Counseling in Charleston, South Carolina.
First, I want to acknowledge how important it is that you even clicked on the link to this page. If you fall into the category of “mom stuff,” it takes a lot for you to even begin the process of asking for help. We see you. As moms ourselves, to children of all different ages, we have walked the path of those early days and can look you in the eyes and say, “We’ve got you.” There is so much attention to the holding of the baby—-we will hold you.
I love this quote by Hillary McBride: “Nothing has disoriented me like becoming a mother, it has been a holy interruption to all the ways of knowing I constructed, while somehow rooting me into what I knew all along: our bodies are good, we belong to each other, and it is a wonderful and gloriously messy thing to be alive.” Sometimes we need someone to help us remember that, and also to normalize the experience of the hard stuff. It can often feel like you are just never enough. The term “mom guilt” exists for a reason and the pressure to do it all can sometimes be overwhelming.
I believe these numbers are very low, but the statistics report that 1 in 5 pregnant or postpartum women are diagnosed with a mood or anxiety disorder during the perinatal period. The perinatal period refers to the time of pregnancy up to the first year after the baby is born.
Another aspect of pregnancy and childbirth that is not mentioned often enough is birth trauma. If this has been your story, we would be honored to hold the pain and grief with you. Going through a traumatic birth, whether for you or your baby or both, is something that deserves to be honored, it is a space where deep pain can be intertwined with such beauty. No birth is identical and it’s easy to move right past childbirth and into the fullness of newborn life. The hard part, however, is that we can’t heal what we can’t feel. We would love to carve out space to process your experience, whatever that has looked like.
Maybe you are at the other end of your experience and facing an empty nest for the first time. Reconnecting with yourself and finding your identity after your mothering years are over can be so tough. So much of your life was spent caretaking that it can be a disorienting thing to not have humans to be taking care of! We would love to walk through this aspect of your story and help you dream up what this part of your story is going to look like.