"Becoming a mother leaves no woman as it found her; it unravels her and rebuilds her; it cracks her open; it takes her to her edges. It’s both beautiful and brutal, often at the same time."

Becoming a mother is a life-transforming rite of passage. It can impact a woman in so many areas of her life.  It can be really normal to feel a whole range of emotions, from disconnected to disorientated to delighted. And no wonder - there is so much to learn and a brand new human to get to know and care for. Mothers are straight in at the deep end, all whilst trying to recover from the birth and adjust to being a parent.

The Postpartum Psychologist provides compassionate, non-judgemental antenatal and postnatal psychological wellbeing and matrescence support for mothers who are struggling with the transition to motherhood. This is delivered through online education workshops and programmes and is self-help in nature. One-to-one matrescence coaching or therapy tailored to your specific circumstances is also available, on request. Services offered by The Postpartum Psychologist may be especially helpful for you if:

• You've recently had a baby and are feeling a whole range of emotions you don't understand. 
• You're not sure why you feel the way you do and you'd like to understand this better.
• You are finding the adjustment to motherhood difficult and you're just not sure who you are anymore. 
• You feel lost, alone, confused or disorientated. 
• You feel misunderstood or unseen, whilst you are trying to recover from childbirth and process all the changes that have happened. 
• Your imagined experience of motherhood isn't aligning to your lived experience and you feel grief and sadness for this. 
• You had a sense that it would be hard, but nothing prepared you for your unique experience and nobody told you it would be like this. 
• You miss your old, pre-parenting life and career and you feel guilt or shame. 
• You have mixed feelings about being a mother and you feel bad about this. 
• Maternity leave is coming to an end soon and you're unsure how you'll manage childcare and transition back into the workplace. 
• You're struggling to navigate the complex terrain of juggling paid work with the work of mothering.
• You feel like you are the only one finding your motherhood journey difficult and you think there must therefore be something "wrong" with you.

Services provided by The Postpartum Psychologist aim to support mothers:

• To have an understanding of the developmental process of becoming a mother (this is called matrescence) 
• To adjust to the changes that motherhood brings
• To feel better able to cope with the challenges of matrescence
• To identify areas of growth and resilience in your motherhood journey
• To learn ways to soothe your postpartum nervous system
• To manage difficult feelings and thoughts
• To develop self-compassion skills that speak to you in moments of challenge
• To recognise and celebrate your incredible achievements in your motherhood journey
• To learn to embrace your own matrescence
• To identify your own values and definitions of what it means to be a mother
• To learn ways to manage "working mum guilt"
• To prepare for your own matrescence journey (antenatal support)