phone
I offer sessions online or over the phone, which can make it easier to talk openly. It also removes the pressure and stress of travel, childcare, or managing sessions around feeding and sleep.
A consultation can help you decide whether working online or over the phone would suit you.
What you can expect in sessions
I offer space where you can feel connected and supported, rather than alone in your experience, and relieve that sense of overwhelm or stress.
Together, we can create a counselling relationship that feels safe and trusting for you, and gently work through your thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
You'll be valued, accepted, heard, and understood, but we don't have to rely solely on talking together. Creativity is an option, such as using art or other mediums, and we can discuss this if you'd like.
Rather than give advice or tell you what to do, I'll support and empower you to build awareness, confidence, and trust in yourself. This can help you move forward in a way that is meaningful to you.
Contact me to see if I'm the right perinatal counsellor for you
If you'd like more information about my experience and how I could work with you, you're welcome to visit my other counselling pages, including:
If you'd like to explore counselling together, you can email me to book a consultation or ask any questions you have, or call or text 07729 193629.
