I wrote my dissertation, Demystifying First-Time Mothers’ Postpartum Mental Health, between having my first and second daughter as a rejection of the idea that difficulty postpartum was simply a mood disorder. “Postpartum depression” or “postpartum anxiety” can sometimes be helpful labels. Many times, it oversimplifies quite complicated reasons for distress postpartum. This in effect silences acknowledgement of cultural and social problems related to caring for babies and young children. So often mothers are told to internalize systemic failures which results in symptoms of depression and anxiety.

I look at symptoms of anxiety and depression within the social and relational structure of your life and prefer not to focus mental health services just on moms because moms are only one person within a family system. Often times feelings of sadness and overwhelm make sense and can be tended to by finding ways to resist unhelpful narratives and expectations about parenthood. This requires learning to trust your feelings and how to communicate changes that you need in your relationships and community to better support you and your family.

There are also times when medication can be incredibly helpful. I work with clients to recognize when distress postpartum is being effectively managed and when we might want to consider trying medication as another support tool. At any point when we decide that you want to consider taking medication to support your mental health, I will refer you to a psychiatrist who I can partner with in your treatment.

Working with parents during pregnancy and early parenting years is important to me because this is when we have the most significant impact on our child’s development. This is a big task and for many of us we are underprepared because of the ways that the emotional labor of parenting is undervalued. I want to hold our attention during these early years of parenting so that we can feel the weight of the responsibility while also feeling supported and being able to recognize cultural failures that are not our fault but are something that we need to work through. I believe that the most important work we can do during these years is to do all that we can to be emotionally available to our kids. I am here to help.