Postpartum Transition  |   Recovery Support | Dream Work

 

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Postpartum Transition

My initiation into motherhood birthed a new career path for me. When my daughter arrived at the end of 2016, a combination of risk factors coupled with birth complications, lack of support, isolation, sleep deprivation and marital challenges were the perfect storm for me developing postpartum depression. Since I’m a psychotherapist armed with knowledge about Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs), I thought I would somehow be able to prevent it, but I soon realized that I’m not immune. And if I’m struggling with tools and resources at my fingertips, then other moms must be struggling, too. After I got out of the funk and fog of depression and sleep deprivation, I embraced the wounded healer archetype and created Life After Birth® I feel called to help usher women through their metamorphosis into motherhood. I have translated my passion for working with new moms into my specialty in my private practice. I regularly attend Perinatal Mental Health conferences, and I have completed the Advanced Psychotherapy training with Postpartum Support International. I offer 1:1 therapy, as well as postpartum and parenting support circles. I help new moms navigate challenges that include, but are not limited to:

Birth complications/trauma
Health issues with baby including time spent in the NICU
Experience with PMADs
Discord with partner and/or other relationships
Breastfeeding issues
Identity and/or body image issues
Grief and loss issues

For a deeper dive into the work that I do, check out a recent interview that I did with Voyage LA.

Recovery Support

My additional specialties include codependency issues, as well as substance use and co-occurring disorders such as depression and anxiety. I have experience as both a family and primary therapist at different drug and alcohol treatment centers—most recently Promises Treatment Center. There I was the Director of the monthly Family Intensive Program, which brought together all of the clients from the various Promises locations in Los Angeles and their families from all over the world. I have witnessed both personally and professionally how recovery can crack a family open in the most beautifully vulnerable way.

 

Dream Work

My Master of Arts degree is in Counseling Psychology with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. In my training to become a Depth Psychotherapist, I learned the medicine of dream work. Take a deep dive with me to reveal messages from your unconscious. Pregnancy is an especially ripe time for activity in your psyche since you are undergoing one of the most drastic transformations you will ever undergo. Read more on this in a recent article I wrote for Ergobaby called Perinatal Dreaming + I did an IG Live on this topic as well.