Maternal Mental Health Counselling
We provide you with the support you need to address the unique challenges of being a mother in a modern world.
“ There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one.”
JILL CHURCHILL
While mental health is relevant to everyone, women face a unique set of mental health challenges that are specific to the female experience.
Not too long ago women faced a secret depression called the ‘baby blues.’ However, after much research, and a gradual shift in thinking, women are now routinely screened for postpartum depression after childbirth. Before childbirth? Struggling to conceive? Years after birth? Maternal mental health quickly falls off the radar.
The reality is modern motherhood is a significant social challenge to moms and their mental health. We acknowledge and provide support to address these challenges that moms endure. It’s important to know that you can access mental health support to cope in real time, rather than spend years suffering.
Whatever stage of the journey you are on… whether you are trying to have a child, are dealing with a newborn, are juggling a toddler, trying to tackle the teen years, or are suddenly faced with an empty nest…. counselling can help show you that you’re not alone.
Women’s Issues
Life isn't always what we expect. Sometimes the story we tell ourselves about how things will be, turns out differently than we had hoped for.
Women’s issues represent a broad scope of mental health concerns and conditions that women may face at some point in their lives.
We all have our emotional ups and downs - periods of stress, trouble in our relationships, dips in our work performance. These are the normal challenges of life that we all experience.
However, as women we are more often the primary caregivers in families and we experience great stress balancing our multiple roles as: partner, mother, employee, friend, etc., and it’s taking a toll on our mental health. These are the normal life events that at times can take us by surprise and leave us feeling overwhelmed and unbalanced.
COMMON CONCERNS:
Changes in primary relationships, marriage, divorce, re-marriage
Navigating Workplace Issues
Balancing Work and Home
Blessings and Challenges of Parenting
Hormonal Changes / Post-Partum, Peri-Menopause, and Menopause
Normal Aging
WOMEN’S ISSUES COUNSELLORS:
COUNSELLING FOR:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Jealousy & Insecurity
- Self-Esteem
- Identity Issues
- Life Transitions
- Couples
- Step Parenthood
Pregnancy, Prenatal, Postpartum
Pregnancy is not always what people expect.
1 in 5 women & 1 in 10 men will experience anxiety or depression during pregnancy or postpartum.
The most recognized maternal mental health disorder is postpartum depression, but there are other common mental health concerns to look out for. Especially if you have a personal and/or family history of depression, anxiety or other mental issues OR are struggling with current stresses related to finances, living conditions and/or interpersonal relationships.
Everyone's mental health journey looks and feels different — but the important thing is to know you are not alone. Recognizing the symptoms - feeling sad, down, or hopeless; mood swings; feeling overwhelmed, guilty or worthless; feeling numb or empty; negative thoughts - is the first step. Then, it’s about getting help.
When symptoms are persisting two weeks or longer and interfering with your ability to function, talk to your partner and/or seek help through your doctor or therapist. Finding a support system is key to being your best self and the best mom you can be.
MATERNAL MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS (MMHDs):
Include a range of disorders and symptoms, and although often referred to more commonly as "postpartum depression," there are several different types of postpartum mental health disorders that affect new moms.
COUNSELLING FOR:
- Pregnancy, Prenatal, Postpartum Anxiety and Depression
Reproductive Grief, Loss, & Trauma
While your pain is very personal, you don’t have to go through this alone.
Your fertility journey might be one that has been long and filled with ups and downs. Experiencing the loss of a wanted pregnancy, stillbirth, or even grieving the end of fertility treatments, is a part of life that nobody sees coming. If you’ve been trying to have a child for a long time then you know the deep pain of longing, but trying not to hope, or struggling with the choice to move forward or stop fertility treatments. Struggling to conceive can be a very isolating time, this is such a private and a personal issue.
This is a very difficult path you are on, but you don’t have to be alone on your journey.
Grief from miscarriage is a unique kind of hurt. If you have experienced one or more miscarriages, you know that along with the grief, there are so many other feelings that can show up. Guilt (what did I do to make this happen), shame (people will think I’m broken), anger (I did everything right, and so many other people easily get pregnant), anxiety (what if this was the last time I can even conceive?). Your grief and feelings around your loss are valid and getting support can help you through the pain.
Often relationships can become strained between two hopeful parents and that brings further feelings of alienation. There are therapists at The Dot who have walked this same road, and truly understand the mental health struggles it can bring up, we offer both individual, and couples therapy.
COUNSELLING FOR:
- Fertility Struggles
- Support during IVF & IUI
- Miscarriage & Stillbirth
- Grief
- Depression
- Traumatic Birth
- Trauma & PTSD
- Support during Adoption
“The current standards of good mothering are so formidable, self-denying, elusive, changeable, and contradictory that they are unattainable. Our contemporary myth heaps upon the mother so many duties and expectations that to take it seriously would be hazardous to her mental health.”
SHARI L. THURER, THE MYTHS OF MOTHERHOOD
Our approach to counselling and psychotherapy supports the process of reconnecting with your inner wisdom, so you can heal and grow.
We offer postpartum mental health support for women and men
Postpartum, perinatal, and prenatal struggles can be exhausting, and most people don’t feel quite themselves for a while after having a child, but sometimes it can go beyond exhaustion.
These mental health issues can hit not just women, but male partners as well. We can offer affirming support for anyone who has been hit hard by the reality that is childbirth and parenting.
We view maternal mental health counselling as a joint process between you and your therapist working towards a common goal — to process the difficult feelings and help you make sense of what happened and what it means for you — both now and in the future.
As mental health care professionals, our aim is to help you find your ground and to support you in making space for your feelings and to help bring more flexibility into your life.
We will look at your current struggles to help you understand how you’re feeling overwhelmed. From there we will help you support the pain and process the difficult feelings you have.
Our hope is that by the end of your sessions you will not only have found relief, but you will feel ready to move forward.
Or, let us help you find that right therapist fit.
The form takes less than 60 seconds to complete, and we’ll reach out with a couple of options for a free 20 minute consultation.
Online Therapy Guide
It’s important to acknowledge that you might be feeling extra stress at the notion of starting therapy. This is completely normal and a sign that you care about your mental health. The best way to relieve your worry is to prepare ahead of time. That’s why we’ve created our FREE Online Therapy Guide and put together some helpful tips so you can see whether online therapy is right for you.